Digital SAT Reading and Writing Practice Question #712

Text 1 The advent of the mechanized loom and the broader tide of industrialization stand as the ultimate emancipators of the working class. By replacing the agonizing, backbreaking toil of agricultural subsistence with the structured efficiency of the factory, machinery has liberated humanity from the whims of nature. Furthermore, the mass production of goods has driven down costs, allowing the common worker access to comforts that were once the exclusive purview of the aristocracy. Text 2 To praise the machine is to fundamentally misunderstand the nature of human fulfillment. The artisan of the past, though perhaps poor in material wealth, was rich in intellectual and spiritual engagement, shaping raw materials through sheer mastery and intention. The modern factory reduces the human being to a mere extension of the gear and the piston—a mindless operator entirely divorced from the joy of creation, alienated from both their labor and their own humanity. Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the assertion in Text 1 regarding the 'emancipation' of the working class?