User blog comment:Deadpool of the Wastes/Mods I'd like to see.../@comment-4081131-20120227070459

While socially, Tamriel might be in a similar place as Europe just before the Renaissance, it's a superficial similarity, at best. Tamriel has one thing that Europe didn't: working magic. Why spend the time learning chemistry to invent gunpowder, when you can just throw a fireball? Or an iceball? Or shoot lightning from your fingertips? Likewise, why bother inventing modern medicine, when you can drink a potion and have wounds healed and diseases cured? Simply put, the existence of magic, and the general ease with which simple spells can be learned, terminally stunts scientific advancement.