In the 19th Century a lot of people were "physiocrats" - people for whom all progress had to relate somehow to the agricultural production of food. This was mos

In the 19th Century a lot of people were "physiocrats" - people for whom all progress had to relate somehow to the agricultural production of food. This was most stridently expressed in the denial of ( some ) patents to Cyrus McCormick for the combine harvester. Manufacturing ended that, especially "factory farming". So now, the logistics and communications revolutions are doing to manufacturing what manufacturing did to agriculture. It's the circle of life...