Charlie's not dating from the start of industrial civilization. He's dating from the creation of the first artificial intelligences, which is at least a centur

Charlie's not dating from the start of industrial civilization. He's dating from the creation of the first artificial intelligences, which is at least a century earlier. I think it's safe to say that these AIs' control of capital is largely responsible for the fast spread of industrialization, so that they could optimize for their purposes better.