But you would always have up to 3 months worth of garbage in your backyard. And what of human waste, or any waste that is unattractive stinky, or takes up too much room? There will always be a need for infrastructure. The trick is to automate the infrastructure so that humans can be employed on more productive work.
This is why I support automated checkout stands at stores. By automating jobs away, there are more people capable of doing things that we can't automate yet, and more money available to pay them. Example: a store installs the automated checkout stands and reduces the number of cashiers from 4 to 1. Assuming the automated stands cost $0 to maintain (not true, but the cost I believe is trending that way) then the store can have those 3 displaced employees work the store helping customers find what they need. There are now 3 extra people working at a zero net cost to the company.
I think you over-estimate the creativity of the MBA class, particularly in public companies.
While people with imagination and empathy for customers might see this as a worthwhile idea, which would actually positively benefit both the customers and the business, in the rarefied air of balance sheets and "strategy", I'd bet a brick to London that those extra three people would be seen as a cost, and would be made redundant at the first opportunity.
I understand this point, but I kept them hired in my example to illustrate how extra production value is realized when systems are automated like this. I do believe that those 3 employees would be let go. My point is that those 3 employees could go on to be productive in some other capacity in a situation where automation can't yet replace them. They would probably work for another company, but the point remains that there are now 3 extra workers in society.
This is why I support automated checkout stands at stores. By automating jobs away, there are more people capable of doing things that we can't automate yet, and more money available to pay them. Example: a store installs the automated checkout stands and reduces the number of cashiers from 4 to 1. Assuming the automated stands cost $0 to maintain (not true, but the cost I believe is trending that way) then the store can have those 3 displaced employees work the store helping customers find what they need. There are now 3 extra people working at a zero net cost to the company.