Machines with interchangeable parts can now be constructed with great economy of effort. In spite of much complexity, they perform reliably. Witness the humble typewriter, or the movie camera, or the automobile. We have reached a point in technology now where all of these inventions can perform their jobs without human involvement.

His description of the "humble typewriter" seems like such an understatement in comparison to the computers and recording devices we now have

First, they have increased his control of his material environment. They have improved his food, his clothing, his shelter; they have increased his security and released him partly from the bondage of bare existence.

It is amazing thinking of this in context of amazon and the amount of things we are able to buy and obtain in minutes without leaving the room...

Had a Pharaoh been given detailed and explicit designs of an automobile, and had he understood them completely, it would have taxed the resources of his kingdom to have fashioned the thousands of parts for a single car, and that car would have broken down on the first trip to Giza.

This is a really interesting comparison, and raises a good point. Cars have come a long way from what they originally were- and the number one reason for their development was market demand and competition which encouraged companies to start creating new models...and if people hadn't bothered buying the old models there would be no money for new ones...