If X becomes cheaper, humans spend the surplus resources on Y. If Y becomes cheaper, humans spend the surplus resources on Z. And on it goes.
"Save thousands of hours of human labor" doesn't mean humanity is working thousands of hours less total; it means that they accomplished the same specific X with thousands fewer hours (and then almost certainly spend thousands of hours on Y).
That's not just an armchair theory. Time-honored tradition of technology advancement. Agriculture fell from 70% to 25% of all U.S. jobs in a single lifetime. Staggering economic change. And humanity is better off for it.
If X becomes cheaper, humans spend the surplus resources on Y. If Y becomes cheaper, humans spend the surplus resources on Z. And on it goes.
"Save thousands of hours of human labor" doesn't mean humanity is working thousands of hours less total; it means that they accomplished the same specific X with thousands fewer hours (and then almost certainly spend thousands of hours on Y).
That's not just an armchair theory. Time-honored tradition of technology advancement. Agriculture fell from 70% to 25% of all U.S. jobs in a single lifetime. Staggering economic change. And humanity is better off for it.