Technological Innovation and Economic Theory

Unarguably, Gutenberg's invention decentralized religion, so, perhaps, equally unarguably, its influence on the modern rise of Democracy is greater than those of the theories of Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, etc. If, so, then the events tend to confirm the thesis that technological innovation--communication media, work-tools, weaponry--has been the decisive factor in human history, with respect to which Political or Economic doctrine is a mere afterthought. Smith implicitly acknowledges as much, when he expresses concern over the potential corrosive social consequences of the Division of Labor effected in the emerging Industrial Age. While Marx agrees with him in that regard, whether the Communist Manifesto prescribes or describes a turn of the Dialectical wheel of History implies an uncertainty over his own role in the process.