What POD would best accelerate technological innovation?

PhilippeO

Banned
- No Volcanic Eruption between 3000BC-2000AD ?

Bronze Age Collapse, The General Crisis 17th century-Little Ice Age there are many societal collapse, mass famine and spreading plague that connected with sudden drop of harvest caused by volcanic eruption.

A Geological Passivity for several thousand years will push humans society to progress much faster.
 

trurle

Banned
- No Volcanic Eruption between 3000BC-2000AD ?

Bronze Age Collapse, The General Crisis 17th century-Little Ice Age there are many societal collapse, mass famine and spreading plague that connected with sudden drop of harvest caused by volcanic eruption.

A Geological Passivity for several thousand years will push humans society to progress much faster.

In short term, yes. In long term, without eruptions soils will be leached of micro-elements and more famines follows. Remember the problems of agriculture on Christmas Island as example.
 
Thank you, guys, for all the good responses! There are many interesting ideas to mull over here. Some (such as killing Genghis Khan) are clear and simple, although I know that example has been done already elsewhere.

Others are a little more esoteric, and I like the discussion about diseases, as I had not considered that angle. It illustrates the butterfly effect quite well. If stable, cosmopolitan states are to exist, and thus jumpstart technological innovation, medical science has to be able to deal with the consequences of so many different peoples intermingling.

Perhaps some student of Hippocrates stumbles across the antibiotic properties of mold and uses it to save Alexander’s life? With a newfound appreciation of science, the king funds a medical school in Alexandria, and things spin off from there…
 
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