I don’t think that’s a fair comparison to modern day.
People were experimenting with steam engines for 1,000 years sure, but this wasn’t 1,000 years of dedicated research.
It was more like someone discovered the principle, then someone re-discovered the same principle 200 years later in a different, and repeat. Every time interest was lost. It wasn’t until much later that people started to build off of each other and actually pursue technology.
I don’t think that’s a fair comparison to modern day.
People were experimenting with steam engines for 1,000 years sure, but this wasn’t 1,000 years of dedicated research.
It was more like someone discovered the principle, then someone re-discovered the same principle 200 years later in a different, and repeat. Every time interest was lost. It wasn’t until much later that people started to build off of each other and actually pursue technology.