The pessimistic argument ignored the fact that by lowering the cost of goods, machines increased workers’ real wages – enabling them to buy more – and that the rise in labor productivity enabled employers (often under pressure from trade unions) to pay more per worker. It also assumed that machines and workers were close substitutes, whereas more often than not workers could still do things that machines could not.
事实并非如此。劳动力占GDP的比重在整个工业时代保持稳定。悲观论忽略了一个事实，即机器通过降低商品成本提高了工人的真实工资——让他们能够买更多的东西——并且劳动生产率的提高让厂商（通常需要承受来自工会的压力）向每位员工提供更高的薪酬。悲观论还认为机器和工人之间具有高替代性，但实际情况是工人仍然可以做机器做不了的事情。