Lack of technological progress in late Roman Empire

[tlclark]

Stefan,

You should talk to Tim O'Neil

He's on the memberlist. He's talked about this many times.

The basics is that there really isn't a technological slowdown, far from it.

From my own research I know that the most efficient methods of dome construction and bath furnaces are all late developments, not to mention metallurgy, etc. In all cases the late period casting processes and iron smelting are superior to early empire.

Robert is right, it's not a lack of brains and innovation, it's the lack of economics and infrastructure. In the early empire there is a civil bureaucracy and trading network that coudl propigate ideas across the empire. By the late period, a lot of that is missing, meaning that ideas can't travel as well.

It has long been thought that the middle ages was an era of technological decline. This is not true. Clocks, mechanics, water works, agricultural technology, animal breeding, book production, etc, all make HUGE strides in technology. It's just that the divisive political and unstable economical environment make it hard to develop. The second a middle class and trading network develops, say in the 13th C, we experience an explosion of learning and technological progress that continues until today.

Travis