Can somebody please explain to me how more automation is supposed to lead to more jobs?

There are many thing that make very little sense to me — so many that I hardly know where to start. Perhaps one of the most grotesque examples of this is when people say that we need more technological progress and also more jobs. Why?

The way I learned economics, if there is technological progress then we need less jobs, certainly not more jobs. Anyone who expects to show up to work and given orders what to do can be easily replaced by a computer program or robot that can complete simple instructions without coffee breaks, without a salary, without health insurance and without many other “benefits” that are usually tied to human employment. Therefore, the more that gets invested in such technology, the less jobs there should be for humans. Indeed: I see no reason why a robot couldn’t even give me a superb haircut.

Why do Google and/or Facebook need so many thousands of employees? They don’t. I bet a half a dozen high quality hackers should be able to create comparable websites in less than a week. What is needed most of all are people who can think for themselves, not just slaves to mechanically follow orders or to carry out instructions or press buttons or whatever.

Any one of the many millions of “followers” who find it difficult to think for themselves need only 1 instruction: Go to sleep… — or at least: Get out of the way.