Summary of Peter Frase's Four Futures

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The author Kurt Vonnegut wrote a book in 1952 called Player Piano, which described a future where production was almost entirely carried out by machines, and where everyone was essentially superfluous from an economic perspective. But the society was rich enough to provide a comfortable life for all of them. #2 To imagine a totally postscarcity world as a utopia, it is necessary to imagine the sources of meaning and purpose in a world where we are not defined by our paid work. #3 Karl Marx believed that communism was beyond the realm of labor and leisure, and that it went beyond the world of work as we understand it. He believed that freedom began where work ended, and that one day we might be able to free ourselves from the realm of necessity altogether. #4 The idea of communism is that after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labor, and the antithesis between mental and physical labor, labor will become not only a means of life but life’s prime want. In that case, we would all be able to do what we love.