Yea, it's a difficult topic for an internet forum. (Probably better suited for think-tank roundtable disscussions.) If a job is eliminated, and a new job was created, (to me) the original job was still eliminated. It's a different job. That new job may have different hours, different qualifications, and be in a different location.

As productivity increases with more automation, the economy will do very well. Poor, uneducated individuals in rural areas will see jobs disappear. I don't think it is comprehensive to look at job loss and disregard it, since at the macro-level employment may be zero-sum. I think that would be a disservice to the individuals that will be affected.

fullshark was probably more concise and eloquent with how he stated my thoughts in another comment on this thread.