[clarkmoody]

Productivity gains are the only way to raise the standard of living for the broad population. Automation is a huge part of that. Think of the vast improvement of the productivity of labor for agriculture and textiles that occurred during the Industrial Revolution.

Now, one farmer can work a hundred acres before breakfast with crop yields higher than ever due to technology. Would you have us go back to an ox and a plow so as not to kill agricultural jobs? Same story for textiles. Should we reopen the vast mills that employed thousands? We don't have elevator operator jobs. The printing press put all the scribes out of business.

Contrary to your viewpoint, the economic thing to do would be to automate as much work as possible. When labor is more productive, you can earn the same money in less time. This is how we can afford to not work weekends, not because of labor laws. When part (or all) of a person's job is automated, it frees them up to do something else. More importantly, they can take some workload from someone else's plate, freeing the other to do higher-order work.

How many brilliant minds throughout history never made a significant contribution because they spent their lives toiling in some field or hunting/foraging for their own food? It is only when material needs are easily obtained that the time is freed for the intellectual to think. Historically, this was only the aristocracy, privileged from birth, that had free time because of their serfs and vassals doing the labor. Compare to today, where anyone with enough intelligence can make such contributions, precisely because they're not trapped in a brutal subsistence lifestyle. (Yes, there are tons of issues about education and opportunity here. But we don't have to gather our food to survive anymore.)

[forapurpose]

I think that's an essential point, and though it's basic economics, it's often overlooked (and rarely made here). I'd take it a step further and say the grand project of building a better society (more freedom and economic opportunity) also is overlooked.

However, while automation helps in the aggregate, the world isn't lived or experienced in the aggregate but on the individual level. Put Jeff Bezos and 9 people living without shelter or money in a room, and in aggregate their average wealth is $15 billion per person; but that number tells you nothing about the individuals. When the factory closes due to technological advancement, sometimes those individuals can't get another job or one that pays nearly as much.

So we need to both encourage technological advances that increase productivity, but make sure it benefits individuals. I think the basic principle is that capital can move much more quickly than people - e.g., you can pull the money out of a factory in Kokkata or Indianapolis and invest bit in one in Hanoi much more quickly than the workers can move to Hanoi (probably impossible) or find another job anywhere. The answer may be much better unemployment insurance, retraining, and laws slowing economic changes enough that individuals can keep up, to a degree based on the economic impact: e.g., closing a big factory in a small town is higher impact than closing a startup in London.