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in such cases, labor is being leveraged, not obviated. the labor shifts to those who build, monitor, and maintain the machines doing the work that used to be done directly by laborers. capital is the accumulation of the fruits of our (leveraged) labor. that we privilege capital is why we’re in a tight spot, rather than labor not being the basis of value.

the miracle is that we can build more while doing less, but nothing gets built if we do nothing at all (e.g., wealth concentration).

> It turns out that technology allows for capital to be substituted directly for labor.

And which Capitalist Paradise Cruise ship do you picture yourself manning for this critique? Elsevier?

Who created the technology, though?

If people really think Marxism can be dismissed with a simplistic argument like this, I'd encourage them to actually read the first few chapters of Capital. Agree with his world view or not, Marx was not an idiot.