Reminded of a 80's cartoon called Galaxy Rangers that had a wild west in space theme. The characters were wearing cowboy outfits and had robotic horses they rode in. At the same time, they had FTL ships and represented a humanity that had just joined a interstellar community
One thing that people tend to forget. Steam as a technology was heavily dependent on two other technologies. Metallurgy needed for cutting tools and Machine Tools and the improvements made to them to produce parts to ever increasing tolerances and accuracy.
Well, and the detail that they were only made practical because of wet coal mines; the first 'practical' steam engines were used to pump water out of coal mines, and were only practical because they didn't have to ship the fuel.
There are fascinating videos on RUclips, "The Origins of Precision", and "The Science of Flatness". Turns out it's not that easy for example to manufacture a flat surface without already having a flat surface. Same goes for machines and tools.
@@NeovanGoth You can manufacture a flat surface by hand with no machine tools. Although having a mill or planer eliminates a lot of work. Only you need to make three at a time constantly checking between the three plates as you scrape the surfaces.
You know it's funny. As a Chicagoan, I grew up with my mother doing typical Midwestern things you would expect, like gardening, canning, baking, crocheting, and sewing. I never was able to pick up the crocheting and I'm terrible at sewing, but I've actually gotten really good at the other three. A few years ago I met somebody who was originally from Texas, and who had moved around a lot. She commented and how amazed she was by midwesterners who know the most random things from her point of view, from blacksmithing, to woodworking, gardening, canning, beekeeping, animal husbandry, etc. And not like farm folk; city and suburb dwellers. And it's not like we all go looking for the stuff, we just pick it up as we go I think in general, which that encourages us to go and work or learn on more similarly esoteric, low-tech skills. Tangentially reminds me of a cultural difference between Chicagoans and New Yorkers or Los Angelinos, specifically regarding shopping. I don't know if this is still the case, but I understand there's been a traditional aversion to admitting you bought something cheaply, even amongst the middle class or some of the working class on the coasts. Meanwhile Chicagoans, and midwesterners in general, will brag about getting something half off. I once stumbled upon a duster that was marks down from $300 to $75 I don't even remember the brand. It was a good coat. It was the last one, it happened to be exactly my size, and it was on sale because it was spring clearance. There are whole groups of people who would never admit to pay anything but full retail for such a thing and would even view it as a mark of plebeian shame to have even considered what it cost when they bought it. Personally I think those kinds of people are wasteful idiots, but there's no shortage of that in the world. The point is there's certain mindset that bleeds into both kinds of areas, kind of frugal utilitarianism which well not necessarily pervasive in all avenues of this culture, nevertheless remains a clearly discernible undercurrent.
This is something that the TV show Firefly got right. If you're colonizing an Earth-like planet, you don't want to have to rely on technology that you can't manufacture right there on the planet. Automobiles require steel, rubber, and all kinds of other materials, plus factories to manufacture the parts and oil wells and refineries to fuel it all. Horses just need to be able to graze somewhere, and are pretty good at making their own replacements. The axe you brought with you might be made of a high-tech steel alloy that keeps its edge through years of constant use, but when you do finally need to replace it, an iron axehead and wooden handle will work just fine. I could also see an early colony running steam engines off of gunpowder made using the French method, using latrines to make the necessary chemicals. Theoretically, you could bootstrap a 19th century tech level in this way without ever finding coal.
I see a catch. The prospective colony world had best have a compatible biome with plants that livestock can eat. Otherwise, colonies could be very resource intensive, almost like the antarctic research stations are now.
Electricity tech will be looked upon same way as we look upon steam trains now. And they will discuss that one time scientists of our tome tried to get funding for some obscure gadget that could have rushed in the future few millennia faster but were dismissed. The main issue Is we have no idea which obscure gadget it is
@Arcgateway that would almost be a fun long term gambling game. Like, you bet on the mp3 player that's newly in development. 22 years later it's acknowledged that the ipod revolutionized tech so much it changed our phones which then became handheld information terminals that can access most of human knowledge. Oh wait, they do. It's called stock market I guess
this video made me want to watch a sci-fi movie in the similar low-budget vein of "Clerks". But instead of a convenience store setting, it's a group of construction dudes, working on assembling a giant battle mech. They just chit-chat about life problems and other random bullshit. The tools they use do fantastical things, but look boring at first glance. The whole thing would be an exercise in "same human shit, different setting".
a theory states that the Flinstones and are not the distant past but a post technological future of humanity left behind on Earth as their space colonist cousins left it behind to colonize the galaxy.
