The problem isn't that everyone's jobs will be replaced in the short term. The problem is that enough people's jobs will be replaced that the negotiating power

The problem isn't that everyone's jobs will be replaced in the short term. The problem is that enough people's jobs will be replaced that the negotiating power of workers in more and more labor markets will be broken. This happened with manufacturing in the 1970s. Unions had a huge amount of power in the 1950s and 1960s, and could halt production if minimum standards of compensation weren't met. But the advent of the computer (along with major policy shifts and cultural shifts) basically eliminated this power, as it became easier to automate or outsource labor. Automation and outsourcing are two sides of the same coin: once the price of domestic labor eclipses the price of a non-domestic alternative, negotiating power vanishes. Entire classes of people move from stable positions in which they have bargaining power and sufficient protections to the positions we see today, which are often short-term, at-will, unstable, and often very low paying. This leads to what seems to me to be the most serious result: when you feel that your job is insecure, but your livelihood depends on that job, you are much more susceptible to exploitation. People in the service industry are beginning to feel this, and more and more industries will feel this in the coming years.