Quite a bit of interesting history here. This resonates with my thoughts on the matter.
On the AI/automation point, my largest curiosity is what will happen when we get to 99+% of the automation of all value-providing labor. At that point, the concept of wage labor will be meaningless, and along with it the wherewithal of exchange which currently powers the world economy (money). If the vast majority of the population is unable to provide more value than machines can, what happens then?
It would seem the only logical course would be to return to de-facto cooperation, but humans aren't overall very logical IMO.