my point was their theory craft was on point for much more than they created but they refused to act upon it to create stuff using the Tiberius glass example to how romans treated innovation on a moral scale (as you can see from the very first post)
you called it whataboutism to deflect the point by demanding I explain how the romans could create tech that even we only can understand the theory of, which is a raising the stakes argument used by teens to try and appear to have a point when they dont
not to mention you in your infinite wisdom, tried to proclaim that
the very real and built roman steam machine was just a theory they had no ability to make thus denying an actual historical invention they made as nothing more than a myth
I called it whataboutism because you basically argued against my point with "what about this other technology, that's proof that Rome was capable of this other unrelated technology" instead of offering proof that I was wrong about the technology in question.
A steam engine is a whole other technology, with entirely different means and materials needed for production. It's an apples to oranges comparison. You can make glass and have no clue how to build a boat. You can make a steam engine and have no idea how to make a fancy hat.
Or maybe I should have called it a non-sequitur, too, because the logic, as maybe you see now, doesn't follow the way you thought it does.
And I never said the machine shown in the post I was first responding to didn't exist. That's just putting words in my mouth. Here, let me quote the post I first responded to:
"Imagine if the romans actually took their steam engine seriously."
This, of course, implies ancient Rome could have started the industrial revolution, which is what the steam engine powered and why it's so important. That's what I responded to.
Unless you believe that the device they actually built could do useful work (the one in the picture that was provided), you ought to realize that design is a novelty to prove steam can push something and nothing more. The design is inefficient and underpowered for any real task and incapable of being filled with water while moving as well as a safety hazard while refilling if scaled up.
So, in order for Rome to have taken the steam engine seriously, they would have to re-design it to something like the ones we saw in the early industrial revolution with large pistons at tight tolerances (not as tight as today, but still far tighter than their machines were capable of creating), cast iron and steel components that can take the high temperatures and stresses, and lubricants that don't gum up the engines.
Because even when steam engines were first seriously used, they were only really used to pump water out of coal mines because their piston walls' loose tolerances and need for far too much coal kept them niche until the breakthrough of machining a solid cylinder to tight tolerances enabled their widespread adoption.
John Wilkinson was half of the reason James Watt's steam engine gained the necessary efficiency to run well enough for use in other applications. And even that would be improved upon.
So, could the Roman empire:
-Cast large cylinders of quality iron and/or steel?
-Machine those to standards not yet seen by mankind?
-Have enough coal mines and iron mines to make that many engines (and the technology required for it—dynamite wasn't around yet, so mining was a much slower process)?
-Make screws necessary for engines to stay together?
Screws weren't used to hold things together until the 15th century, and the screw lathe wasn't invented until the 1700s, which was necessary for mass production in the industrial era.
Thus, I claim—this time with a more accurate view of the facts—the Roman Empire was incapable of making steam engines such that they would enter into the industrial revolution.
I know the research paper says 3rd century, but that's really misleading in this conversation. The Roman empire understood the concepts by then, they just didn't have all the technology at a level necessary to facilitate production on the level it needed to have... as I originally said, though with other words, in all fairness.