Toynbee points to a paradox of technological progress. Machines are created to reduce the amount of human effort required for work, which might be expected to release people for activities that depend more directly on human attention, care and service. Yet he observes that increased mechanisation has not necessarily produced a corresponding abundance of available human labour for such purposes.

The quotation therefore questions whether greater technical efficiency automatically improves the way a society uses its time and resources. Productivity gains may be absorbed by expanding production, consumption or other demands rather than creating more opportunity for personal service and socially valuable work. Toynbee is not rejecting machinery itself; he is drawing attention to the difference between increasing productive capacity and deciding how the benefits of that capacity are used. The wider issue is whether technological progress serves human priorities or simply enables societies to do more work.