""Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it." So said George Santayana, the Spanish-American philosopher who was a star Harvard professor before resettling in Europe and becoming an influential public intellectual. Santayana's writings served as a guiding light during some of the darkest days of two World Wars and the near cataclysm of the mid-20th century-a fate that none other than Ray Dalio sees repeating itself in the near future."
"In the early 1800s, as inventions like the Spinning Jenny and the steam engine reshaped Britain and soon the world, old mills were suddenly able to produce more goods than ever. Productivity soared in a way that historians are still grappling with measuring. Meanwhile, worker pay remained stagnant for more than 50 years-a phenomenon that economic historian Robert Allen called "Engels' pause," named after Frederich Engels, the German industrialist and philosopher."
"For decades, the economy expanded without delivering much improvement to the people actually operating the machines; industrialists grew fabulously wealthy while new factories stretched across the landscape, but workers still toiled for 14-hour-days in crowded conditions, unable to find a better job. The gains from technological progress accrued overwhelmingly to the owners of capital. Only later-once brand new industries, like typing and"
Early industrial revolutions, powered by inventions like the Spinning Jenny and the steam engine, dramatically increased productivity while worker pay remained stagnant for decades. Economic historian Robert Allen labeled this long stagnation in wages "Engels' pause," which contributed to intellectual disillusionment and alignment with ideas in The Communist Manifesto. Wealth concentrated with industrialists as factories expanded and workers endured long hours and poor conditions. Similar dynamics appear during technological transitions when gains accrue to capital owners first, raising the possibility that a new AI-driven wave could replicate historical patterns of unequal distribution.
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