All the deals I listed are done within the framework of BRICS. That’s literally the whole point of BRICS, it brings countries together, and facilitates economic activity. You’re basically making a straw man where you claim that BRICS needs to be something it’s not, and then you argue that it’s a failure because not this thing you declared it to be. And you refuse to engage with the reality of what it is and the actual purpose of the organization.
Meanwhile, the reality is that China is still a developing country. And it still has hundreds of millions of people who live in poverty. Their approach is to continue developing poor regions which is what’s driving consumption. They don’t need people to replace toasters very year, because they have plenty of legitimate development happening. And because they are working with the rest of the developing world and helping them raise their standard of living, they’re literally creating future markets for their industries right now.
These are the BRI investments you’re talking about, and it seems like a sound strategy. While countries benefiting from this are starting to take over lower ends, China is simply moving up the value chain here. I don’t think this is some sort of an unintended or unforeseen consequence.
Finally, if automation does start replacing manual labor at scale, which is possible, I also expect shorter work week and reduction in work hours will be the outcome. This is a net positive for society. It’s literally what having automation should result in, people having more free time to enjoy their lives.
The whole problem with automation only exists in a capitalist society where it’s deemed that people have to work to live. China doesn’t have this problem because people already own housing, food is cheap, and they have affordable healthcare and education that’s not run for profit. If they end up in a situation where there’s not enough work to go around, they can effectively implement universal basic services where everybody has necessities of life guaranteed as a human right. People who want to work and have skills that are useful will continue to apply themselves. This seems to be the whole goal with achieving basic socialist modernization that China set for 2035. http://english.scio.gov.cn/whitepapers/2021-04/06/content_77380652_8.htm
It’s important to understand that Chinese system is not just a mirror of western liberal capitalism. The decisions that would be made here in face of mass automation are not the same decisions China will make.
China is a developing country because it started out from a position of utter devastation after the end of second world war, and they’ve been investing in development that’s raising the standard of living for the working majority. The US is the direct opposite of that where the standard of living is now collapsing from the peak seen during the cold war.
I’m also not confusing BRICS and BRI, although there is overlap between them. The examples I gave you earlier were all from BRICS cooperation. I honestly don’t know why you have such a hard time acknowledging that BRICS is a functioning economic bloc that’s rapidly growing right now.
You’re right that you don’t strictly need an organization like BRICS, but it obviously helps. For example, BRICS stipulates that members cannot sanction each other, which has become a really important rule of late given American shenanigans.
Communism in Chinese context does actually mean Marxism. There are other parties in China, but their role is that of consultation. CPC is the party in charge. The system is quite different in nature from a parliamentary one we have under liberalism. I’ve written about it in detail here if you’re interested https://dialecticaldispatches.substack.com/p/rethinking-governance-through-outcomes
Believe me I’m quite familiar with Chinese culture. I understand the whole saving face thing you’re talking about perfectly well. I’ll also refer you to the above link to see how elections actually work in China. There are plenty of solutions for reducing work while letting people feel like they’re relevant in practice. For example, we have bullshit jobs in the west today where people do work that has absolutely no meaning of social value. There are plenty of better ways to solve the problem.
The reality is that it’s unlikely that China is going to end up in a place where there’s no need for human labor in the foreseeable future. There will always be some work to do, but the nature of the work will change, and possibly people will be working less overall.
Meanwhile, the problem of aging population exists pretty much in all developed countries. It’s actually worse in the US than it is in China right now. Automation is largely removing hard manual work, and moving people into better jobs. There is a lot of reskilling happening in China right now. And the government is actively creating programs to help workers transition to new types of roles. Can highly recommend the summary of the two big recent political events focusing on these issues:
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All the deals I listed are done within the framework of BRICS. That’s literally the whole point of BRICS, it brings countries together, and facilitates economic activity. You’re basically making a straw man where you claim that BRICS needs to be something it’s not, and then you argue that it’s a failure because not this thing you declared it to be. And you refuse to engage with the reality of what it is and the actual purpose of the organization.
Meanwhile, the reality is that China is still a developing country. And it still has hundreds of millions of people who live in poverty. Their approach is to continue developing poor regions which is what’s driving consumption. They don’t need people to replace toasters very year, because they have plenty of legitimate development happening. And because they are working with the rest of the developing world and helping them raise their standard of living, they’re literally creating future markets for their industries right now.
These are the BRI investments you’re talking about, and it seems like a sound strategy. While countries benefiting from this are starting to take over lower ends, China is simply moving up the value chain here. I don’t think this is some sort of an unintended or unforeseen consequence.
Finally, if automation does start replacing manual labor at scale, which is possible, I also expect shorter work week and reduction in work hours will be the outcome. This is a net positive for society. It’s literally what having automation should result in, people having more free time to enjoy their lives.
The whole problem with automation only exists in a capitalist society where it’s deemed that people have to work to live. China doesn’t have this problem because people already own housing, food is cheap, and they have affordable healthcare and education that’s not run for profit. If they end up in a situation where there’s not enough work to go around, they can effectively implement universal basic services where everybody has necessities of life guaranteed as a human right. People who want to work and have skills that are useful will continue to apply themselves. This seems to be the whole goal with achieving basic socialist modernization that China set for 2035. http://english.scio.gov.cn/whitepapers/2021-04/06/content_77380652_8.htm
It’s important to understand that Chinese system is not just a mirror of western liberal capitalism. The decisions that would be made here in face of mass automation are not the same decisions China will make.
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China is a developing country because it started out from a position of utter devastation after the end of second world war, and they’ve been investing in development that’s raising the standard of living for the working majority. The US is the direct opposite of that where the standard of living is now collapsing from the peak seen during the cold war.
I’m also not confusing BRICS and BRI, although there is overlap between them. The examples I gave you earlier were all from BRICS cooperation. I honestly don’t know why you have such a hard time acknowledging that BRICS is a functioning economic bloc that’s rapidly growing right now.
You’re right that you don’t strictly need an organization like BRICS, but it obviously helps. For example, BRICS stipulates that members cannot sanction each other, which has become a really important rule of late given American shenanigans.
Communism in Chinese context does actually mean Marxism. There are other parties in China, but their role is that of consultation. CPC is the party in charge. The system is quite different in nature from a parliamentary one we have under liberalism. I’ve written about it in detail here if you’re interested https://dialecticaldispatches.substack.com/p/rethinking-governance-through-outcomes
Believe me I’m quite familiar with Chinese culture. I understand the whole saving face thing you’re talking about perfectly well. I’ll also refer you to the above link to see how elections actually work in China. There are plenty of solutions for reducing work while letting people feel like they’re relevant in practice. For example, we have bullshit jobs in the west today where people do work that has absolutely no meaning of social value. There are plenty of better ways to solve the problem.
The reality is that it’s unlikely that China is going to end up in a place where there’s no need for human labor in the foreseeable future. There will always be some work to do, but the nature of the work will change, and possibly people will be working less overall.
Meanwhile, the problem of aging population exists pretty much in all developed countries. It’s actually worse in the US than it is in China right now. Automation is largely removing hard manual work, and moving people into better jobs. There is a lot of reskilling happening in China right now. And the government is actively creating programs to help workers transition to new types of roles. Can highly recommend the summary of the two big recent political events focusing on these issues: