It is a question of framing. Was there some "crises" that required us to put a man on the moon? Not really, but it was framed as directly connected to the threat of the USSR and the challenge of USA winning.

Was there some crisis that necessitated the IT / computing explosion of the 80's and 90's? Not really, but we framed Japan as a threat to the US economy because they were "winning" at cars and high tech.

Subtle and not so subtle policies, statements, framing and leadership push many in the US to innovate, adapt and compete to win, especially if we believe we might otherwise lose. As a part of that, there probably has to be some sense of us vs. them - American (and her allies) trying to compete with someone else.

If we frame it as a question of automation slowly eliminating some low / middle class jobs for some Americans over time - sure, we won't respond. But if we frame it as a challenge, that we need to prevail on and do better than say China (or someone else) or be left behind then we have a much better chance to meet the challenge and make it an opportunity.

Unfortunately we need leaders to do that - and we don't seem to be getting that right now. Trump's "MAGA" mantra had that opportunity, but he fails so miserably in actually using that to uplift and inspire to greatness and instead seems to us it more to attack and divide internally.