> Eliminating creative jobs is not progress, by most people's standards
There are always stated preferences and revealed preferences. Before mass market production, we had artisans to cater to the apparel needs of everyone - clothes, shoes, bags you name it. Most of those creative jobs are now replaced by industrial manufacturing. And guess what - everyone just buys the mass market products. I don't see anyone lamenting the loss of village cobbler or tailor who had only a handful of offerings at insanely high prices.
Just to counter your absolutist point: I do. The imperfections and the story and everything make a thing more alive. In general, in most of the cases I’d prefer an item made by a single hardcore artisan or a small team to anything factory made. There are natural limits to this (airplanes), but for most of the things this definitely stands.
There are always stated preferences and revealed preferences. Before mass market production, we had artisans to cater to the apparel needs of everyone - clothes, shoes, bags you name it. Most of those creative jobs are now replaced by industrial manufacturing. And guess what - everyone just buys the mass market products. I don't see anyone lamenting the loss of village cobbler or tailor who had only a handful of offerings at insanely high prices.