BTW, the first patent for washing and wringing machine was issued in 1697. I suppose their imaginations were so stunted they couldn’t possibly foresee or desire this before 1697, nor in 1697 desire even more automated washing...
So that’s late 17th century, when the scientific revolution was already well underway and the industrial revolution (the closest thing to an actual technological singularity that ever happened) was about to start.
So you’re not going to give them any credit for not just imagining but patenting it a century before the American Revolution? You’re just going to move the goal posts and say that anything which is during the Industrial Revolution counts? (But when did the Industrial Revolution start, since some economists and historians date the uptick in technology to as late as 1800, Gregory Clark remarking that “the average rate of expansion of technology before 1800 was extremely slow.”)
By the way, Francis Bacon only wrote Novum Organum in 1620. You want to move the goalposts even more?
We were talking about what innovations 16th century people, and particularly alchemists, were able to imagine, and you produced a patent from the late 17th century.
Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot that everything changed instantaneously from the 16th century to the 17th century, and this restriction was absolutely crucial to the discussion.
I apologize for wasting your time.
(BTW, the robot servant example still stands even if my washing machine example produced after a minute in Google doesn’t meet your exact specifications.)
A stunning reply, thanks.
BTW, the first patent for washing and wringing machine was issued in 1697. I suppose their imaginations were so stunted they couldn’t possibly foresee or desire this before 1697, nor in 1697 desire even more automated washing...
So that’s late 17th century, when the scientific revolution was already well underway and the industrial revolution (the closest thing to an actual technological singularity that ever happened) was about to start.
So you’re not going to give them any credit for not just imagining but patenting it a century before the American Revolution? You’re just going to move the goal posts and say that anything which is during the Industrial Revolution counts? (But when did the Industrial Revolution start, since some economists and historians date the uptick in technology to as late as 1800, Gregory Clark remarking that “the average rate of expansion of technology before 1800 was extremely slow.”)
By the way, Francis Bacon only wrote Novum Organum in 1620. You want to move the goalposts even more?
We were talking about what innovations 16th century people, and particularly alchemists, were able to imagine, and you produced a patent from the late 17th century.
Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot that everything changed instantaneously from the 16th century to the 17th century, and this restriction was absolutely crucial to the discussion.
I apologize for wasting your time.
(BTW, the robot servant example still stands even if my washing machine example produced after a minute in Google doesn’t meet your exact specifications.)