Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights general secretary GAWAIN LITTLE discusses the impact of the US-Israeli war on the Iranian people and economy
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I am not a robot: PhD students and exploitation
The majority of scientific research is carried out by PhD students who are not paid wages but a 'stipend' of £15,609 — and this year's increase is not in line with inflation — ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and JOEL HELLEWELL report on their plight
Capitalism has extracted itself from crisis before, argues PRABHAT PATNAIK – but through methods no longer available. So it is turning to authoritarianism, militarism and neocolonialism
The five young men killed in the A66 crash were responsible for a devastating tragedy — but the crash should force us to ask difficult questions about wider society, argues RENATA MEDEIROS MIRRA
Britain funds the policing of black culture 16 times better than the culture itself. The Diamond Jubilee is the moment to end that, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
Despite Andy Burnham’s declaration defending the continued partition of the island, all major international and internal trends are converging to make Irish reunification inevitable
Humans are part of the ‘animal kingdom’ – and of nature in general – but also distinct from it and labour (work) is part of what makes us unique, declared Engels. His insights 150 years ago into how our species came to be and how we differ from the rest of nature, are as important today as they were then, says the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY
FOR those of us that believe that people are the future of humanity, robots and machines present a challenge — and an ambivalent prospect. The industrial revolution, in which machines were introduced on a huge scale, changed the relationship of the working and capitalist classes, as well as the relationship between workers and their labour.
The invention of machines has in some ways improved the quality of human lives. However, the net benefit seems impossible to calculate: machines are used, in practice, not to improve lives, but to increase capital. Today billions live half-controlled by machines.
In our last column, we discussed the consequences of automation applied to personal communication in the form of chat bots. Robots of all forms are also big news in the practice of science.
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China’s investment and commitment to scientific research is already paying off, pushing the country to the centre stage of global technological advance, writes S Krishnaswamy
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
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