4th Industrial Revolution Distributism
"3D printers and a house"
The failures of socialism and capitalism have been made obvious in the 20th and 21st century respectively. Socialism failed to achieve a classless society, and instead resulted in some of the most oppressive regimes in human history. Capitalism failed to spread prosperity to the working classes and resulted in the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few plutocrats. Both systems centralized control, decimated the environment, collapsed birthrates, and robbed individuals of agency. In the interests of freedom, dignity, prosperity, the environment, and stability, a better system is needed.
Socialism and neoliberal capitalism both formed as reactions to the industrial revolution, and any solution going forward will likewise need to cater to the needs of the times. Socialism attempted to solve the massive inequality between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat by empowering the state to seize the means of production. Neoliberal capitalism simply assumed the free market would solve society's ills. Neither of these solutions worked, but what to replace them with? Fascism resulted in a totalitarian nightmare, and anarchy in practice has only lasted a few months at best. Distributism, the idea of decentralizing the means of production, was proposed as a solution in the 20th century. However, distributism has never been tried and with good reason; classical distributism suggests going back to an agrarian lifestyle and artisanal goods. No one will willingly give up the comforts of industrial society.
The benefits of industrialization come from mass production, while the drawbacks come from the centralization of control. Mass production allows for the creation of cheap consumer goods. Centralizing control results in less freedom and more corruption. Therefore, any solutions must be able to compete with economies of scale and must be decentralized. Distributism would obviously be decentralized, but an agrarian society of artisanal produced goods could simply not compete with mass production. Distributism needs an upgrade.
The first industrial revolution gave us electricity and machinery but made us dependent on power companies. The second revolution gave us steel and mass production but made us dependent on large scale manufacturers. The third industrial revolution gave us all of mankind's information at our fingertips but made us dependent on internet service providers and semiconductor manufacturers. The 4th industrial revolution will focus on artificial intelligence, automation, and biotechnology and has the potential to either further enslave us or truly set us free.
If adopted by socialism or capitalism the 4th industrial revolution will focus on surveillance and changing the human condition using biotechnology. Power has further centralized with each industrial revolution and a true surveillance state would be the ultimate expression of centralization. Declining birthrates show that humanity is simply not psychologically suited for modern society so a "new man" will be necessary for the continuation of either system. If ideologies of centralization are allowed to continue, what truly makes us human is at stake.
In the third industrial revolution many "open source" projects were developed by various online communities such as Linux, the Maker Movement, and the Precious Plastics Movement. Such movements show that individuals and decentralized communities can produce goods on a smaller scale. 3D printers, CNC machines, small-scale bioreactors, miniature foundries, and kilns all allow for the creation of goods and are all capable of supporting larger industries. These technologies would allow for distributism to compete with mass production. Chief among these technologies is the bioreactor, which can support everything from plastics, to fertilizers, to semiconductors.
Large scale production may benefit from producing many goods at once, but such processes are not very adaptable. Take an oil refinery for example which can cost millions to adjust a process. A small yeast fermentation chamber only costs a few thousand dollars at most and is much more adaptable because the microorganisms inside can easily be switched out. Adaptable processes would allow communities to shift their production focus depending on their needs. Key components and materials would need to be standardized so that local communities could trade and coordinate production with one another. One could argue that society has standardized parts under centralized modes of production, but one only needs to look at a modern smart phone to know that this is incorrect. Likewise, modularity should also be enforced across different communities. Machinery needs to be made so that one part can easily be switched with another, and chemicals manufactured to specific compositions and purities. Standardization and quality control would be two major functions of any state with a distributist economy.
The primary function of the state should be to ensure that healthy families are being formed for the sake of the continuation of our species. To do this a state must create safe and stable communities for families to thrive. Must take steps to guarantee, as best as possible, the physical, mental and economic health of the populace. Protect the population from foreign and domestic threats be they physical threats, economic threats, or moral threats. Research innovative solutions to compete with foreign competition and strategic adversaries. And to mediate conflict and competition among citizens.