> I would question the premise that all or even most of the productivity gains of any past technological improvement have accrued to the benefit of solely those at the top of an enormous pile of wealth.

The historical automation story seems to be that technology replaces workers, and those workers typically end up taking lower-paying jobs:

"replacing workers with technology “explains 50 to 70%” of the increase in inequality from 1980 to about 2016."

https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/02/21/1067563/automati...

They point out a disappointing aspect of some technologies (self-checkout), which seems to be that not only are workers displaced, but customers also experience degraded service (with no benefit such as a discount for using self-checkout.)