David Scott Patterson@davidpattersonx
There will be no difference between communism and capitalism once AI and robots take over all work.
Communism is government ownership of the means of production.
The main economic problems with communism were the lack of incentives to be productive and the lack of freedom to produce what people wanted.
In a fully automated economy, the government could own all the means of production while allowing the system to be completely responsive to consumer demand.
Essentially, everyone could get anything they want, even a product made especially for them. It would be designed and produced quickly, at low cost, by AI and robots.
There would be no need to incentivize work, since there would be no human workers to incentivize.
There would be no need for profit to incentivize production, since anything people wanted could be made by fully automated industry.
Alternatively, it would be possible for all businesses to be privately owned. However, from an economic perspective, and from the consumer’s perspective, there would essentially be no difference.
Either way, a tax would be added to all sales so that UEI payments could be paid out to consumers.
It may be the case that the economy will become so productive that demand will saturate. This means that people would not spend all the UEI they are given.
If that turns out to be the case universally (no one wants more than the UEI pays out), then we could switch to a system where anyone can order whatever they want without paying.
Under such conditions, private companies could also order equipment and supplies without paying, and then give away production for free.
They would not be able to earn any profit. However, as I explained in a previous post, private companies would not be profitable anyway due to perfect competition and perfectly efficient markets.
I know this all sounds strange, but this is likely to be the actual outcome when AI and robots take over all production, and once we reach the optimal limit to technology.
This is not something I am proposing. It is not even really a prediction. It is simply an analysis of how the economy is likely to function under the conditions we are likely to see in the near future.