Every time this topic come up, I link this video:

and this associated conversation:

the above should start at 34 minutes, if the link didn't work appropriately. If anything, I think the first video is a preface to the conversation in the second. maybe not "required listening" on this subject, but pretty close.

The question isn't if, it's when, and anyone who says "never" is either uninformed, lying to themselves or lying to you. Then when just keeps getting closer all the time, as larger businesses are spending more and more RnD money on digital and physical automation.

As soon as the transport industry picks up on automation, even if it was just for long distance hauling on interstates (separating out dense city driving just for the sake of argument), it would STILL put a million of people out of work. Think about it - not just the transport truck drivers, but also all of the hotels and motels that would have to shrink their staff or shut down due to less demand from those truck drivers, and restaurants, and gas stations, and all the other services that they use.

what are these people going to do? we don't have 1 million new jobs to retrain these people for.

I was speaking with my dad, who's an aircraft safety inspector, and according to him commercial airplanes have been mostly automated with two dudes to watch the machine work for more than a decade. The majority of problems on flights in the past few years have been caused when pilots have taken control of the plane, and not the other way around. We're already pretty much there, and we need to prepare for this shit now.

It's basically the best argument for basic income anyone has ever made, imo.