I think there are three forces discussed here. Automation (removing work). Decreased cost good (reduced labor costs). Increased wealth (those with it spend m

I think there are three forces discussed here. Automation (removing work). Decreased cost good (reduced labor costs). Increased wealth (those with it spend more on goods and services). Automation's effects on the economy larger depends on the pace it is achieved. If someone released a box that replaces truck driver's tomorrow and sells it for $1000 then there will be huge disruption. If drivers are replaced with automation slowly over 30 years the impact will be less because the rest of the economy will have time to absorb the impact. Increased wealth is expanding the service industry, with petcare being a prime example. This will create more jobs, but those jobs are both at risk of being automated and might not be enough to replace automation. Decreased good costs works for some things like toothbrushes and iphones, but they don't work so well for limited resources like gold jewelry or real-estate. It might improve quality of life in some ways, but it cannot help with everything.