Your comment reminded me of a scene from the movie "El Mariachi". In it, the title character walks into a bar looking for a job as a Mariachi, and is faced with

Your comment reminded me of a scene from the movie "El Mariachi". In it, the title character walks into a bar looking for a job as a Mariachi, and is faced with the bar owner telling him something like "Why do I need a Mariachi when I can have a full band?", then pointing to a guy resting in the corner next to an organ (an "electronic organ", of the family type, as opposed to, you know, a hammond or something like that). The resting guy presses the "demo" button and the organ plays Mariachi music on its own ... I share your pessimism partially, but I also wonder: if the system keeps optimizing for profit, at some point there just won't be enough people in the world to sell products and services to. I don't know what the answer is. Edit: typo