The harnessing of fossil fuels upended it all. The ability to burn first coal (and later oil) to generate steam enabled humans to generate energy when and where and in the quantities desired. Ships no longer needed to sail around the world based on the seasons; they could carry their own power with them. Increasing the strength and precision of energy application by two orders of magnitude redefined industries as broadly arrayed as mining and metallurgy, construction and medicine, education and warfare, manufacturing and agriculture—each generating its own technological suite, which in turn
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