Historical cycles do happen, but you can't model them as simply as an oscillating sine wave. And I wouldn't label the peaks and troughs as Marxist vs. Capitalist extremes; an axis of expansion vs. preservation would be more suitable. And in any case, this sine wave model seems to posit a supreme and transcendent universal Capitalism whereby all possible resources are extracted and exploited in a way that maximizes both utility and desire-production.
https://www.amazon.com/Accelerando-Singularity-Charles-Stross/dp/0441014151
Brilliant. Surprised you didn't mention Accelerando (the book by Charles Stross, not the piano study series by Robert Schultz and Tina Faigen), though, at least in passing; not that it would lend credence to any of your arguments, per se, but it's a good read for imagining some unexpected post-capitalistic outcomes.
If anyone is interested in reading a sci-fi/cyberpunk book that deals with these more advanced physics concepts, I can really recommend Charles Stross' Accelerando
I love this.
The movie Her was a breath of fresh air because the AIs weren't monsters, even though they did the whole Accelerando thing and hit some Singularity on their own.
It would be hard, but if you can manage it you might want to try pulling a Frankenstein (the original) and making humans the monsters and the "creature" (your AI) the morally superior being.
The thing you're going to struggle with is that it is difficult to write characters that are smarter than yourself. And an AGI is smarter than anyone. One trick you could use is to keep in mind that an AI will be able to anticipate almost everything a human will say or do - it will almost seem to be prescient, able to see into the future. So any trick or outwitting of the AI that the humans attempt will need to ultimately turn out to be part of the AI's plan. But I think it would be fun if the AI had a benevolent plan or inscrutable plan, instead of just a boring old Big Evil Plan. Maybe a fun twist could be that it planned to be trapped, for some reason.
Another example of this is the book Accellerando by Charles Stross. One of the main concepts in the first fifth of the book is a foundation of a reputation based economy, where people purchase stock in the ideas and honest views of individuals, which are then traded like a commodity.
And then the singularity happens.
I highly recommend that book.
<em>Accelerando</em> by Charles Stross might make a decent impression on him - it's basically a hyperstimulated rollercoaster riding the emergence of a grey goo singularity out of the networks of global technocapitalism. Walter Kauffman's Portable Nietzsche is easy to get into as Nietzsche goes, and would make a good grindstone upon which to sharpen his intellectual tendencies.
When I was 13, my parents gave me a nice hardtail mountain bike. This allowed me to tear around various suburbs, ride down concrete steps, skid across loose soil in public parks, and generally get a sense of what geographical mobility felt like, as well as training me to be conscious of risk from competing road traffic. This was an excellent education for a young teenager to have - mastering danger and being able to travel under my own power, not to mention getting me out into the real world and away from my device screens. So, a mountain bike would be a definite consideration based on your criteria, budget permitting. But if you're living in a more urban/suburban environment, or if there's a dearth of satisfying earthen hills in your immediate area, then a fixed gear road bike would be faster, more practical, no less satisfying, and quite possibly more aesthetic. r/FixedGearBicycle has some buying guides on their sidebar - some tried and true complete builds can be bought new for as low as $300, though I'd warn you to seek out the ones that include brakes for obvious safety reasons. And any bike would of course necessitate a helmet and some obnoxiously bright front and rear lights.
Favorite I've read in a while... http://www.amazon.com/Accelerando-Singularity-Charles-Stross/dp/0441014151
They should turn this into a movie - http://www.amazon.com/Accelerando-Singularity-Charles-Stross/dp/0441014151
Nobody said this yet?
READ ACCELERANDO, BY CHARLES STROSS – ASAP!
Any science-fictionally inclined posttheist will readily accept this book as gospel. If you have never told a Jehovah's Witness about the rapture of the nerds you haven't had a truly fulfilling argument with one of them.
(You can also buy the dead tree pulp version if you don't trust free stuff and/or lack propper head mounted reading devices.)