I think you have a point, but at the same time I’m not sure it’s possible for everybody or even most people to have jobs that are crucial to society. Once you hit certain technology level and population thresholds, a lot of jobs become all about optimization and margins — even those that have more of a concrete role in society. It’s unavoidable unless we drop back to pre-1900s technology and/or population levels.
No. What we need to do is to not define our worth as humans by the work we do. Only then we can truly automate our crucial needs (i.e. food production, transportation) as far as possible without fearing massive social unrest by millions of people "without employment". A single train conductor replaces a hundred truck drivers. Many governmental services could be done by the citizens themselves based on automated processes. Most teachers (especially the ones who spend all their day droning in front of a blackboard) could be replaced by videos.
The only thing where we will definitely need humans in the future is research, care work and construction/trades. Everything else? Look at the Star Trek economy.
In the US, the question of what I did for a living was one of the first questions in any conversation, as if my answer was who I was and defined my worth in their eyes. I don’t miss it.
It would require both political will and lack of obstruction from large employers and entities invested in residential real estate however, and I don’t see that happening in the US for the foreseeable future short of a near-total turnover of the current elected body of politicians, rooting out any who would rather be in the pockets of lobbyists than represent the people.
This seems to be a common feature of world history: major changes in social systems only happen after widespread warfare destroys everything, and eventually people get sick of the death and destruction, vowing "never again" for approximately the next 80 years.
They still struggle with various social pathologies - alcohol, drugs, domestic violence, religious extremism.
I think some people cannot handle a life that is too easy. Arguably, even modern Westerners from richer backgrounds tend to plunge into surrogate struggles or take up very distant causes.
The domestic violence / religious extremism is a result of the Western nations favoring radical Islam interpretations as a base for the regimes they bought their oil from. A kingdom/dictatorship where the ruling class has their assets (i.e. their oil money) in Western nations is more stable for oil supply than a democracy.
VC capital will have to go somewhere. You seem to be arguing against ad companies, which I understand. But there are so many other tech avenues that produce tons of value. Healthcare, logistics, green energy, power distribution, retail, agriculture, security, etc. So many domains where tech can provide huge value and upside.
Though I work hard, I did get lucky. I am thankful and grateful.
Even those in tech believe we don't have any meaningful opportunities. Real talk: most of what we do day in day out for our employers is shit built upon bullshit built upon a house of cards, and it will come crashing down sooner than later. The European Union is finally flexing its muscles, other countries are beginning to follow suit against the digital corporations, even the US Congress is asking questions from both parties now. And where will we all be when the venture capital dries up, when entire business models are outright banned or made virtually impossible because of privacy regulations? Or when those we work for (especially in the automotive or other carbon-sensitive industries) have to cut down costs or close shop?
If you work at Facebook or Google (and to a lesser extent Microsoft and Apple), everything you do follows exactly one motive: make as much profit for the shareholders as possible by advertising people stuff they don't need. Most of what everyone else is doing is either directly related to advertising, to creating a new product that is only marginally better than the previous version or to extracting money out of someone else for services they don't need.
Bullshit jobs? We are in a bullshit economy, and the circle of capitalism forces us to ever-increasing economic growth - it's obvious that the path we are on as a species is pointing straight to our downfall, be it by climate change, by a resource-resetting war or by exhaustion of vital natural resources.
Disagree? Ask yourself when was the last time you created something at work that provides a net benefit to society's survival.