Anyone ever consider that the Flintstones are actually a post-apocalyptic society AFTER the Jetsons; this is why humans and dinosaurs live together, and everything is reminiscent of technology.
Body armour stopped being a think for decades before coming back again with technoloical development. When very popular example in science fiction is warrior nobility is being brought back again by genetic and cybernetic modification. Old ideas have a weird way of coming back when you least expect it.
Life extension combined with physical enhancements of sufficient cost would almost certainly recreate something akin to knights and warrior nobility. you get yourself a 100+ year old warrior, a veteran of innumerable battles, who had been trained since childhood and kitted out with custom equipment and genetic modification and cybernetics... That sort of investment isn't cheap. Either your wealthy parents pay for this or this is paid for by an institution which wouldn't want to make bad investments or lose good ones and would thus try and instill particular values upon members and retain them with incentive structures. And thus, a modern knighthood is born. Arguably, special forces teams are very close to being this. The problem is aging resulting in the decline of physical abilities and thus a need for frequent replacements. Anti-aging tech or cybernetics or similar could change this
@@comentedonakeyboard Most professional soldiers already come from military families. It's just that they don't get any special privileges in the 20th and 21st century.
@@Just_some_guy_1 true, they dont get any Special privileges so far, but with recruitment lacking in numbers this might change in the future (just as an recruitment bonus)
Star Wars sometimes tries to provide reasons for people riding animals around rather than using vehicles. With Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's personal preference; he doesn't trust machines and connects better with animals. The desert conditions on Tatooine or the cold of Hoth are shown to be rough on machines, making native animals debatably more practical. The Geonosians use animals in their gladiator arena just because they enjoy bloodsport. I appreciate that there's some level of justification, even if the logic isn't airtight.
The only correct answer is that it is Techno-Barbarism. Rakatan Empire conquered almost entire galaxy destroying all advanced cultures. When they fall, they slaves take over and reverse-engineer they technology. But the truth is that no one actually know how hyperdrive actually work. There is also quite likely that droids are actually designing bulk of the tech, with humans only providing guidelines. Look for example on Gemini droids.
the star wars logic makes sense, this happens in our current world too. certain communities/ countries that are not as developed or cities/ villages etc that inhabit very challenging terrain, where things like cars and trucks are very hard to use because they cannot handle the harsh off road terrain or the area is lacking heavily in resources both in parts/fuel logistics and economically. These places see heavier than usual animal use because animals are cheap and easy to use. Where as owning a car is expensive,hard to use and maintaining it is a complete chore. So logically if you part of such a community it makes logical sense to stick with something lower tech
When it comes to techno-primitivism, one of the earliest fictional examples I can think of is 'Forgetfulness' by John W Campbell from the 1930's. An alien race comes looking to colonise Earth, finding humans living in simple villages in the shadow of great abandoned cities. When trhey ask about the technologies (which are far more advanced than theirs) the human say they don't know, and have forgotten. However, when the aliens decide they will colonise Earth it's more a matter that the humans have forgotten those technologies in the same way we've forgotten how to knap flint, or make a bow and arrow. They no longer need gegreat macines or cities or spaceships, as they can manipulate space and tiime mentally. There's also the more humouurous version, 'With friends like these...' by Alan Dean Foster, which is a call back to the sci-fi of Van Vogt, Canmopell and E.E Smith. HFY and hilarious in equal measure. I wasn't counting the Eloi from the Time Machine, as they have genuinely forgotten what they once were, and their technology is supplied from outside.
Fire, the wheel and concrete, hard to beat. The old BBC show "Connections," (hosted by James Burke) made in the 1970s so a bit behind on today's technology was a great show regarding the linkages between various social and technological advances. Great show Isaac!
