Elon Musk reminds me again and again of the ditzy billionaire hilariously played by Mark Rylance in “Don’t Look Up” whose scheme was to blow up the oncoming comet so that he could make a killing on rare metals from the fragments raining down (overlooking, of course, the fact that comets are mostly ice!). Spoiler alert: it did not turn out well.

If in fact it were possible to build an android who could displace ANY manual laborer, skilled or unskilled, do you honestly think the corporate bosses would give a fig about all the workers they displaced? Hardly! How many auto companies cared about the vast number of laid off assembly line workers in Michigan and Indiana when they moved their factories to Mexico or Guatemala in search of cheaper labor? (Hint: watch Michael Moore’s “Roger and Me”)

My point is that techno-utopian schemes will only exacerbate the avarice of the Owners, as always. Unnecessary workers will be perceived as a drag on the system, worthy only of incarceration or extermination, not as human beings with any right to lead fulfilling lives or realize their creative gifts.