He specifically mention the Swedes, not the Chinese. Even if someone conceived of such a thing somewhere in the distant past, you cant say hill, water, and wood meant hydroelectric power to Tolkien, when almost nobody even knew about such things at that time. The metaphor would be meaningless to literally everyone, hence it is not what he meant, obviously.
Hydropower. Not hydroelectric power. You’re conflating the two.
Originally, the mills in the industrial revolution ran on straight water-to-wheel-to-belt-to-machine water power. Which really isn’t all that complicated. Water wheels were used to power saw mills and grist mills for even longer.
It wasn’t until Edison like a hundred or so years later that mills converted to hydroelectric.
I know, that’s exactly what you meant. And I’m saying it was not what the video alluded to. You don’t need to make electricity to get sufficient power from water for industry, just enough wheels, gears and belts and a big enough drop. But in Sweden all water was under control of the king, so that resource was under the control of centralized power.
He specifically mention the Swedes, not the Chinese. Even if someone conceived of such a thing somewhere in the distant past, you cant say hill, water, and wood meant hydroelectric power to Tolkien, when almost nobody even knew about such things at that time. The metaphor would be meaningless to literally everyone, hence it is not what he meant, obviously.
Hydropower. Not hydroelectric power. You’re conflating the two.
Originally, the mills in the industrial revolution ran on straight water-to-wheel-to-belt-to-machine water power. Which really isn’t all that complicated. Water wheels were used to power saw mills and grist mills for even longer.
It wasn’t until Edison like a hundred or so years later that mills converted to hydroelectric.
No, you know I meant electricity
I know, that’s exactly what you meant. And I’m saying it was not what the video alluded to. You don’t need to make electricity to get sufficient power from water for industry, just enough wheels, gears and belts and a big enough drop. But in Sweden all water was under control of the king, so that resource was under the control of centralized power.