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I think the latent idea in this article (though I'm not sure the author thinks this) is that innovation happens within a cultural and economic context which sim
by nescioquid 5y ago
I think the latent idea in this article (though I'm not sure the author thinks this) is that innovation happens within a cultural and economic context which simultaneously enables and inhibits certain kinds of innovations.
The industrial revolution could probably have happened in republican Rome -- they had factories, after all (peopled with artisans and slaves) -- but cultural and economic forces inhibited this. Today technology is focused on ad-tech and rent-seeking patterns -- these are our Roman factories.
A better question might have been what sorts of technologies are blocked by our current cultural and economic regime?
- 6gvONxR4sf7o 5y ago> The industrial revolution could probably have happened in republican Rome Before the printing press and modern steel processing? Before newton and other fundamental physics and chemistry innovations?
- nescioquid 5y agoYes, my point is that cultural and economic forces inhibited further development along these lines. They had the engineering sophistication to create things like odometers (to accurately place mile markers), basic steam engines, concrete, etc. It may not have looked like an 18th-century industrial revolution, but something along those lines could have happened but for the cultural and economic forces at play.