the point of tech is to free people from needing to toil at bullshit jobs so they can pursue their actual passions.

Its not. Tech can be pointless, it can be to free up labor to pursue more furfiling work, it can be for captial owners to reduce labor, it can be just to do something more accurately. The point of technology is whatever humans are trying to achieve through it.

we live in capitalism that insists people must toil to “earn” their right to live, which completely negates the benefits of tech that frees people from toiling, because that toil is how most people make a wage.

Fortunately we live in Captialist economies where private ownership exists and can decide how to operate their business if that means they want to have 4 checkout lanes and a self serivce section they can, if that means 8 checkout lanes they can, if that means self service only they can. Checkout operator isnt a bullshit job that people do to waste time. If you want a store you need a checkout operator or a machine that can do equivalent work. Work must be done for society to function, its not an optional thing in any economic system. Hopefully this addresses your brainrot ‘capitalism bad’ response.

Also we dont live in “captialism where people must toil to earn their right to live” if you dont work you can still live. You get food and housing and you can live, it wont be an materially rich life but there is nothing stopping you from living and you can find your own meaning without money. Also the US is the worst for this, most captialist countries you can not work and have a much better quality of life.