You can, it has already been done. History repeats itself etc etc. The Roman state was powered by slaves ( which is the ancient form of automation ) and the pl

You can, it has already been done. History repeats itself etc etc. The Roman state was powered by slaves ( which is the ancient form of automation ) and the plebs were basically unemployed citizens. It worked, it created a system where the richest people competed for power by public moves and schemes.