The danger is less with automation and more with the speed of automation.
It's hard to retrain. When the change happens between generations there's a natural progression with parent: stable hand, child: mechanic.
When it happens 1-2-5 times in a person's career, then those are some really painful resets.
Sure, some will swim. But the social contract with democracy isn't that "some" swim, it's that "almost everyone swims" (which we generally call "everybody", but that's a separate discussion).
Long term and across society automation is absolutely positive sum. But short-to-long term for those on the short end of the stick it's clearly not.
It's hard to retrain. When the change happens between generations there's a natural progression with parent: stable hand, child: mechanic.
When it happens 1-2-5 times in a person's career, then those are some really painful resets.
Sure, some will swim. But the social contract with democracy isn't that "some" swim, it's that "almost everyone swims" (which we generally call "everybody", but that's a separate discussion).
Long term and across society automation is absolutely positive sum. But short-to-long term for those on the short end of the stick it's clearly not.