Steam engines at scale require large numbers of ordinary people to operate. If those large numbers of people give the middle finger to the small numbers of rich people, what are they going to do? Pay with the money that isn't worth anything, since they can't gatekeep access to the machines? The answer is they get the military to go kill you all, until you submit to slavery. That really is all that it is. The day the large numbers of ordinary people in the military give the rich the middle finger is the day that the rich lose absolutely everything. CC: @Haste@mastodon.social