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this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2025
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Or sometimes the technology is there, but we're just not ready. For example, a very rudimentary steam engine existed in ancient Rome, and was described by others as early as 30BC. While it was highly unlikely to happen because the infrastructure/materials were limited, imagine where we'd be now if the Industrial Revolution had happened in Ancient Rome.
It also makes me wonder if there's anything around today that's considered some oddball quirk of physics that might change the world in the future when we're ready to use it.
Considering how much we destroyed the biosphere since the Industrial Revolution ...
The real innovation with the steam engine during the industrial revolution was metals strong enough to hold enough pressure for the engine to be capable of powering meaningful work. But the industrial revolution was initially quite slow as these labor saving devices cost significantly more than the labor they saved. It took the technology existing and the labor costing more than it would cost to implement the machinery before the industrial revolution could fully begin