How Capitalism Ends Humanity

“How Capitalism Ends Humanity” compares two texts, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) and Alice W. Fuller’s “A Wife Manufactured to Order” (1895), and foregrounds their arguments about how capitalism and humanity cannot coexist. In Metropolis, the inhumane practices of capitalist rulers and enforced mechanical behavior of the factory workers demonstrate this tension. In “A Wife Manufactured to Order,” the commercialization of robot women does so. This analysis concludes that, ultimately, all participants in capitalism (i.e. laborers, owners, and consumers) will reject capitalism for real humanity. The “capitalism vs. humanity” lens can be used to project future backlash to advancements in artificial intelligence.