Right, but can people actually do anything more meaningful? I work in software not because I like it but because the things I actually like to do, like playing music, writing, or cooking, will never enable me to have a financial safety net. I would be no more "able" to do these things if my job disappeared tomorrow than I am today. What people are more able to "do something more meaningful" because their jobs no longer exist thanks to automation?
I basically agree with you, that automation could be profoundly empowering. But right now it isn't, unless you happen to control the automation technology.
The question would be, what comes next after these jobs are automated. I think that's largely unknown.
You could have made the same argument before the industrial revolution, or massive improvements in communications and the internet, but I think we've been better off as a result. of those improvements. People have much better access to information/education and have a wider platform for free speech, as well as being able to live longer.
Hopefully you find writing software more meaningful and enjoyable than the much harder labor jobs that was more common 100 years ago. It could be that an automation revolution, could better enable you to better financially support yourself in those things that you really like to do, and that are harder to automate, since those may become much more valuable in a more automated economy. (Just as music, writing and cooking are arguably more financially viable occupations for more people today than it was 100 years ago)
I basically agree with you, that automation could be profoundly empowering. But right now it isn't, unless you happen to control the automation technology.