Transcription
[Music] The Star Wars saga is over. A series of three interconnected trilogies has told the tale of the Skywalker family and their central role in seemingly everything important in the galaxy.
It ended with a bit of a thud, as *The Rise of Skywalker* was broadly condemned by both critics and fans as weak, poorly structured, and incomplete. Nevertheless, the conclusion throws Star Wars into sharp relief, allowing us to see the whole picture and how their universe functions.
Star Wars, though technically set in the past relative to the present of the audience, is painted in the aesthetic of the future. Ships of all shapes and sizes can easily travel across the galaxy at faster-than-light speed. In the first Star Wars movie, *A New Hope*, the Millennium Falcon, described as a piece of junk by Luke Skywalker, is still capable of reaching speeds often believed impossible by *The Last Jedi*. We discover that these speeds are so powerful that they could also be weaponized, and by *The Rise of Skywalker*, we discover that these speeds do not even require the long, precise calculations that were explained in *A New Hope*, only a little bravery and a push of a button.
As the Star Wars movies progressed, the used future or rustpunk feel was slowly replaced by greater and more outlandish technologies, much like the progression of technology in the real world. By *The Rise of Skywalker*, it seems like there is nothing that cannot be done. Artificial intelligence has not only come into place but is taken for granted. A moisture farm in the middle of nowhere can own multiple droids to assist with work. Droids, properly distributed, could theoretically perform all the labor that organic beings require. Droids are built with enough intelligence to be sentient and enough emotion to be relatable, but completely non-living droids could be built instead, no more sentient than a toaster but with higher capabilities, releasing countless people from bondage and wage labor while avoiding the immorality of creating a slave race.
In science fiction, some advanced machines are alive, and some advanced machines are not. C-3PO is alive; Rey's lightsaber is not. The Galactic Empire could simply build machines that are not alive, do the work for the humans and assorted aliens who would then collectively own and distribute the products of non-living droid work, and allow said humans and assorted aliens lives in which all of their basic needs are met. No labor besides basic droid maintenance would be required. In *The Rise of Skywalker*, Babu Frick is a kind of droid mechanic, but basic maintenance can apparently be performed by laymen. In *The Phantom Menace*, C-3PO is built by a child slave with little resources, so comparatively less advanced, non-sentient robots could be maintained by laymen as much as someone in the real world can pump their own gasoline and change a flat tire. So why is this not the reality of the Star Wars universe, and how does this relate to the real world?
This goal, this singularity of reaching a point in technological advancement in which labor is broadly abolished, is sometimes called, both humorously and sincerely, fully automated luxury communism. It is both a meme and an academic topic. This is a bit reductive, but the idea is that the more technology advances and the more power we give to tech companies, the faster our own labor will fall. Society can then be structured around this non-work for all, leaving all labor to machines and nothing but recreation and an endless vacation for people.
Star Trek takes the luxury component of this, meaning all Federation citizens' needs are met, but does not take the fully automated component, as nearly all Federation citizens have jobs that they do to better themselves, like a kind of negative impression of the Protestant work ethic, in which work itself is its own reward. Star Wars is nowhere near as optimistic but has far more ingredients for this fully automated luxury communism, most notably the automated part.
Characters in Star Wars often live in poverty, and anything to help them get through their labor is exploited. Prior to purchasing C-3PO and R2-D2, Luke's uncle Owen already had at least one other droid. Droids are used in place of organic beings all the time, most notably the droid army built to wage war so that organic beings with more rights wouldn't have to. It seems a little strange that the Empire doesn't just try this, right? It would certainly reduce recruitment in the Rebellion if everyone was suddenly not poor and had all their needs met. And if the Rebels had moral qualms with this, there really is no reason for these hypothetical new laborer droids to be sentient and have emotions and desires. I don't know why anyone would build R2 units with rich inner lives and also make them slaves with no rights in the first place. They could just be toasters. It's fine.
So again, why doesn't the Empire do this? Well, the real answer to this is that this is a movie, and it wouldn't exactly be Star Wars without a series of, you know, wars. But there is another thing to think about as this relates to the real world. Fully automated luxury communism gets a lot of criticism from actual leftists because it seems like communism as proposed by capitalists. It is not the future based on what we could do to change the world now, but instead is a future based on a kind of acceptance of capitalism to drive us to that future.
One counter-argument to the futurist promise of fully automated luxury communism is that the rise of greater technology has not been parallel to a diminishing of income inequality. Greater need for technology has actually created more exploitation to achieve and maintain said technology. Tech companies are frequently complicit in human rights abuses, one notable instance being the mining of cobalt in Africa.
Another criticism of the theory of fully automated luxury communism is that such a future is so far away, and capitalism is literally destroying the world right now. We can't wait for another century to change our economic structure. Yet another counter-argument to this potential future is that the hypothetical capitalist purveyors of this remarkable future do not want to eliminate the socio-economic hierarchies that keep them in power. Relying on powerful corporations to set us free ignores their goals and pretends that the rich have solidarity with the workers of the world. There is already enough food to feed the entire world, but corporations don't want to feed the world; they want to make money and feel no obligation to feed the world.
The theory of fully automated luxury communism always falls apart at the assumption of benevolence on the part of those creating this hypothetical technology. Believing this is a technological inevitability misunderstands the power dynamics inherent in our current economic system, certainly not only in terms of individual billionaires but the system itself. Because capitalism, as a system, will never incentivize dismantling itself. Actual action must be taken, not just waiting around for the preposterous scenario of billion-dollar tech companies giving everyone on Earth a better life free of charge a hundred years from now. Something besides capitalism is possible, but it's not something that's going to be given to us by capitalists.
Fully automated luxury communism is not communism, despite the name. Its billionaire hero worship and capitalist utopianism, reliant on centuries more of the present conditions, relying on technology alone to save us in the future, on markets to save us in the future, is just neoliberalism with extra steps.
The Millennium Falcon gets faster or more precise as the movies go on. Droids become less cannon fodder and more advanced. And despite all of this, nothing changes in terms of economics or equality because technological advances are nothing without societal advances, and the people in charge of the distribution of this technology are not interested in giving up their positions. In the Star Wars universe, the Galactic Empire doesn't invent a droid labor force for the same reason that real-world tech companies are not going to usher in a world where the executives of tech companies have no more power than anyone else. Emperor Palpatine doesn't want to save the galaxy; he wants to rule it. That is the future of capitalism: greater and more powerful technology to better control people, not to liberate people. Capitalism does not liberate because capitalism does not work toward anything besides capitalism.
All you need is a little rewiring. Children need to be fully immunized. And alas, are your children fully immunized against childhood diseases? Call your doctor or local health department and find out. Immunize your children, please. And may the Force be with you.