| Well, my grandgrandfather always told that those were worst Chinese inventions: With gunpowder, came standing armies made of conscripts. With paper, came institutionalized bureaucracy. With money, came central banks effectively taxing every user of paper currency by printing more of it. A modern state was made by them: conscript armies, professional bureaucrats, and central bankers It were firearms that made "a lot of farmers with guns" a more effective fighting force than an army of professionals trained from childhood. The "manufacturing rate" of professional bureaucracy was greatly limited by amount of gifted and trusted cadres, it was much of a matter of talent, and personality. The power of state greatly increased by eliminating the "broken phone" factor with written edicts, and allowing to hire and train less select people for bureaucratic work. And for money, metal coin money was quite expensive to made, and it could've been smelted to make real goods - a thing of value, unlike fiat currency |