Well, coal was missing… slaves may have been a big factor; it’s probably not coincidental that industrialization started in England and the northeast US and, AFAIK, didn’t spread to the US south until after the civil war—but somebody should fact check this. (BTW, I’d love to see an alternate history in which slavery is gotten rid of by economic incentives and government subsidization of the development of mechanized agriculture. Well, I say I’d love to, but it would probably be as exciting as an Ayn Rand novel.)
… but yes, ways of thinking were probably what was lacking.
One important way of thinking was that, for a very long time before the 18th century, change was seen as bad. The word “innovator” was usually preceded by the word “rash”. There was a great chain of being with peasants at the bottom, God at the top, and the King up near the top; and anybody who wanted to change things was a dangerous revolutionary. The very idea that things could improve here on Earth was vaguely heretical. The idea that economies could grow was not fully in place.
I think it’s also not coincidental that the industrial revolution didn’t start until Adam Smith’s ideas replaced mercantilist thought. Pre-Smith, people assumed that the total amount of wealth on Earth was fixed.
Well, coal was missing… slaves may have been a big factor; it’s probably not coincidental that industrialization started in England and the northeast US and, AFAIK, didn’t spread to the US south until after the civil war—but somebody should fact check this. (BTW, I’d love to see an alternate history in which slavery is gotten rid of by economic incentives and government subsidization of the development of mechanized agriculture. Well, I say I’d love to, but it would probably be as exciting as an Ayn Rand novel.)
… but yes, ways of thinking were probably what was lacking.
One important way of thinking was that, for a very long time before the 18th century, change was seen as bad. The word “innovator” was usually preceded by the word “rash”. There was a great chain of being with peasants at the bottom, God at the top, and the King up near the top; and anybody who wanted to change things was a dangerous revolutionary. The very idea that things could improve here on Earth was vaguely heretical. The idea that economies could grow was not fully in place.
I think it’s also not coincidental that the industrial revolution didn’t start until Adam Smith’s ideas replaced mercantilist thought. Pre-Smith, people assumed that the total amount of wealth on Earth was fixed.