Handing an ancient society a modern machine would have achieved nothing: the Romans could neither have built a steam engine nor found a profitable use for one.

Added to korrents 26 Aug 2022 · How quotes work · Something wrong? Tell us

Related korrents

Our reading — they may agree, disagree or merely touch the same thing. Closest first: a shared subject counts for most, then how near the wording is.

• Cutting the cost of something is not a lesser achievement than inventing it, because inventing a cheaper way is precisely how the whole world gets richer. JBJeff Bezos14 Dec 2023similar wording
• Calling the lost civilisation advanced means only that it could calculate longitude, not that it built machines. GHGraham Hancock16 Oct 2024similar wording
• Roman economic growth came from institutions rather than from technology, which is why it did not outlive the institutions that produced it. BDBret Devereaux26 Aug 2022similar wording
• A model company may face a winner's curse: it does all the hard innovation and is then one copy away from being commoditised. SNSatya Nadella12 Nov 2025similar wording
• Great ideas are not all taken: many multi-billion-dollar businesses were buildable years earlier and nobody built them for no reason other than that nobody did. BSBlake Scholl28 Jul 2026similar wording

See this on the map →