As technological improvements increase productivity, the demand for labor will tend to rise, creating more job opportunities and raising wages. The increase in labor productivity also raises the potential of some unemployed workers, whose marginal costs previously exceeded their marginal productivity. Finally, as consumers, wage earners will gain from the decrease in product prices that tends to result from the increase in productivity and output. There is a reciprocal relationship between technology and freedom. A free market unhampered by government intervention is the most fertile environment for technological and economic progress.
Freedom is a prerequisite for progress in an unpredictable and risky world.
It encourages profit-seeking and innovation, which in turn result in greater productivity and employment. Technology furthers a free society by providing new opportunities to communicate, work, compete, and deal with others across social and physical barriers. In the past, the wheel and the steam engine enhanced and complemented human physical powers. Today, innovations such as the microprocessor amplify human intellectual capabilities. The electric motor, internal combustion engine, fluorescent and incandescent lighting, and the Internet have had enormous effects on the way we live and work.