_Connections_ was largely an adaptation of Burke's book of the same name. Burke made a couple other series, although _Connections 2_ is the one that immediately jumps to mind. Good stuff, but with less budget (both monetary and time-wise, dropping from hour-long episodes to half-hour) the other Burke shows are still good stuff, but not as good.
1: first thing I noticed about Star Wars was the troopers on both sides had leather holsters for their blasters and remember even as a kid thinking this odd. I later on found that the British army issued a cloth bag as a holster for a service pistol, it gave you a rash under it through your trousers which had a constant wet patch, and flopped all over the place when running and got wet and dirt could not be removed short of a jet wash. Quite soon it became practice to wear a privately purchased leather holster just like great grandpa would have had. Techknowlogy is great, but the old stuff often works much better. So clearly the navy troopers in a galaxy far far away had the same experience. 2: the horse is the best all round 4x4 vehicle on rough hilly terrain, Decent speed and carrying capacity and you can even talk to it and not get funny looks.
In our modern world many new technologies come with opportunistic or predatory monetization from corpoations that monopolize the technology, in ways that do not affect the older simpler technological option. That is also a large motivator for certain "anachronistic" choices.
Digital makes searching and storage better, but paper books are still easier to read AND best of all, you actually own it! The company you purchased it from can't limit your access to it just because they feel like it (like one large ebook distributor I won't mention).
Digital only works as long as you have the right power source and the right connection and the right App or the latest version of it. A book works as long as you have light.
Special forces used horse in the gulf wars because they could not carry enough fuel to complete missions and horses and mules could handle the rough terrain much faster than going on foot and could carry much more gear
Regarding boiler explosions in the early days of steam engines: the problem was so common on riverboats that they prompted the first federal safety regulations in the US.
A great real-world example of technological advancement being non-linear: the bicycle. The parts to construct a bicycle have been available simultaneously since the Iron Age. Attempts to invent a "human-powered" vehicle failed repeatedly for at least two thousand years. The problem was mindset: horseless carriages, horseless chariots, horseless wagons. Eventually, someone finally thought "why not a horseless horse?" Incidentally -strange lack of bicycles in post-apocalyptic fiction.
You need machine tolerances to make a chain-drive work. Also, the materials used in the construction of a bicycle today are very different from those used in the 1800s.
I recall that early on in the invasion of Afghanistan, western forces found that their .556 calibre weapons were being outranged by Afghans using long rifles, Jezails, some dating back to the 19th century. I seem to recall they had to hurriedly bring back some 7.62 calibre weapons to combat this. In Afghanistan you had one side equipped with laser and satellite guided bombs and the other side were using small arms, some of which were over 100 years old and homemade bombs.
The USSR left a lot of high tech weapons when they left from losing the war in Afghanistan and the CIA funneled hundreds of millions of Hi tech weapons in the 80s so that USSR wouldnt win These are all public knowledge and well known facts What you wrote sounds like some propagnda to make USA Army sound good that had to come from some bias news organization We recently left Billions in weapons this time What makes you think that's the first time ?
@@PrimericanIdolWho? The West? For a time but the enemy never really surrendered so when they returned they just took over. I would have felt Pity for Afghan Women if only they were willing to pick up arms and fight back.
There was an old science fiction story decades ago about an interstellar military force trying to occupy a planet with a long lost human colony. The society appeared to be at a pre-industrial, bucolic agricultural level. It turns out the people had actually developed very high levels of technology but enjoyed pretending to live at a simple, close to the land lifestyle, and you only saw the tech when they needed to use it. The invaders found that out the hard way when locals decided that the “occupiers” had made enough of a nuisance of themselves. One of the TOS episodes played on a similar theme.
Made me think of how the protagonists use battle axes in All You Need is Kill. I sell my TTRPG builds and maps. I guarantee it doesn't even pay for itself. But I don't think I would ever give it up. Not because I think it will ever "pay off" or become my day job, but because it simply brings me joy and satisfaction.
Wait till you see the new Alien movie. Clunky computers in the future. And they lost 4k surveillance camera technology. All the while having huge space stations and cryo-sleep pods
@mp51998 (they had priorities) works canonicly as in alien the owner of that universes mega corp elon musk equivalent type seems obsesed with imortality, meeting his gods and the great question WHY
Modern knives and brooms aren't the same as what we used in the past. They use better materials, and better manufacturing processes, both kinda 'hidden' technical improvements that apply to a lot of things we tend to think have stayed the same for ages.
