Its also different from anything that has been around before it!

Maybe the only comparable innovation might be the spread of applied trigonometry and basic structural calculation that made the cathedrals possible, and then later the chronometers that made accurate navigation feasible...

Then again its applied, fully distributed mathematics that also is money, certainly hard to wrap ones head around even after delving into it for a decade or so!

How it works its way through an imperfect world is really fascinating...