In a free-market context, if big automated factories cause pervasive unemployment as a side-effect then there is no demand and the factories cease to exist. I am advocating that extreme automation is only viable in regulated planned economies: the Gov have to inflate to sustain the demand in order to avoid failures in the supply side so the machines can survive. We have built a nice society where humans only exist to justify machine work. This is madness and it is only possible with fake money.
Of course technological progress will slow down if no fiat money injected, but nevertheless won't completely stop. Moreover, without fiat money any government in the developed world will collapse within months, turning quality of the life to medieval level.