> Likewise all of the fields of human intellect. We need to make sure we protect future generations of doctors, biologists, software developers, architects, engineers, librarians, musicians, artists ...

So many thoughts come to mind at once, they're a jumble in my head rather than a single coherent narrative.

John Henry comes to mind. As does Agent Smith's "I say your civilization because as soon as we started thinking for you, it really became our civilization, which is, of course, what this is all about" monologue in The Matrix. I've not read (or listened to) "With Folded Hands ..." or "The Machine Stops", but I have read the Wikipedia plot summary of both.

Do we want to have comfortable lives, or do we want to serve each other?

"Computer" used to be a profession; I grew up around adults bemoaning that "kids these days can't do mental arithmetic", the Pi Zero I've not switched on for probably a year now could beat all humans simultaneously at that (even if everyone was as good as the current world record holder) and yet we still teach arithmetic in schools.

Nobody needs to knit, and yet we do so for fun. Youtube's "Primitive Technology" channel, which has spent around a decade speechlessly making iron from bacterial slime found in a creek, using only clay and sticks and leaves and vines naturally found next to that creek.

Like I said, no coherent narrative. It's been a while since my stream of consciousness became a river delta; usually at worst it only meanders a bit.