Replaceable but Employed: Automation and the Meaning of Work

Economist Joshua Gans argues that automation can diminish workers' sense of meaning and job satisfaction even when they retain employment, because knowing a machine could replace them undermines the value they derive from their contribution. When wages don't fully adjust to compensate for this loss of meaning, workers bear the cost themselves, and public demonstrations of automation technology can create a "meaning externality" that makes automation more profitable for developers than it is beneficial to society. The research suggests that automation reduces the intrinsic value of work before it eliminates jobs entirely.