I just left my local Walmart. Every cashier lane has been replaced with self-checkouts. A massive cut in overhead, and a huge loss of local jobs.
But does this translate to lower costs of goods sold? No. The difference flows directly into the pockets of the Waltons. So you've got more people without jobs and less money to sustain them.
Self-checkout. It's an innovation, to be sure. But like so many things being developed these days, it exists not to make life better for society, but to make it better for the elite.
This is why we have stagnated as a society. We are told that, without capitalism, we wouldn't have advancements in technology or medicine. But these advancements are done in the pursuit of profit, not the betterment of humanity. We innovate treatments for symptoms, not cures for disease. We innovate ways to turn the consumer into the worker, not free them from the shackles of pointless labour.
How can we do better?