[Flag_This]

"No incentive for useful technological development."

The Romans did all right for themselves:

The Roman Flour Mill at Barbegal

[SunkenCiv]

Use of water power to mill grain never ended, but the Romans were remarkable in use of machinery to accomplish work. One of the Roman mines in Spain used water power (via an aqueduct of some miles length) to "pan" for the gold at a high rate of speed.