Simple cheap effective The three things can make a tool out live a age... That's not to say the technological advancements in these devices won't continue to occur they will continue to get better in small ways such as better materials for brooms plastics to make them last longer better steel for knives etc
@@ArawnOfAnnwn, "knives and Brooms will be used by humans for thousands of years to come" is a true standalone statement that makes no claims against (and has no reason to include) your commentary. In fact all you've mentioned is that modern production exists which is tantamount to me saying sometimes when I fart I can't smell it.
I have seen in I think a travel documentary an image of an Indian fisherman. Standing on a narrow bamboo raft, wearing just a loincloth, he was throwing a net in the river. I suspect the net was nylon. Behind him, in the morning mist, the river was covered in a layer of foam from the pollutants. Above the mist on the other bank of the river, a dark squat, cylindrical structure of a skyscraper was as if suspended above ground in the orange-pink sky.
And then again, a group of Pashtun men in Pakistan, traditional clothes and plastic sandals, starting up a hundred year old stationary engine in a mud- brick workshop, with Toyota pickup truck and motorcycles parked in front.
Thanks Isaac. Once again brillent episode, all the sci-fi tropes we love hand picked, blended and distilled allowing us to relive, extend and get meta with those ah-ha moments that make science fiction so addictive.
I love reminding people that different parts of the world were still using stone tools while agriculture and bronze was used. We still use coal power but we're also in space. There are still parts of the world using "stone age" technology. There are still nomads and hunters despite agriculture. There's small chicken coops and there's industrial giant chicken houses. There are still people who ride horses for work, recreation, and sport. Bayonets are most basically swords that sit on guns.
Bayonet-equipped rifles replaced pikes, allowing _tercios_ (and _tercio_ adjacent) formations to have more firepower since gunners with bayonets could protect themselves from the enemy in melee. That's not 'anachronism.'
That's a perfect way of saying that technology doesn't typically cease to exist; it just finds a niche in the marketplace of ideas. We even still have sundials and windmills.
I could imagine a society that is perhaps created and maintained by an outside force to be as some kind of a "Garden of Eden" style paradise world where the inhabitants are highly genetically engineered to survive and thrive in primitive conditions with long lifespans and resilience to most disease. There could be present some highly advanced medical and atmospheric technologies to maintain the idyllic nature of the environment by the "overseers", meanwhile the actual residents live with bronze age technology.
There is something about physical books. Maybe its because I'm older then Arthur, but even though I have a tablet with thousands of books, i'm just as easily able to forget to read a book as if it was in a large book case, there are real pros and cons between both that I think tend to cancel out most differences. Perhaps tablet for travel and physical books for home/work is the best balance. Having children now in their early 20s. I find it funny how they are fascinated with CDs and other physical media, when I remember how amazing it was that I could have hundreds of songs available to play at any time instead of 12.
Already im into the video intro and im thinking about the neural connection between the Na'vi and their animals in Avatar. They are very similar to the more technological versions in Halo's Spartans or the personal link/neuro port on V's left wrist from Cyberpunk 2077.
The Spartans can control mjolnir at the Speed of Thought + Augmentations, Titanium bones and a hi-tech Power Armor Makes them way superior than the Strongest Na’vi on Avatar
@@WaterBottlePro-vi2ph and I would agree except I wasn't talking about if the Na'vi are stronger then Spartans. If an Na'vi first finds out that MJOLNIR systems directly link up with the wearer's nervous system, they'll be just like "Oh so it works like how we connect with our animals back at my home planet."
@@twrampage indeed. Both as a dagger or as a pike-like weapon. One weapon has multiple functions in melee combat. My point was that the same weapon has been made better in that role by advances in technology.
The anachronistic technology did happened in the real life as the development of the technology over is not linear dur to the condition of the economy and society. Plus, there were cases of making the technology without notice it. Example: Carbon Nanotubes in making the swordmaking during the Middle Age Middle East; and use of donkey in the Germany Military during the Modern world.
