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| 21994 | The handmill gives feudalism, the steam mill capitalism |
| Full Idea: The handmill gives you society with the feudal lord; the steam mill society with the industrial capitalist. | |||
| From: Karl Marx (The Poverty of Philosophy [1847], p.202), quoted by Peter Singer - Marx 7 | |||
| A reaction: If technology dictates social structure, then feudalism is still with us, in low-tech industries. What if the steam mill had been invented in 1300? |