They are not equalizers, they are amplifiers. The steel plow fed a man, the cotton gin clothed him, antibiotics cured his cough and an airplane took him from his old country to a new one where he learned how to drive so he could deliver the morning paper.
The goal should never be to lower the ceiling. The goal is to raise the floor.
These words could have come from an article about: the internet, mobile phones, telephones, morse code
With minor modification also: automobiles, the printing press, the steel plow, airplanes, the cotton gin, antibiotics, etc.
None of them were true equalizers, they were incremental steps forward at best.