How would history have changed if...

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Dr Will Hatch
The Roman Empire had discovered how to utilize electricity?

Symmetric Chaos
There's no possible way of knowing with an precision what would happen due to a change that dramatic. Needless to say we'd likely be far more advanced than we are now.

Lord Lucien
Probably the same thing as what happened to Atlantis. Get smote by Zeus for stealing his ideas.

dadudemon
It depends on what the initial application of this electricity brought.


Did employing electricity to man's benefit create a massive and abrupt paradigm shift? Nay. It was a gradual and slow adoption and invention.

Several things were necessary for electricity to work:

Renaissance.

Age of Enlightenment.


To just name a couple of essentials.











I think that you are really looking for the transistor as the source of "enlightenment." The transistor is the main "next step" in technological development when it comes to electricity. The light bulb was the first.

lil bitchiness
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
There's no possible way of knowing with an precision what would happen due to a change that dramatic. Needless to say we'd likely be far more advanced than we are now.

I think that would have happened if Roman Empire had never fallen - electricity or not.
Europe took a huge step backward after Roman Empire - in almost all aspects.

dadudemon
Originally posted by lil bitchiness
I think that would have happened if Roman Empire had never fallen - electricity or not.
Europe took a huge step backward after Roman Empire - in almost all aspects.

This is true.


There are some historians that believe the Renaissance would have happened sooner if the Romans would have kept a smaller, tidier empire. I don't pretend to be even remotely close to knowledgeable as those people, but I do see merit in what they say.

The Scribe
The Ancient Greeks used steam to operate some experimental machines and toys.

If they would have figured out how to use stream in their boats or military.... big grin

Hero of Alexandria

A 2007 The History Channel television show Ancient Discoveries includes recreations of most of Heron's devices.

Video

RedAlertv2
It would drastically alter the "USA vs Roman Empire" thread

lil bitchiness
Originally posted by dadudemon
This is true.


There are some historians that believe the Renaissance would have happened sooner if the Romans would have kept a smaller, tidier empire. I don't pretend to be even remotely close to knowledgeable as those people, but I do see merit in what they say.

Yeah, that seems very plausible, and very likely.

I always remember from my classical literature class, how in time of Roman Empire, in Rome if you had a pee on the street you'd get a fine, while in London and Paris in 18th and 19th centuries, people were pissing and shitting all over the place.

It makes me cringe.

Dr Will Hatch
And don't forget that like 20% of Alexanders Empire was literate after his death. That's very impressive for that era.

dadudemon
Originally posted by lil bitchiness
Yeah, that seems very plausible, and very likely.

I always remember from my classical literature class, how in time of Roman Empire, in Rome if you had a pee on the street you'd get a fine, while in London and Paris in 18th and 19th centuries, people were pissing and shitting all over the place.

It makes me cringe.


laughing laughing laughing


It seems immature, but that is a very real point. Human progress can be mapped, to a certain degree, to where and how they pissed and shit.


Running water toilet systems are one of the ways used as measures of how advanced a people were.

This, along with developed and written language are excellent markers of advanced society.....Rome had both in spades. big grin

Hewhoknowsall
If they applied it the same way that we did, then Rome would be selling video games and would never have fallen because they could just bribe the barbarians with "magic boxes".

Lord Lucien
Or realize they can wipe out the barbarians with Panzers.

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