Ok... I think I must have worded the first comment regrettably. I didn't mean to rebut the author's points, quibble or criticise even. He writes well, interest

Ok... I think I must have worded the first comment regrettably. I didn't mean to rebut the author's points, quibble or criticise even. He writes well, interesting and I like it. I am taking this as a discussion piece and going into the other possibility your quote eludes to. 1-v-1 comparison to Rome is interesting, so is widening the field to "antiquity" or even pondering the possibility of non-urban industrial revolution. I agree with your last points. I'm not even sure we have a sample size of 1. We're not even clear about what happened in 18th century England. Was it science? Engineering? Some set of specific inventions? Politics? "Financial machinery" perhaps, like the proliferation of trading paper like insurance notes, sovereign bonds, and stocks in early companies. On HN, science and engineering seem like the main ingredients, maybe trade. When I studied economics, you might be surprised to hear, they was taught as economic history. They thought the main ingredient was stock/bond/insurance trading. Politics, resources and trade in the second tier. Technology and science was 2nd tier, at best. They thought of technology as emergent given the right conditions.. derivative basically. I think a lot of Tories to this day are certain that Georgian politics, culture & tastes are what made England Great. To me though... I have a bias/preference/opinion is to start downstream as possible. I think the IR's "killer feature" was mass production. The steam engine always seemed like the better symbol for the IR. So do trains and other engines. The humble flying shuttle though? An automated loom is an industrial powerhouse. If I could go back in time and be some ancient King's investment advisor, I would be betting everything automated textile weaving. A water wheel would do me fine for power. We'd be the richest kingdom of any age, and I would finally be a guildmaster.