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>We simply exploited fossil fuels. This hand waves away all the accomplishments in seafaring prior to the 19th century.
by throwaway0a5e 6y ago
>We simply exploited fossil fuels.
This hand waves away all the accomplishments in seafaring prior to the 19th century.
- OmicronCeti 6y agoWhat were the order of magnitude speed developments in seafaring before 1800? I'm not familiar with the topic.
- throwaway0a5e 6y agoNavigation techniques improved substantially. While not inherently a speed improvement it increased the effective range of mariners by a ton resulting in effectively the same thing.
- OmicronCeti 6y agoNavigation is irrelevant to the space flight argument though, we know how to navigate between planets and stars (in theory). Speed is the limiting factor.
- kergonath 6y ago> While not inherently a speed improvement it increased the effective range of mariners by a ton resulting in effectively the same thing. There were loads of innovations around the shape and profiling of ship hulls depending on conditions in which they operated. Same for sails and stuff, not to mention doing away with rowers. This improved speed quite a lot on top of range.
- OmicronCeti 6y agoThanks, that's more insightful!