[kalimanzaro]

I said in another HN thread that the Romans didnt innovate in energy. Someone replied that they did. Looks like you put a definite coda to that-- the Romans too were let down by their geography.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32609732

That said, care to expand on the other reasons?

Continuing in this vein, rudimentary steam engines were known in both the Roman and Song eras, but the state of metallurgy is said to have held back adoption.

https://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/4sub9/entry-5471.html

https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/2012/did-the-chi...