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Bugmaster comments on Brain Preservation - Less Wrong
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What about industrial steam power ? Hero of Alexandria developed a steam-powered toy back in the first century AD, but it took a millennium and a half before a true steam engine was developed and harnessed for useful work.
If they had come up with the idea, say "we could use this steam power effect to create machines which do work without using the power of living creatures," but then failed to work out how to do that, I'd say that would count, but as far as I know they did not. Not noticing avenues for technological development is not the same as conceiving of specific technologies but taking a long time to successfully implement them.
Didn't Hero of Alexandria attach his steam engine to some kind of a door-opening mechanism ? Granted, he probably wasn't too concerned with "doing work without using the power of living creatures", what with all the cheap slaves hanging around, but still, at least he knew it could be done...