out (p. 89):

     . . . the generation of Speenhamland was unconscious of 
     what was on its way. On the eve of the greatest industrial 
     revolution in history, no signs and portents were 
     forthcoming. Capitalism arrived unannounced. No one had 
     forecast the development of a machine industry; it came 
     as a complete surprise. For some time England had been 
     actually expecting a permanent recession of foreign trade 
     when the dam burst, and the old world was swept away in 
     one indomitable surge towards a planetary economy.

     That every generation poised on the edge of massive 
change should later seem oblivious of the issues and the 
imminent event would seem to be natural enough. But it is 
necessary to understand the power and thrust of technologies