Don't you see that this will be key to ushering in the age of bots and AI? All of those remote workers will be the first ones to be replaced by the bots. In France and elsewhere (including the US), workers are currently demanding 30 hour workweek. Well, in the near future (and I'm thinking less than 10 years), most of them will get 0 hour workweek. And who will get the last laugh I don't even wanna speculate.
I don't believe in your Machiavellian outlook. Bots and AI are products of the tech sector. Governments, the ones that people elect, will prevent the displacement of the workforce if and when the technology risks great damage to the population. This may take longer in business powerful America, but Europe will lead the way to ensure a protected transition from today's economy to tomorrow's bots and AI driven one.
Be sure to bookmark this page and come back in 10 years. In all seriousness, we're definitely heading that way. This is unavoidable IMO. We live in a very uncertain time, where the sociopolitical as well as psychological/cultural/religious underpinnings are being uprooted. This is not just about jobs.
Living in uncertain times in America, for sure. I'm not sure that is necessarily bad unless the anxieties of some groups lead to violence. What we are experiencing in America is its underbelly making itself known, thanks to Trump and co saying out loud what was kept hush hush with understanding winks for so many decades. What is surprising is the unexpected size of that underbelly and its willingness to accept anything its leader says. However, today's America is more sophisticated than in the past and its population is generally more capable of smelling bs when it sees it. What it really needs now is a change of its democratic processes, starting with the electoral college and making room for a greater variety of political parties.
When I look at history, I would be forced to bet that you're right given that, to the best of my knowledge, every attempt I know of to stop technological progress/advancement has been an utter failure.
This is where, based on history, I believe the U.S. government CAN prevent change from coming. The best anyone has managed in this department is to replace one of the two major political parties with a different one.
if we force people to work in office we support all the peripheral businesses around the office and cities thrive.
People have been worrying about automation displacing jobs for 200 years, and unemployment today is at all-time historic lows. In the future people will make $100,000 per year to write ChatGPT prompts for one hour per workday, and watch Netflix for the other seven.