You're focusing on the long term and ignoring the fact that automation job losses affect people in the present and short term. A person who's job is replaced b

You're focusing on the long term and ignoring the fact that automation job losses affect people in the present and short term. A person who's job is replaced by automation is screwed in the short term. Nobody will hire them for their primary skills (because the job can be done better/faster by automation), and so they have to learn something new while also working some kind of job to support themselves and families in the meantime. "Just innovate and come up with a new job and work for yourself" is easy to say, but it's a huge cop out. If it were just that simple then everybody would already be doing that.