Thinking that the only thing standing between Rome and the railroad was the absence of a Watts is moronic, there were a zillion other innovations in related technical disciplines that all had to be made AND economic conditions had to align correctly to incentivize their discovery and application. All individuals are fungible, as globalism accelerates, innovations arise concurrently in multiple places (most obvs w/ math& physics theory, which has no material reqs, only requires diffusion of info)