Yes, I think the blacksmith metaphor is also an excellent one because a single die stamping machine can produce thousands (if not tens or hundreds of thousands)

Yes, I think the blacksmith metaphor is also an excellent one because a single die stamping machine can produce thousands (if not tens or hundreds of thousands) of times the same output as a single blacksmith. You still need people, but you need them to: 1) operate and maintain the machine, 2) check for quality, 3) do some fine, detailed work, 4) do the things that the machine is not good at. The skillsets are just different now and you need less people while producing significantly more output. Whereas a 4'10", 100lb woman probably wouldn't have been a productive blacksmith, she can be adept at building fine metal parts with the industrial tools.