darthdevidem01 said:
HappySqurriel said:
A few years back I was watching a show that discussed religious machines in ancient Rome. These were machines that were supposed to create "miracles" (for lack of a better word) inside of temples to show off the influence that a god had there. While a lot of these machines were very simple, a few wooden balls inside a box that was on something that looked like a teeter totter for simulating thunder, some of the machines demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of physics.
The reasons why the industrial revolution only happened a couple hundred years ago, rather than in the times of Ancient Rome, was because of cultural reasons not lack of understanding of machines. They had all the knowledge they needed to build a steam engine but the information was spread across multiple secretive religious cults and there was no reason to build a steam engine in Ancient Rome.
It is the improved sharing of information because of the renaissance and the increased personal freedoms (and property rights) that started the industrial revolution. Before that, people were doing a lot of advanced things but a ton of effort was wated re-discovering what someone else already discovered; and lots of discoveries could be easily lost due to a plague or war.
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Yeah I think this is key
In ancient times knowledge was actually a secret thing. There was a big gap in knowledge & understanding between parts of the society. Nowadays it's not like that doesn't exist at all but knowledge has become a far more common thing.
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Yeah this is true. Not just in ancient times though, there are examples of this all throughout history. I cam across a good one in a Bill Bryson book the other day: a doctor created the forceps for use in childbirth, something which is still used (albeit rarely) today, in the 16th century. He and his family kept it secret for around 100 years until it was developed by someone else, even going so far as to blindfold the woman giving birth. By not sharing this knowledge they effectively damned god knows how many women and children to a painful death during childbirth. I know this is off topic but I just thought it was interesting.
For a more modern example see that Mojang patent-troll lawsuit. Kidding!
