Marx is wrong - capitalism is adaptable and will innovate to find new solutions to existential risks and social inequalities

Despite this, Marx’s prophecy is unlikely to be fulfilled. On the one hand, he took a teleological model of change that holds that a state of affairs nurtures its opposite, and that from the violent clash between the two a completely new state of affairs bursts into existence. However, the idea that changes happens in evolutionary and not revolutionary fashion seems to better describe societal change. Marx underestimated the adaptability of capitalism. Social systems can absorb challenges, tweak practices, learn from the past and come up with novel solutions to problems, especially when threatened by radical alternatives. For instance, in the late 19th century, as the influence of socialism and communism in Europe rose, Otto von Bismarck introduced the foundations of the modern welfare state, in order to reduce their influence in Germany (Valocchi, 1990). Like in the past, new policy innovations are currently being explored to find new ways to deal with the social pressure resulting from the increasing obsolescence of manual labour, as can be seen in the experimenting with . On the other hand, Marx did not account correctly for the effect of increases in productivity caused by durable technological progress. The Industrial Revolution saw both wages and living standards rise, which lowered the pressure for revolutionary change and served as a counterweight to the process of accumulation of private capital. Similarly, block-chains and artificial intelligence are expected to increase productivity significantly. While technological progresses will lead to new social pressures, new policy innovations such as Universal Basic Income might serve as counterweights. It is true that many jobs will be replaced by technology, however it is also true that a range of new jobs is going to be created. Two decades ago, nobody would have expected the emergence of jobs including app developers, data scientists or Instagram influencers. While certain jobs will disappear, newly created ones will require a different set of skills, put a premium on creativity, problem solving skills and the ability to connect with people. Marx’s revolution, then, will not materialise in the 21st century. Despite this, the future of capitalism, as its past, will lead to new socio-economic consequences and the continued transformation of employment, modes of production and societal structure.