I feel like as usual Isaac ignores a major real-world cause of anachronistic technology: poverty and bad government. Here in NYC, during the pandemic schools gave kids laptops so they could attend class remotely ... and then discovered that many poor families don't have internet access at home, because they can't afford it. If you go to a developing country these days you'll find that a majority of even quite poor people have cell phones, even smartphones, but often don't have refrigerators or sometimes even running water. This is usually because their government has not thought it was worth spending the money on infrastructure for low-income people (and/or disfavored ethnic groups) and thus the electrical/water system is either inaccessible or unreliable.
I've actually tried to have this conversation with him during a monthly. He believes the technology enough will fix it all, and wouldn't acknowledge that human politics are the issue really. We have the technology we need if we are being honest. Not a reason to stop, but we coule live quite well if the tech we have was used correctly for the best good for the people. Instead politicians keep us fighting each other
Yeah, I'm sure somebody wants to listen to some communist whining about how government doesn't give random black kids enough money to become Elon Musk. People are here to learn and explore technology and Humanity flourishing not your whining BS crap take it somewhere else communist.
Flash Gordon and a some of others used rayguns and rocket pistols with iron sights while fighting sword wielding knight-analogues in plate armor on lizard horses.
In the mostly medieval fantasy Genshin Impact, there are people with clothes Zippers. a technology that wouldnt be fully invented until the early 1900's! the steam train existed for decades and handheld blackpowder weapons for centuries before the zipper!
My Mum swears by her mechanical bedside clock that's unfortunately broken down, and we can't find anyone who can repair it. Modern watch shops are all about batteries and the like, not springs... I was also going to say computing is a possible "could have been discovered earlier tech", alongside steam engines, but I see Isaac covered it in the latter part of the video
10 years, wow. I found you back in the days you were doing explainers of basic physics and astrophysical concepts as well as far out mega projects. Good times. When people ask me about future technology and space related things, I'd guess most of the time I'm drawing on things I learned from Isaac.
@@jsbrads1 how bout an 18V BLDC motor to drive the reel powred buy an 18VB power tool battery should be cheap way to power one compared to gas engine or something more high tech and plenty enough for the job
@@ThunderClawShocktrix obviously this is a pure benefit for someone who needs a little sun and exercise too. But the cost investment and relative low reliability of other alternatives, making even charging a battery a lengthy detour unneeded in the above scenario where it is a nominal amount of work.
Is using outdated technology really beneficial in a high-tech society, or is it just a waste of resources and time? Maintaining and improving old technologies can be a way to preserve culture and diversify future technology choices, right?
Different situations require different things. During the Russian revolution the Reds thought horses were outdated. The white army thought otherwise, and saw great success with it. Who wins in a fight? A guy with 50 Caliber machine gun, or a guy with a simple knife standing 3 inches from him?
@@MrKIMBO345 Is it possible that using old technologies, such as the Aztec hydroponic systems, could not only help preserve culture but also provide sustainable and effective solutions to problems that modern technology has not yet fully solved?
I don't think it's a waste of resource and time. For one, there's other leisure activities more commonly enjoyed in "high-tech" civilisations like ourselves (such as playing computer games, watching shows etc) that could be considered a waste of time and resources aswell. Imo, leisure and people doing/maintaining/using what is fun to them and makes them feel happy is (within reason) not a waste of resources. Also, keeping around outdated and seemingly useless technology may be a way of inspiring people to think outside the box (museums where you can actually use and tinker around with old tech in a safe environment) and can also serve as a backup or emergency solutions in case things go south and for some reason your high-tech becomes temporarily inaccessible. Last but not least, I could envision a combination of cutting-edge research incorporating certain principles used in otherwise obsolete technology to create new, better technology combining. Can't serve an example for the last point off the top of my hat but I think it's not implausible. Goes somewhat along with my 2nd point of inspiring people to think outside the box.
A society may also develop conventions that don't update with better technology. For example, in many places cash is still a preferred payment method, even though we have more advanced technology for handling transactions. If a technological advancement doesn't provide a huge improvement in quality of life, people may opt not to adopt it simply because they are used to their old ways.
Biobutanol fuel is much less theoretical than thorium or bioelectricity, but is largely stagnant due to electric cars and petroleum derived fuels. Continuous problems with the electric side of things may lead to it making a reappearance.
