From: buzzard554@fastmail.co.uk   
      
   On 10/15/2018 6:13 PM, ggggg9271@gmail.com wrote:   
   > On Monday, October 15, 2018 at 5:06:25 AM UTC-10, reader wrote:   
   >>> In all honestly, as far as I can tell the only thing   
   >>> stopping the Industrial Revolution from happen in ancient   
   >>> Roman times, instead of the 18th century, was the Roman   
   >>> elite.   
   >>   
   >> Simple, all of the prerequisite technology elements of the industrial   
   >> revolution were not in place.   
   >>   
   >> China was the leader in technology until about the 17th century.  If it   
   >> were to have happened anywhere else it would b china.   
   >>   
   >> A 1st century roman in egypt described a rudimentary steam engine, which we   
   >> associate with the industrial revolution as a primary energy conversion   
   >> prerequisite.   
   >   
   > I thought that technological progress doesn't occur when there is a lot of   
   cheap labor.   
   >   
   > In the the case of ancient Rome, wasn't that about slaves?   
   >   
   > And in the case of China up to the 17th c., didn't it experience a   
   population boom after that?   
   >   
   Hero of Alexandria made steam driven automata and theatre curtains, but,   
   as you say, there were slaves, so the technology was not pursued any   
   further.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)