I have read that the Roman Empire had produced so much lead and other metals that they created measurable pollution. Was it ever a possibility of Rome starting the Industrial Revolution 1500 years earlier or did the Revolution require for serfdom to have happened first?
it was just from mining
>>282509
i think the industrial revolution needed neighboring superpowers with relatively small core territories to have happened. western europe was ideal for this and that is why it happened there first
imagine how interesting our world would be
>>282509
Rome was missing a culture of innovation and belief in technology much like China in a later period. Yes the Romans were good engineers and did have great military innovation but economically they were not super sharp. They didn't transfer best farming practices from region to region and at times would be sized by anti-intellectual ideas such as when they went through a phase of philosophy is unmanly. As Rome became less urban and more based around land owning in the late empire the chance of an industrial revolution died.
I'd imagine the key ingredient would be a cheap source of power. Not sure if steam engines were feasible with roman tech (strongly doubt it), but they may have harnessed flowing water...
>>282839
>As Rome became less urban and more based around land owning in the late empire the chance of an industrial revolution died.
Isn't that backwards though?
Doesn't industrialization lead to urbanization, not the other way around?
Christians destroyed the plans for Hero of Alexandrias steam engine
>>282509
Slavery is why such a thing didn't happen, the Greeks invented steam power in Alexandria but said to themselves "fuck this, slaves are cheaper and easier and there would be mass unemployment".
>>282839
>Rome was missing a culture of innovation and belief in technology
this
the latin term "res novas cupere" literally is an accusation of something criminal
>>282849
No I'm saying they were in a position where they were urban enough to industrialize but that this chance disappeared as they became less urban in the late empire.
>>282849
It's both. Urbanization (and proletarianization) are prerequisites for industrialization, which accelerates urbanization and proletarianization itself.
>>282867
But how can there be increased urbanization when the jobs required to feed urbanization don't exist without industrialization?
>>282886
There are factors other than technology and raw productivity determining how much food is appropriated by the cities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierapolis_sawmill
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbegal_aqueduct_and_mill
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ancient_watermills
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_turbine#Time_line
>>282509
They could have if they didn't kill off Archimedes