There is a difference between taking joy in doing what you are good at and taking pride in being better than others.

Just as a guild can be helpful to find like minded people who enjoy doing what you do and elevate the profession as a whole, but also as an institution to keep outsiders out.

I am not saying I don't understand the fears. Imagining this machine that can do everything faster and cheaper than me, making me completely obsolete is of course scary. But really to me that is all that is, imagination. At least for now.

Also, even if my job gets completely automated away, I could see myself enjoying trying to understand how that magical thinking machine works and teaching that to others. Even if it is just at the frontier of my limited understanding and not the frontier of human/machine knowledge.