re: The Great Stagnation

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Ya, while there may come a time when automation eventually does "take over," it is not any time soon. At present, it seems to be that tech advancement is replacing people in one place, but spawning off new technologies that do require workers. Those techs eventually get more automated and replace those workers, but then we have another new tech, and so on.

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The problem is that this next wave of automation isn't going to create jobs in 5 new areas while replacing them in 1. It's going to completely render entire segments of the labor force worthless all around the same time depending on how much government regulation holds back the technology. The lower segments of the economy will be easily replaced by machines, and people currently occupying those segments are not typically upwardly mobile, so they'll just become permanently unemployed.

If something is routine, it will be done by a combination of computers and robots. So for 85% of the most commonly handled tasks, be it buying groceries, stocking shelves, driving a truck, healthcare, or legal advice, machines will get the job done. For the 15% of the time that they can't, you'll be referred to the human specialist. I don't think people realize just how disruptive this next wave of technology is going to be. The only thing that will hold it back is regulation and comfort level with not dealing with a real person that may take a generation or 2 to adjust.