From: buzzard554@fastmail.co.uk   
      
   On 10/16/2018 11:20 AM, SolomonW wrote:   
   > On Tue, 16 Oct 2018 07:51:03 +0100, Martin Edwards wrote:   
   >   
   >> On 10/15/2018 3:46 PM, 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.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >> In the fifteenth century the Chinese had ocean going ships, they might   
   >> have discovered Europe rather than the other way round.  Unfortunately   
   >> the caravan companies lobbied the government and ships above a certain   
   >> size were banned.   
   >   
   > These ships were not trading ships, they were very expensive and so were   
   > stopped for that reason.   
   >   
   If that were the reason they would have died out naturally.  Why was it   
   necessary to ban them?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)