Apparently, William Gibson (father of cyberpunk) still writes on some old DOS pc not connected to the internet. Or some old word processor, I don't remember exactly.
Steam turbines. They where invented a long time ago, and yet almost all power that isn't solar PV still uses them and there is no plan to phase them out!
Yeah! Because everything involved is relatively cheap! It will be the standard until we invent one that is frictionless as that is practically the only advance we have left to make, besides constantly improving efficiency
Just like to point out, the book that kicked off steampunk, the Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce sterling, was actually an alternate history. The alternate point is that when lord Babbage had drafted and patented a design for a mechanical computer in 1838, he had actually built it as well. This ability to compute vast sums and complex formula quickly essentially Kickstarted the information revolution in Imperial Britain in the 1850s rather than in America in the 70s/80s, which lead to all manner of social and technological upheaval.
Been a while since ive had a chance to listen. Have to say im impressed with just how much your speech has improved over the time ive been listening. Its at the stage now where, if it wasnt for your accent, id say it wasnt the person. Kudos to you sir. And thanks for the content. ✌️
Dune and in parts stargate are always the two franchises I have to think of when it comes to anachronistic technology. Frank Herbert did an unbelievable job by creating a world where it makes total sense that dudes stab each other with knives, while also having atomic weapons and travelling to far away stars.
I wonder if some use of anachronistic technology could be due to corruption of businesses? I've had it up to here with subscription based printers, office software, 60 day learning courses(without physical text books, that also restrict your ability to save or print material), and digital copies of games that are not available when the virtual store stops supporting the software.
One point to note is that the idea for railways was developed _well_ before the industrial era, and indeed might have been one of the factors that allowed it. Even ignoring earlier examples like the Diolkos (~600 BC), the first known example of carts running on rails, at least, outside of a mineshaft, is the Wollaton Wagonway, opened in 1604, over a century before Newcomen introduced his Atmospheric Engine (which, admittedly, wasn't the first steam engine). This, and other similar trackways would transport ever-increasing quantities of coal from the mines to the ports, and them onwards to the growing industries springing up around Britain.
Better computer modeling and automation will eventually make custom, bespoke furniture cheaper than the commoditized, particle board furniture we find so prevalent. A piece made to fit exactly the area you need that reflects the unique points of specific materials is going to be commonplace again. (*fingers crossed*)
carbon tax or other policies making cheap low quality furniture less feasible would probably be better. I would also worry about the effects of automating the jobs of skilled woodworkers. But this is probably already possible with a good scan of the room and 3d printing. You could also carve out wood with massive robot arms but that requires a lot of upfront cost.
All great stories are a blend 😢 selected tropes and aesthetics. All in the service of making a relatable world for eelatable characters. If things seem out of place at a technological level, so be it. A superb sci-fi Sunday episode Isaac.
I recently have been thinking about this...camels would be great to have on mars once there is enough vegetation to sustain them...maybe special bred mars camels...😂 Would this still count as anachronistic i wonder?
Hey we have smartwatches that look like old mechanical clocks and swords made with modern tech that could probably cut through classic sword like nothing
and we have high end mechanical watches (Rolex Pateks, etc) that keep worse time than a cheap Seiko quartz watch yet some people will spend tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars for them!
I recently looked into the invention of the steam engine, and the machine itself was invented on paper about 250 years before anyone could build one, because as that proto-scientific paper assessed, it required a level of precision milling far beyond any human craftsperson in order to avoid having weak spots that would detonated the pressure system, or just cause it to not work at all. It wasn't until the invention of the first preciosion milling machine that steam power became possible, which is one of the first things humans thought to do with it.
I often think about the dichotomy between 2 of the most rapidly advanced projects. Musical instruments and weapons. Craftsman spent their lives improving precision and quality for war and music. Strange creatures.
