Commons-Governed Automation as Material Infrastructure for an Economy for the Common Good

Abstract

The Economy for the Common Good (ECG) movement proposes reorienting economic activity toward social justice and ecological sustainability. Yet a critical question remains underexplored: what material infrastructure could actually sustain such a transition at scale? This paper argues that commons-governed automation — the democratic, community-controlled deployment of artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and distributed manufacturing — provides the missing material foundation for the ECG vision. [...]