Thread by @ArashKolahi

Andrew Yang’s vision is a high-tech dystopian future premised on the inevitability of a small handful of elites & CEOs reaping virtually all the benefits of technological progress while leaving most of us behind.

Thread. 1/21

His is a future where technology & AI will replace most work & those of us left in the dust will be “free” from labor, but luckily for us we will be placated with a “Freedom Dividend”. 2/21

Yang’s nightmare vision is neither a leftist vision inspired by leftist values nor is it deserving of support by anyone remotely on the left.

I understand that’s a bold statement & I don’t take it lightly. The burden is on me to prove it to be the case & I will do so… 3/21

First, let’s look at the values of freedom, democracy & self-management. These are values related to power & decision making. Leftists want people to have a say in the decisions that affect them, proportional to how much the decision affects them. 4/21

https://twitter.com/ArashKolahi/status/1125471207086649346?s=20

Given the above, we want workplaces to be more participatory with workers having more say. That includes how technology is used.

Technology could be used to replace workers &/or make workers as dispensable as possible, thus driving wages down & unemployment up. 5/21

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Technology is like a tool. A hammer, for example, could be used to build a home or it could be used to break things... or people.

Its inherent value depends on how it is decided to use it. 6/21

Rather than being used against workers, technology could actually be used to improve workplace safety, get rid of rote, degrading tasks that no one likes to do while making workplaces more dignified & empowering! 7/21

That’s the power of giving workers a voice. In a truly leftist future, workplaces would be more fulfilling & participatory because of technology, not less. 8/21

Yang’s future, on the other hand, doesn’t explicitly state that workers will have no voice. However, his vision implies the dynamics of workplaces remain as they are now, either because he doesn’t believe they are changeable or because he doesn’t want real systemic changes. 9/21

The 2nd set of leftist values we can look at is of equity, fairness & justice. Central to leftist vision is a world where institutions reproduce equitable & fair results. This also means the benefits & debits of our roles are equitably distributed. 10/21

https://twitter.com/ArashKolahi/status/1146165768356270086?s=20

Over the last 50 years productivity (& per capita GDP) has skyrocketed, while real wages have declined. Virtually NONE of the productivity gains over the last half-century have benefited workers! None.

That’s not equitable. 11/21

Workers contribute to the bulk of innovation. However, virtually all the benefits, including both profits associated with innovation as well as how technology is used benefit owners. 12/21

In a leftist vision economic benefits would be equitably distributed. People would be rewarded for hard work, effort, sacrifice, duration of time worked, etc.. Work would be fulfilling, empowering & bring out our best. 13/21

There would be full employment with dignified & empowering work for everyone able to work & a median or average income for all who are unable to work. 14/21

The creative & innovative potential of the 80% currently robbed of their full potential would be finally liberated. 15/21

A leftist vision sees work as a source of dignified fulfillment & pride. A leftist vision sees technology as a tool to those ends: equitably reducing the worst of labor, while liberating the best – for everyone. 16/21

Propaganda aside, our upside-down system does none of these things and is virtually the opposite of equity. 17/21

What about other leftist values like solidarity, environmental sustainability, creativity, etc? In all cases, Yang’s vision takes everything that is wrong with our society as unchangeable givens. 18/21

Rather than make any meaningful progress towards a more democratic, liberated, equitable, dignified & ultimately more fulfilling future, his solution accepts defeat. 19/21

Yang’s future takes the worst of our economic institutions as an unchangeable given. He takes no insights from history. He takes no insights from labor movements. 20/21

Yang's assumption is that we must accept our wretched fate of becoming obsolete by technology.

Those of us on the left would rather use technology to make life more democratic, equitable & fulfilling... in other words make the ruling class obsolete. ❤️21/21