I don't think that's what's being argued here at all. The point is primarily one about productivity growth and that causes the economy to grow. Consider agricu

I don't think that's what's being argued here at all. The point is primarily one about productivity growth and that causes the economy to grow. Consider agriculture. When we were all out in the fields plowing them with oxen the whole time, and grinding flour by hand with stones, we didn't have much time to be doing anything else. The invention of water- and wind-powered mills reduced the amount of time spent milling. Add (in no particular order) the seed drill, the horse-drawn reaper, pesticides, crop rotation, scientific theories of plant breeding, combine harvesters, nitrogen-based fertilizers, insect-resistant bio-engineered crops etc. Productivity in agriculture in the developed world has DOUBLED since the 1960s. John Deere invented the self-scouring steel plow and became famous and wealthy as a result. Some of that wealth came as a result of people buying his plow instead of buying someone else's; but the economic growth that resulted from his innovation was in terms of improved efficiency in farming in the plains of the Mid-West.