Contemporany automation and the blind ideal of free time

Abstract

The article proposes a reading from a contemporary perspective of Marx against the scenario of automation; that is, the substitution of the human labor force —in cognitive functions that are more complex day after day— by machines. For this purpose, the document analyses Marx’s insights regarding Smith’s notion of productive work in order to differentiate between accumulation and free time from a critical perspective around the two main consequences of automation: unemployment and labor polarization.