It’s not about the ships.

Shipbreaking is the author’s example, but it’s not the author’s point.

He could have bemoaned the lack of tree-trimming robots or the vaporware nature of self-driving cars instead.

The key point is the heavy investment in automating away things that bring us joy while doing nothing about vast classes of unpleasant drudgery.

Hell, look at roofers. A lot of injuries there are from falls, easily preventable with fall harnesses. It doesn’t even require a big research investment! Our society simply doesn’t value those lives enough to protect them.