Apparently the relevant unit in the last singularity was Western Europe; Britain was too small to support the industrial revolution by itself. From the May American Economic Review:
We need a new empire of liberty to increase TFP even more so we can all live forever by uploading ourselves to computers, after which we can start over again at a point of our liking. We have to force everyone into our non-zero sum game. The United Provinces, United Kingdom, and United States. What a run.
> We need a new empire of liberty [...] to force everyone
How simple life would be if, whenever something worked, more of the same would work more.
We need a new empire of liberty to increase TFP even more so we can all live forever by uploading ourselves to computers, after which we can start over again at a point of our liking. We have to force everyone into our non-zero sum game. The United Provinces, United Kingdom, and United States. What a run.