The invention of the combine harvester was the single greatest moment in modern history in a very real way. That one machine increased the amount of food a single person could produce by factors of ten. It literally put 80+% of farmers out of work.

Truth be told, most of them didn't want to be farmers after all, and a large percentage of the society was freed from food production to work in other industries. Some of those industries were created because of the influx of talented people, looking for a new way to fill an economic niche.


Don't underestimate the ability of intelligent humans to innovate new industries when the old ones become obsolete.