There are lots of prior examples of automating intellectual work, though -- calculators (rather than doing the math yourself), Google search (rather than looking through library catalogues yourself), Word processors/typewriters (rather than writing by hand), heck, even writing (rather than simply remembering things), which Plato railed against.

True, I guess at every step it’s affecting a growingly larger part of the intellectual population. I remember Umberto Eco only half-jokingly ranting in the early 2000 against the speed and ease with which suddenly everyone could match his rare bibliophile abilities and his portentous memory. I guess we’re all getting to feel the same way now, with the difference that the industrial/financial complex built on this new revolution feels like the most disenfranchising ever so far.