Correlation is not causation. The fact that drug companies stocks declined may have something to do with cannabis legalization or nothing to do with cannabis legalization.
This blog fundamentally misunderstands the Industrial Revolution. It focuses on specific technological advancements like the steam engine as pre-requisites. The truth is that the discovery of the steam engine was inevitable. The conditions that made it possible were not.
The Magna Carta, which laid the time for a democratic society, was a key precursor. Democratic societies enable the free exchange of ideas far better than other forms of government.
The printing press, often considered the most important invention ever, allowed the exchange and preservation of ideas at a scale never before possible or imagined in history.
Both of these led to the Scientific Revolution in England. The formalization of the scientific method, the discovery of the fundamental laws of nature- it was the Scientific Revolution which made the Industrial Revolution inevitable.
I've tried more than once to play Morrowind since playing it to death back in the day but as an adult with tendonitis in my wrist the horrible GUI that has zero keyboard support is just too big an obstacle to overcome. Inventory management, dialog, everything in the game requires endless mouse clicking.
What's perhaps more surprising is that Microsoft-owned-Bethesda hasn't yet started working on an official remaster of it. Given that Bethesda still uses the same engine, it would be relatively cheap for them to do as opposed to building a new game and it would sell like hotcakes.
What the article author doesn't seem to realize is much of dentistry (and medicine in general) is not based on evidence. There is zero clinical evidence that flossing actually does anything beneficial. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a lack of evidence for 6-month cleanings actually being beneficial. Similarly, doctors make decisions based mostly on hunches and gut feelings unless you're actively bleeding from a gunshot wound.
I look forward to the day when AI is sophisticated enough to take medical decisions out of the hands of fallible and emotional human beings. (We're not anywhere close to that day)