Creative Writing

If we are looking for a point-of-divergence within recorded history, there's probably not going to be a scientific reason humans wouldn't be using fossil fuels. That doesn't mean there couldn't be other, less-scientific reasons, like a complete reshaping of 19th century society, or an industrial revolution happening centuries earlier that is more dependent on hydro-power than coal.

While successful socialist revolutions are interesting (it's the main theme of my current writing project), a equally intriguing idea would be to start the industrial revolution in the first century CE. Where Hero of Alexandria^1^ was building rudimentary steam engines not long after the founding of the Roman ~~Principate~~ Empire, maybe he finds a semi-fictional patron^2^ that is looking for more practical applications for this steam engine, for example: farming, textiles, or papyrus production. Then, while using the predictable flow of the Nile for hydropower, industrialisation slowly mechanises the province and spreads from there.

Another fun companion idea would be to have this new industrialisation rise alongside and compete with early Christianity. As one of the main draws of the latter was its relatively good treatment of the poor^4^. But, they view the new technology as a further sign of the coming apocalypse. While the farmers and other labourers are just enjoying not having to work so hard for food and clothing, leaving them free for more creative endeavours. This could create some conflict for a story, in addition to the general anti-Roman-state viewpoint of the Christians^5^.

^1^ Here's a fun little write-up on a gaming website of all places.
^2^ This person could release the technology for the hydro-power engine for free, à la Tim Berners-Lee and the world wide web. Rather than waiting for people to procure machines and spread industrialisation through more creative methods^3^.
^3^ For more information on this topic see: Trade Secrets: Intellectual Piracy and the origins of American Industrial Power by Doron Ben-Atar
^4^ "... by the time ...[of] the late first or early second century organized poor relief was no doubt underway in parts of the Christian world, conducted by either local workers specifically designated for the activity, or by volunteers who heard the cry of the poor." from Yale
^5^ "The Christian movement was revolutionary not because it had the men and resources to mount a war against the laws of the Roman Empire, but because it created a social group that promoted its own laws and its own patterns of behavior. ... Christianity had begun to look like a separate people or nation, but without its own land or traditions to legitimate its unusual customs."^6^ Wilkens, R. The Christians as the Romans saw them pg. 119
^6^ Furthermore, early Christians refused to participate in politics, religion, and to fight in the empire's wars.