> the outcome is psychologically intolerable [...] People do not argue with conclusions, they argue with perception [...] accepting it would force a reckoning they are not ready for

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

Or perhaps, a form of grief.

> denying the shift does not preserve meaning

I think you meant to write:

"denying the shift does not preserve sustainability"

as "meaning" need not be preserved by anything. The idea here is that meaning -- stemming from the profession being supplanted -- is axiomatic.

And with that correction applied, I agree -- to an extent anyway. I hope that, even if (or "when") the mainstream gets swayed by AI, pockets / niches of "hand-crafting" remain sustainable. We've seen this with other professions that used to be mainstream but have been automated away at large scale.