Canada

I remember hearing stuff when i was growing up that was optimistic about the future, stuff like: "one day, machines will replace our jobs... Humans will have the time to pursue their specific interests and hobbies"

I don't think i was ever truly gullible enough to believe that's the way it would play out, and watching it unfold is just as horrifying as i imagined it could be, perhaps even moreso. All the wealth and labor savings that result from automation have only gone to the richest few that can afford to implement such technologies in the first place. They ultimately decide who benefits from all the leaps and bounds in technology and unsurprisingly it's a stunningly small group of individuals reaping all of that cost-saving and labor-saving goodness while greater and greater swaths of people are suddenly cut off from their jobs--their lifelines in the cold environment capitalism has created for us.

Remember every time someone loses their job, that also means they and their family could also be losing their health insurance, possibly have to move out of their home if they can't keep up with rent/mortgage, car payments, utilities, credit card bills, food, gas, incidental expenses, etc... prices on everything keeps going up, yet few jobs are paying enough to stay afloat. What the hell are these people supposed to do?