• Not because it was poorer--average wealth and wealth distribution weren't dramatically different
• there was more education available in the classical world
• the physical geography argument doesn't work because Romans used resources from all over their empire

What about slavery as an explanation of lack of technological progress?

• many slave societies were slow in developing technology but so were many non-slave societies
  
• slaves may be cheaper than some machines, but they weren't free
• technologies that did not replace slaves did not progress any faster
• some slaves were educated and had managerial responsibility so could make improvements
• the argument Mokyr likes for slavery as a factor is that slaves workers were less likely to be cooperative
• slaves tend to be given very routine tasks and be motivated by punishment rather than rewards, making change more difficult

Large gap between educated class and working class--this feeds into later arguments

• Greek science was about an ideal reality, not the real world
• knowledge was its own reward

In the middle ages farmers got to keep some of the rewards if new technology allowed a larger harvest

in the classical world the reward system was better for public works than private enterprise
the reward system focused on military success and government administration, not business (except for trade)
very central control in the Roman empire--no competing centers of civilization
how does reward system play out in later arguments

What about religion?

• Greek and Roman religion tended to make tinkering with nature dangerous (might offend the Gods)
• it took centuries for Christianity to become supportive of technology
• but by the middle ages Christianity was a major encouragement to technological progress
• attitudes towards nature
  
• nature was seen more as manipulable rather than as a dangerous adversary
• in the middle ages what grew was "The belief in a controllable, mechanistic universe in which human beings may exploit the laws of nature for economic purposes." (p. 202)
• monasteries:
  
• St. Benedict: to labor is to pray (not just penitence, but a positive means towards salvation)
  
• there began to be connections between the educated and producing classes
• monks were the first intellectuals with dirt under their fingernails

not centralized but instead competing kings

• centralization slows progress:
• if there is opposition the government has power to discourage a technology
• the way to get ahead was the military or a government job
  
• competition between different kings gave some of the same incentives as capitalism would later
  
• leadership in technology moved from one to another
• Mokyr sees war as the downside--doing more harm than good to the economy--but does war spurs technological innovation?