In reality, while computers were supposed to make us all wealthier, we've actually seen a consistent drop in median real wages since the 1970s. The truth is, we don't get to control whether that wealth goes, and in fact the lack of available jobs makes most of us poorer.
I didn't explain myself well. You're right within the context of our current economic system, technology is making most of us poorer. However, our current economic system is heading for implosion. Not only is it destroying jobs, and working towards destroying most with AI & robots quicker & quicker, it's also simultaneously destroying itself. It depends on consumers (i.e workers) - so it can't really work when there is none left ?
I posted this earlier - "this technological change is a huge bounty of wealth for all of us. MOOC's & the like, will mean college education for almost free. AI in healthcare, will rapidly deflate costs there & bring access for all. Renewable energy is getting cheaper & cheaper. 3D printing is bringing the capacity of factories to the individual. And these changes are rapidly spreading all over the world - meaning billions of people in the poorest parts of the world will join the global economy with access to them too & make their contributions, that will increase overall wealth further."
So our current economic system is going to come crashing down, that seems hard to avoid. What will it transition to ? Basic Income, perhaps.
Though it seems to me that the one thing all technology has in common in the 21st century is that it decentralizes & basic Income seems a very centralizing solution. From a previous post "the blockchain technology that underlies Bitcoin, is being broadened and expanded to allow anyone to make their own currencies & indeed replicate much of the functionality of the finance industry in banking, insurance & legal areas. (see The Ethereum Project). It's interesting to me that we are so constrained in what we think of as "money" now, we mostly can't imagine it being anything else than the stuff issued by governments & manipulated and controlled by them & the banking industry. And yet there is zero economic reasons we cannot have multiple currencies & I suspect we will. Decentralization seems to be the overriding theme of all technology in the 21st century & blockchain & other associated p2p technology may be about to do the same for money & finance."
I think we need to stop looking at every economic issue through the lens of our economies as they are now, because our current system is clearly headed for implosion.
But there are alternatives for us all to benefit from the huge (and growing) wealth technology is generating worldwide.