Re:Why did we wait so long for the bicycle? (2019)
by petre on Thursday March 21, 2024 @02:17PM
(#39782329)
> So it does not explain why western Europeans not invent the bicycle in that period
They were too busy fighting wars, like the 100 years war. Also the Inquisition might not have seen bicycles with good eyes. The bicycle couldn't have happened without the Reinassance and the Industrial Revolution.
Re:Why did we wait so long for the bicycle? (2019)
by int_19h on Friday March 22, 2024 @06:09AM
(#39789078)
The rule of thumb is that in Europe, it got worse as you went east. E.g. in Russia, the serf could be sold away from their village, and even away from their family, could effectively be stripped of any property by the owner, could be severely punished for arbitrary reasons. Just about the only thing that wasn't legal was outright murder - but even that was effectively unenforceable except in the most egregious cases involving numerous murders and torture, such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darya_Nikolayevna_Saltykova.
In general, in many cases, what rights exist on paper is irrelevant; what matters is how they are applied in practice, and what avenues to enforce their rights the holders have. E.g. it is not uncommon for societies with serfdom to limit the ability of serfs to file legal petitions against their owners.
Serfdom declined over time in western Europe and had largely disappeared by the end of the middle ages. So it does not explain why western Europeans not invent the bicycle in that period that was at least a few centuries, sometimes longer - 800 years in some places!