Human civilization and progress associated with it is a function of continuity and inertia. And that requires all the right inputs . Else it is perfectly possible to keep going in infinite loops between the past and the current.
I remember reading somewhere the human race would be way more advanced had the hellenistic period continued.
War, politics, economics, social conditions, religions they have to be all perfect.
>I remember reading somewhere the human race would be way more advanced had the hellenistic period continued.
I find those claims unconvincing. You can't just look at all the ups and downs in human social and technological development, pick and arbitrary upswing way back in the past, then project a continuous upward slope from that and pretend it was a realistic possibility.
Individual technological achievements that long ago were a fine thing, but as you say yourself a lot of different factors and technologies and situational chances have to come together to reach the industrial age. Maybe a few extra nudges in the right direction here and there in history might have helped things along a bit, but realistically it was still going to take a very long time for all the different pieces to come together.
It wasn't an arbitrary upswing. Hellenistic period lasted a good 300 years, and there was a decent prelude to it. Note the civilizations that came after it, although great in their own right. Including the Roman civilization had its own goals(Territorial expansion, cities, entertainment, Urban living etc etc).
Now to give you another example as to how things could reverse and take forever to recover. Take a look at USSR and its space program. They were once in race to putting man on the moon and sending probes to Venus. Today? Not really that ahead of the pack.
NASA on the other hand, has had relatively a lot more success. But a lot could change if there is some unanticipated political or economic crisis that could set back US as a country. Of course a new country will likely replace it, but the end and start points won't be exactly the same.
The point being you need continuity and need to keep the inertia going to achieve stellar growth.
Human civilization and progress associated with it is a function of continuity and inertia. And that requires all the right inputs . Else it is perfectly possible to keep going in infinite loops between the past and the current.
I remember reading somewhere the human race would be way more advanced had the hellenistic period continued.
War, politics, economics, social conditions, religions they have to be all perfect.