I'd love to think so, but the political problems are more intractable than the technological problems. We can automate the tedious work, but until we're willing to support people who are not working/stop considering it a shameful thing automating the tedious work is benefiting the wrong people.One step closer to a post-scarcity economy? Here's hoping it's that direction and not the direction of starvation, destitution and revolt.
I just had a painful, two-hour argument with my mom about runaway disability claims in the US, automation, and the future of work as ethical living. It's really, really hard to change minds. And my mom is pretty amenable to "liberal" ideas. I can't imagine what it would take to change the minds of the tens(/hundreds?) of millions of Americans not predisposed to hating welfare. Maybe all the civil unrest caused by mass unemployment? It isn't heartening to think that it requires crises to spur action.