I would not say that new technologies were "geared toward maintaining the role of human labor in value creation". I would say that new technologies required microcontrollers—and the human brain was the only available microcontroller—and software 'bots to manage materials and information flows—and the human brain provided the only available 'bot hardware. Now neither of these are the case:
Daron Acemoglu and Pascual Restrepo: The Revolution Need Not Be Automated: "For centuries after the Industrial Revolution, automation did not hinder wage and employment growth, because it was accompanied by new technologies geared toward maintaining the role of human labor in value creation. But in the era of artificial intelligence, it will be up to policymakers to ensure that the pattern continues...
...Unfortunately, the current trend in commercial AI development is toward more and more automation, with potentially disastrous consequences for society.... As automation has displaced workers in performing certain tasks, other technologies have emerged to restore labor’s central role in the production process by creating new tasks in which humans have a comparative advantage.... Agricultural mechanization... displacing a huge share of the US workforce.... But... burgeoning new industries... clerical positions... manufacturing, where a finer division of labor boosted productivity, employment, and wage growth. A similar pattern of technological change fueled employment and wage growth for high- and low-skilled workers alike in the decades following World War II. Yet, in the past three decades, the accompanying changes needed to offset the labor-displacement effects of automation have been notably absent. As a result, wage and employment growth has remained stagnant, and productivity growth anemic...
#noted
