A lot of countries are looking at UBI others are looking at options for having more people working less hours and sharing the jobs. Whatever the solution the future is very scary, I can't think of many jobs that won't be disrupted by automation and AI.
Self sufficiency is a fallacy. There are degrees of dependence, and if you lose enough of your dependencies, you may find yourself the subject of such an article.
You mitigate the risks you can, within reason. I can do something about the possibility of social security failing and not having a pension. There's not much I can personally do about the US economy completely collapsing. I guess I could buy a farm and learn small-scale farming and stock up on canned goods and ammunition, but at some point you have to balance preparing for the future with living your life in the present.
Personally I feel compassion for people that have made a living doing something they love for 30 years only to find that livelyhood made obsolete virtually overnight.
Unfortunately, learning new skills is time consuming. There is no pause button on life while you research a new job. I don't know the percentage off hand, but I would not be surprised if more than half of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.
Perhaps if you had a year of runway, were smart (as in able to learn quickly), you could weather such a catastrophe and keep your dignity along with a place to live.
It's possible to have compassion for people and disagree with them at the same time.