[WheelsAtLarge]

"few components into many distinct products with differences in technique or ratio is still cheaper to do with manual labor."

True, the more specialized the final product is the less likely it is that it will get automated.

Our current wave of automation will have its greatest impact on white collar jobs. Many of the jobs will get redefined into simpler functions and the very simple functions will be automated by software. Two I can quickly think of are Medical and legal services. These services will be greatly impacted in a few decades. The professionals won't go away but there will be a few elite ones that will have many assistants who will use information services to help them do their job.

I've started to see it. The medical offices I use have many more physician's assistants now than a few years ago to name one impact.

The idea of complete automation is unlikely to happen any time soon. I don't even think it will even happen in our grandchildren's lifetime but limited automation will have a great impact on our society.

We have to be careful with the word "Myth" since automation will have and is having a great impact on us.