Is roofing a useless task? I think not, we all need roofs. Have you ever personally replaced a roof in the middle of summer? I have. After that, I never thought of a climate controlled office as a place I was "stuck".

This is the old comfort/friction/happiness dichotomy isn't it.

Each incremental reduction in friction and improvement in comfort feels good. But is the net effect happiness? I think it's anomie, in the limit.

Ah but I'd take roofing in the summer over septic tank cleaning any day. The existence of even shittier jobs does not make any particular job not-shitty.

I did quite a few summers doing carpentry in the heat, and yes, I appreciate AC but what's your point?

Also if roofing was a non-problem anymore (we solved it somehow), would you want to have people doing it just for the sake of doing a job?

We've made money a necessity of life and working the only way billions of people can get money. If we think a big chunk of jobs can be automated away, how are those people going to fulfill their needs?

You make it sound like we invented work. When was work ever not necessary? All we invented was division of labor, and money as a way to translate between different kinds of labor. I think that's an improvement?

Modern work is certainly an unnatural invention. As is the phenomenon of rent seeking and allowing wealth accumulation to the point of absurdity.

I'd rather not go back to hunting and gathering. Though I would like to go back to trust busting, collective action, and rule of law.