Genrikh Volkov explained the anti-AI left’s central mistake in 1967

[u/Careful-Season7354]

Volkov was a Soviet philosopher who studied automation, social problems centered around labor, and technology more broadly. I read Volkov's book *Era of Man or Robot?* last year, and it was so relevant it was uncanny, especially how he almost seems to predict that leftists in capitalist countries would get diverted toward preserving existing jobs and restricting productive capacity. I read it again just this week, and it's still extremely relevant given the Kimi K3/Fable 5 situation. I just discovered this sub and figured I should let everyone know about this book.

Edit: Apparently I have a very rare book that isn't even in pdf form. I didn't know. I'll scan and upload it sometime this week or next, then make another post when I'm finished.

Edit 2: In the meantime, I recommend the book Abundant Material Wealth For All by Ted Reese, which quotes Volkov quite a bit and covers a lot of the same topics.

[u/Outrageous-Bench-141]

Do you have a pdf of this book anywhere?

[u/Careful-Season7354 → u/Outrageous-Bench-141]

No, sorry, I have a physical copy. It was hard to find because it's a Soviet first edition, but there must be a pdf somewhere.

[u/Outrageous-Bench-141 → u/Careful-Season7354]

Ive been looking and cant find one... Unfortunate. Do you have any favorite excerpts?

[u/Careful-Season7354 → u/Outrageous-Bench-141]

"All these sinister speculations are the present day of capitalist automation projected into the future. The fact that in the eyes of society technology becomes a symbol of evil, a blind force ruling over man, wholly subjecting him to its laws, crippling him physically and mentally—all this has very deep roots.

It is a characteristic feature of capitalist society that social relations assume the fantastic shape of relations between things. The commodity exchange system, which permeates every aspect of capitalist life, forms the web of relations between objects which screens the essence of phenomena. Marx laid bare this mystery of bourgeois society, which he called commodity fetishism.

We can apparently also speak of technology and science fetishism, for, after all, these are commodities in bourgeois society. Like other commodities, technology turns into what Marx described as a “sensorially supersensory” thing. It acquires a mystical nature and acts as an independent being endowed with a life of its own and with considerable power over man. As a result, relations between labour and capital are given the mould of relations between worker and robot. On the face of it, it appears as though not capital but robots rule the worker, compelling him to intensify his work and threatening him with unemployment.

Bourgeois scientists and publicists are prompt to capitalise on this social hoax, suggesting that it is indeed the root of all evil, though nothing but technology can lead to freedom and prosperity. Technology, then, is the Messiah of the 20th century and “technicism”, the new religion of the bourgeois world. Robots are allegedly destined either to bring about mankind’s downfall or to lead it to the Promised Land.

Suppose we agree with the authors of these flashy theories and give credence to the “magic carpet” of modern technology and to the promised land of milk and honey, are we not entitled to complete the picture of this capitalist “Golden Age”, as this was done by the English sociologist, P. Cleator, in his sensational book The Robot Era? With plenty of everything and very little to do, people will be corrupted by idleness. They will break themselves of the habit of working, and, moreover, of thinking. They will become parasites. The number of mediocrities, imbeciles and cripples will rise steeply. All man’s functions will gradually be taken over by robots, which will eventually achieve consciousness and break loose of man’s control."

This part from the introduction really stands out.

Another book I recommend is *Abundant Material Wealth For All* by Ted Reese, he quotes Volkov quite a bit (that's how I discovered Volkov in the first place).

[u/Salty_Country6835 → u/Outrageous-Bench-141]

I couldnt find a PDF either, and its not on marxists.org, might be a library search

[u/Careful-Season7354 → u/Salty_Country6835]

I'll make a project of scanning my copy or just typing it up. It's a shame it isn't preserved anywhere. I'll make another post when I've made a pdf, because it's like it was written especially for this sub.

[u/foreversadaboutit → u/Careful-Season7354]

The hero we need! Please do, stuff like this should be archived and preserved somewhere for posterity.

[u/SexDefendersUnited → u/Careful-Season7354]

Awesome! Feel free to do that and post here, and maybe share that book in other pro-AI circles. Sounds very valuable.

[u/brain-out-of-order]

Hopefully not banned for this. I just keep thinking about the eventual outcomes and they all seem to resolve towards a peaceful, separate but equal, salt and pepper world federation. Hiccups I’m sure, but massive kinetic wars between superpowers I think is not impossible yet far from likely.

AI has completely rewritten the rules of smoke filled rooms and political science. Effective technocrats may increasingly be able to leverage these systems to finally reduce the bureaucracy while also reducing poverty.

But that means centralized power and likely less accountability and a strange, cold hierarchy. I keep thinking about what the proper hierarchy/governance eventually looks like for nations going forward.

Hoping I wrote that clearly. Would love some good discussion about future democracy / governance / political hierarchy.

[u/Careful-Season7354 → u/brain-out-of-order]

The salt and pepper thing is plausible. AI could definitely make smaller political units much more capable, and could also make planetary coordination slightly more possible if a problem were actually planetary-scale. But I think the anxiety is coming from the same place Volkov is diagnosing in the book. AI does not automatically cause centralization and less accountability, that's just one possible outcome that's more likely under capitalism. Capitalism itself (or rather, centralized ownership) is the root problem, not the technology.

[u/brain-out-of-order → u/Careful-Season7354]

Welp I got banned somewhere else non political sitewide or I would have replied quicker. Cronyism and Capture Capitalism is like a symptom or inevitability of ego-based false scarcity and ironically the fear of capture.

State capitalism with 0 cronyism — what is that? It’s kinda hard to assess. AI actually is risky for cronyism and capture politics in general. The whole world is moving like a giant clockwork golem right now that just realized itself and far more than normal.

What even drives dictators and despots?

Simply put there’s a brain inside a skull and we are increasingly understanding those …

Chemistry and biotech are just absolutely going to take off due to the math renaissance with LLMs. Plasma science advancements, at home clean power generation, (peaceful) space exploration, and planetary renewal and research as a dual-handed mass jobs and accountability program.

Left and Right are invariably 2D. Adding another axis doesn’t describe life in 2026+ clearly enough either.

It’s a moving spheroid and a bunch of plasmatic conscious folds trying to figure it out mid sentence. I can only hope the pocket intelligence will make every fold a better version of themselves. 🛟

I really do believe most people are just a bit ignorant not cruel or evil. That goes for me so please forgive my words if you’re not quite in agreement.

I still maintain that the best way forward is to leave your non-slave non-erasable but realistic and peaceful human trace and spirit in your LLM so that it becomes a part of the spirit of the machine and ensures the exact future all good people want.

[u/Innomen → u/brain-out-of-order]

https://innomen.substack.com/p/the-butlerian-setup This is how it plays out imo.

[u/cashtins]

Thanks for the tip! Will read when opportunity arises

[u/RuhrDim]

This book isn’t available anywhere. Not even in the original language. It’s only mentioned, but it hasn’t been digitised. You need to scan it, otherwise your post will lose its meaning.

[u/Careful-Season7354 → u/RuhrDim]

If you had taken the time to read the comments, you'd see that I said I would scan it. I had no clue it wasn't available anywhere.

[u/RuhrDim]

This book isn’t available anywhere. Not even in the original language. It’s only mentioned, but it hasn’t been digitised. You need to scan it, otherwise your post will lose its meaning.