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Do you think this jives with the 'quote' that has been bandied about lately: "We have no moat; no one does"? Whose stake in automation is able to be protected? Like, say, if suddenly autonomous robot lawnmowers turn the corner and become good enough to be generally "good", that doesn't seem to so much accrue to the general group of people who have a stake in "automation". Instead, it probably accrues to people who are already making lawnmowers. Maybe to people who have lawn care businesses also, as folks might find it more affordable to pay a small fee for their company's autonomous lawnmower (which can be run nearly nonstop, not sitting in the garage useless for 99% of the time)? It seems more like automation is just a general upskilling across a variety of industries, like advances in math or engineering principles or corporate finance would be.
By "stake in automation", I mean anyone holding a sufficiently large stake in any company making massive profits through automation such that they can either live off dividends or slowly selling their stock at the safe withdrawal rate indefinitely.
The issues with the moat, or lack thereof, is only a concern for companies trying to become super-duper-mega rich instead of just stupid rich. From a personal perspective, all that means is that you don't have to lose too much sweat over whether it's your investments in Google or Microsoft or Nvidia that'll pan out.
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