fuelled6532
My original comment was in response to the statement that improved locomotion was an obvious consequence of the steam engine.
I contend that is was not obvious. The first walking beam engines were more like buildings, built in place (largely of masonry) and not portable at all.
The steam engine certainly revolutionized transportation, however I doubt that Newcomen or even Watt looked at their work and thought "this is going to change shipping forever".
Like I said, it took a generation to get to revolving shaft, and then another to get to revolution.
Today is probably like that with regard to AI. The pace of change is much faster now, but we still have no idea what the world will be like after this tech matures.
Also nonsense. The canal boats were replaced by steam railways. A hundred years later. The water in the canals came from regular sources, by gravity.
It took decades to even get steam engines that turned a shaft (as opposed to rocking a beam up and down).
The locomotion thing might not have been as obvious at the time as it is in hindsight.
Even the ones getting paid, are making a tiny fraction of what they could in the private sector doing something more greedy with their time.
Life is not all startup exits and stock options. Some folks are actually trying to do good in the world.
Sure, they should have kept the 100k, but giving it away was well aligned with their mission.
I just put 43 liters of gasoline in the tank this morning.
The rail is as much as 65psi, and it's inches from a hot exhaust manifold.
It's fine. People can be competent.