[lavarnann]

When you automate a system, you end up with at least three systems: the one doing the automated work, a control system, and a supply system to deliver and maintain it.

Automating work, contrary to most discourse around it, doesn't simplify things, doesn't make them more secure, and doesn't reduce employment.

Automating increases complexity non-linearly and makes things overall more fragile, and demand more human labor.

This can only work when population and education levels grow steadily. All these systems we build and collectively call civilization only exist and thrive because they are a reflection of the enormous complexity that self reproducing and complex-language enabled monkeys could engender by burning biomass accumulated for millions of years and using that surplus energy.

When our population numbers, and the complexity of our symbolic systems start to decline, we will bring all of these down systems with us.