Oh I agree.
In the absence of a profit motive those fields would be taken up by the most dedicated, eh?
> Societies need for, and ability to utilize, such highly skilled labor is only increasing as we automate simpler tasks.
Again I agree. I think that one obvious benefit of automation is that it frees up humans for important things that only humans can do. Mark Miller has an adage "Moore's law means that humans are becoming exponentially more valuable from the CPU's POV."
We're not talking about forcing people to retire after two years. We're talking about eliminating drudgery and wasteful processes.
> some portion of people will need to put in the long hours and years to keep the lights on.
No, that's the whole point: no one has to put in long hours anymore thanks to the knock-on effects of the invention of the transistor.
Just like farming went from ~90% of the population to ~3%, so will our industrial space-age civilization, if we let it.
True expertise in fields like medicine, engineering etc. generally takes at least a decade of experience to acquire. Societies need for, and ability to utilize, such highly skilled labor is only increasing as we automate simpler tasks.
People who never aspire to such professions might be spared long working years, but some portion of people will need to put in the long hours and years to keep the lights on.