I agree with you, but just a reminder that the Industrial Revolution was also a time of mass civil unrest, war, nationalism, and the growth of revolutionary gro

I agree with you, but just a reminder that the Industrial Revolution was also a time of mass civil unrest, war, nationalism, and the growth of revolutionary groups advocating the overthrow of the existing social and economic order (some of which succeeded, e.g. Leninist Russia). You could make a fairly strong argument that is was the very real threat of Communist revolution in Western Europe (e.g. Germany in the 1930s, or Italy and France post-WW2) that forced governments to adopt socialist programs that moderated many of the excesses of the market, or in the US, the massive government investment in the middle class as well as draconian anti-left measures that prevented a similar threat. We've so far ended up in a somewhat decent place, but if history is any measure, we're going to have a rocky next few decades if technology does end up destroying or transforming demand for labor. People generally don't go quietly when their livelihoods or place in the social order are threatened.