The attacks on black academics are well-funded and relentless, writes DIANE ABBOTT, and they need to be fearlessly resisted by all concerned
What’s the future with AI?
The increased efficiency of any aspect of capitalism will not automatically lead to its collapse and transformation — avoiding the dangers and realising the potential of AI will involve struggle, argues the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY
Extreme hot weather resulting from environmental change needs to be tackled through greater firefighting investment instead of fewer jobs and less resources, writes COLIN BROWN
There are many intricate details about the new Saudi, Turkish and Pakistani alliance we do not yet know, suggests ROGER McKENZIE, but its impact could be considerable
Holyrood incompetence has cost jobs and put the future of Clydeside’s Ferguson Marine shipyard into jeopardy. Its future should have been assured, argues KENNY MACASKILL
Hot and dry conditions are threatening British species unequipped for drought, explains PAUL ASHTON
The Baltic state is set to reverse its constitutional prohibition on nuclear weapons and foreign bases as part of accelerated Nato war preparations, warns TOM UNTERRAINER
PART ONE of this answer emphasised that information technologies, from “good old-fashioned artificial intelligence” of the 1960s and ’70s to robotics and machine learning today, greatly magnify the contradictions of capitalism.
They raise a host of questions: whether development should focus on medical diagnostics or personal surveillance; whether “we” need driverless cars and “just walk out” shopping and if so, whether they should be limited to those who can afford them or “owned” collectively; — and in either case, under whose control and scrutiny.
At a deeper level, it raises fundamental issues about the structural changes within global capitalism, the use of technologies for social control, repression — and war — and the required left and labour movement response.
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Dignity is important to all humans, argues the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School, but it does not come about automatically. In a less than perfect world, dignity can accompany suffering, but the collective dignity of working people is achieved through acting together to change the world.
Elon Musk says AI will make work optional. The world of abundance he predicts actually spells the end of the capitalist system, argues FAWZI IBRAHIM
Nature as well as society works dialectically, asserts the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School
MARTIN GRAHAM welcomes, with reservations, a scholarly addition to the unfinished business of understanding how capital works on a world scale