Imagine your boss comes to your office and tells you that a junior colleague is better than you, and will replace you, leaving you jobless. Now imagine a similar scenario, except the boss says you're being let go because a robot will take over your job.
In a survey of over 2,000 people in Europe and North America, respondents were much more upset imagining themselves in the first scenario, being replaced by another human. The robotic takeover was easier to accept because it didn't batter people's self-image quite so brutally.
This won't remain theoretical. Technology will almost inevitably cause a roller coaster of job disruption, and keeping displaced people from despairing is crucial. Already, as this new century rolls along, doctors are seeing a spike in what they're calling deaths of despair — suicides and complications of alcohol and drug abuse. People need to feel useful, to feel they matter. A job is often a big part of that.