[c06n]

You are completely ignoring philosophy. It was the ideas of freedom, of the possibility of liberty for all, of equality of men, that made the whole enterprise possible. China had the tools, sure. But not the incentives. Their emperor could not let lose a zoo of creativity, for fear of destruction of the empire.

[x86_64Ubuntu]

This kind of smacks of euro-centrism. Especially considering how the West at that time had colonies that practiced chattel slavery, producing vast wealth for the owners of the colonies.

[mannykannot]

> It was the ideas of freedom, of the possibility of liberty for all, of equality of men, that made the whole enterprise possible.

So why did it start in Britain, rather than the United States or post-revolutionary France?

[anigbrowl]

Short answer, sea power drove technological innovation (reliable clocks etc) and a global empire gave Britain access to more raw material for textiles than it could process by ahd, so there was a huge incentive for automation. Also, plenty of domestic iron ore and coal deposits allowed rapid scaling and positive feedback loops. Much of the IR centered on the north of England because they had good ports and the coal and iron ore was right there and did not need to be transported very far. Northern England developed in significantly different economic and cultural directions from the more mercantilist southern part of the country, which differences persist to this day.

[anigbrowl]

Might want to read some more Chinese philosophy before drawing such conclusions.

[simonh]

Please, tell me about this Chinese philosophy of "freedom, of the possibility of liberty for all, of equality of men".