If anything, history has gone in the opposite direction. The Luddites who broke into factories and smashed machines? Publicly executed.
The same argument you’re making about automation could’ve been made 70 years ago before outsourcing was the norm. Those factory workers whose jobs were sold for pennies on the dollar? They will rise up against the factory owners. Actually, it turns out that racism is a pretty powerful distraction.
Luddites might have lost but the governments and the industrialists also got lots of restraints against actual problems that the industrial revolution caused. Pensions, working condition requirements, environment protections, restrictions on child labour etc. Luddites were early reactionaries without a real solution to actual problems, then the world has seen successful movements that proposed workable solutions for the real problems.
I don't believe even a bit that the progress can be stopped, can't even be slowed IMHO. However the society will be dramatically transformed and that transform wouldn't end as a libertarian dream world.
The problem is the thinking that either stopping or slowing is obtainable or even desirable. “Progress” isn’t a single path thing. The goal is to progress in directions that minimize externalities and maximize benefit to all. Instead of trying to retard or stop a trend entirely, instead how can we counterbalance negative outcomes and direct its growth in a positive way?
John Henry fought the steam digger and won, but it killed him. Fast forward to the present I don’t see tunnel projects unmanned - instead they’re covered in people working on various things. The difference is the people aren’t hired for their strong backs but for their strong mind and skill. Machines aren’t replacing people - they’re replacing the people doing the job now with new people doing an adjacent job. The churn in labor is definitely painful, but it’s disingenuous to say automation has eliminated work for humans. It’s just changing the nature of work.
Finally, what’s so awesome about working? I welcome a time when humans are freed from the chains of toil. And if robots fight each other, as long as they do it away from people, that’s one job I’m thrilled to see end.
The same argument you’re making about automation could’ve been made 70 years ago before outsourcing was the norm. Those factory workers whose jobs were sold for pennies on the dollar? They will rise up against the factory owners. Actually, it turns out that racism is a pretty powerful distraction.