Wow, in the early 1900s they perfected heavier than air flying machines and it all went to hell in the transportation industries after that!
Seriously, I see your point. I retired as an Army Aviator in 2005, and since then I’ve seen how Unmanned Aerial Vehicles have steadily crept into jobs previously performed by human pilots. From aerial reconnaissance, to armed reconnaissance, to full attack platforms and soon for cargo delivery and not too far from that for robot troop deployment if not human troop transport as well.
And now as a travel and tourism executive, we are seeing how the share economy is disrupting ground transportation (Uber, Lyft, etc.) and lodging (AirBnB, VRBO, etc.), and more recently, concierge services (livingua).
My point here, I guess, is that humans adapt well to new tech, and that it will come to a point that as a species we will come full circle and live simpler lives again while machines do most of our chores. That could be good, since people are not having as much children as they used to and labor will be scarce, as it is already in most advanced economies. We will have more time for creativity instead of trudging through mind-numbing work. Like a new renaissance, when Medici-sponsored geniuses didn’t have to worry about making a living and could concentrate in their God-given talents.
I have no God-given talents except computer programming, and that will be taken over by AI in 2030.
Well, I can write, and I can hit it pretty good.
So there's that.