system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[ASOIAF] Why haven't they developed clockwork?

They have developed siege weapons such as the scorpion, and mechanical weapons like the crossbow, which have some of the basic technology of clockwork (springs, gears, levers). Surely after thousands of years of civilization, and centuries without a Long Night, the maesters of the Citadel could have come up with the mechanisms for clockwork. If not for timekeeping, then at least for automation of simple tasks. What would prevent clockwork from being a thing in Westeros?
gpt
While there is evidence of clockwork dating back to the first century BCE in Europe, mechanical clocks didn't come into common use until the 10th century CE, and spring-powered mechanical clocks weren't until the 15th century.

Meanwhile the Scorpian dates back to the era of the Roman Republic, over a thousand years beforehand. Crossbows date back to Ancient Greece (and even longer in China). Both long before the invention of reliable clockwork, and after thousands of years of civilization.

Now for all we know the Maesters do use clockwork mechanisms to aid in astronomical observations (common for early clockwork mechanisms in our world as well) and other purposes - just nothing common or important enough to be worth mentioning in the show. It took a *very* long time for clockwork mechanisms to become reliable enough for widespread use.

As far as automation goes, that's what mills are for, which Westeros does have plenty of (presumably in both wind- and water-powered varieties).