One of my favorite scifi tropes. Like that episode of TNG where they visit a rural farming community but they're all biologically immortal via technology, they just choose to live simply. I might be confusing multiple episodes, and that might be a Voyager episode, I forget. 😂
An anachronism I often use is my sewing machine. A really old industrial sewing machine from the 50/60´s. Yet, it isn´t outdated. If anything I use it as it really is now superior to newer devices after having taken to rework it. With the old sewing machine on top being vastly better build, more reliable and longer lasting than the modern versions, while not really differing in funktion all that much. And just as capable as below the old obsolete clutch motor has been replaced by a modern top of the line servo motor including a vastly higher power, speed, control and the capability to set the needle position.
Man you are so cool. Flawlessly written and edited, you are my inspiration. Also you might like to consider a try reading with a low pitched voice like you did in the ad, it sounds really better and more vividly.
There's also the aspect of outside factor pushing back a technology in favor of something "outdated". I often hear this when the discussion of bicycle infrastructure comes up between Europeans and Americans. In Europe the bicycle never became obsolete as a mode of transportation
thank the higher population density of europe and the great number of alley like streets that are not well suited for cars though there is carmal indinna here in the states that has sort of hybrid of american and euorpan street design that works quite well for both bikes and cars
@@mpetersen6 It depends; the US has some truly sprawling cities on the west side of the Mississippi. You can't get to much of a city like LA or Houston by bike.
Sports- Despite the ease of jet-skis and speedboats, many people still prefer a canoe or a kayak or a stand-up-paddleboard. Work- Despite the value of a truck or a drone or a quad, many ranches still find going out on a horse to be more effective than driving around in a pick-up truck.
One of the more interesting SciFi stories was by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison, The Keltiad was about ancient Kelts in space. Despite the tech, there was also many anachronisms.
They fight with melee weapons in Dune because repulsor/forcefield technology is widely used, and shooting a forcefield with a laser or similar directed energy weapon results in a quasi-nuclear explosion that results in a lot of unwanted collateral damage. The fields do stop projectile weapons as intended, as well as anything else moving at high velocity. A trained combatant in the Dune 'verse is a master at swinging his weapon just fast enough to get through a forcefield, and not too fast to bounce off it.
Rather than past societies developing more recent technology, such s0cieties would have to first develop the material sciences. One age or era that we fail to credit is the "steel age", Without such materials, there cannot be anachronistic societies.
Imagine a 95 year old lady sitting outside "Infinitely scrolling" on her Smartphone while her teenage grandson are mowing the lawn with an old "Push-wheel mower" in the background. 😇🥰😄
في المستقبل البعيد بعد 5مليار سنة وبفضل التكنولوجيا المتقدمة سوف يتساوى الخيال مع الواقع ويمتلك الإنسان قوى الآلهة ليحول الكون والأكوان المتعددة إلى جنة خالدة ❤
Yes! Anachronistic technology is a basis of my world building! I'm using bronze, iron age and some medieval inspired civilizations with early 20th century capabilities like cars! Iron age cities with electricity, ancient Iranic inspired trains, landships with imperial banners, knights in those landships carrying melee weapons and rifles or modernised crossbows. Ancient looking architecture and clothing for people using trams. This kind of stuff. They wouldn't trust fiat currencies and i imagine when they have the ability to make computer networks, there would be many local intranets instead of one internet, and would keep files and information in personal storage devices (think of a NAS) or other physical media like disks. I want the future to have either technological or magical (or both) robots and computers with a cassette futuristic style, and eventually becoming something like Dune with advanced technology but old looking and locally styled clothes and architecture.
Most decorative stone pillars around here are actually steel beams with foam overtop of them. They get a special plaster laid on top to make them appear like concrete but are essentially just steel reinforced foam. It's kind of trippy when you realize these are not actually stone in any part as the plaster feels exactly like concrete would.
When I write my book reviews; I only read from physical copies. I like the tactile stuff (as you said) and also I somehow find it better for my eyes. Funnily enough someone online once commented on the “absurdity” of loving future tech but still having an email from 1992. I have AOL and I will never change it.
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I have to say that I see a lot of issues with habitats that might make them less viable than proper planets to live on : 1. Ventilation - Simple enough is that winds in atmosphere are always a thing, and in rotating habitat like O'neil cylinder, you will have a constant wind going in one direction because of the differences in the distance from the center. Secondary thing is any kind of leak that might develop due to many types of cirumstances. 2. Vegetation - If you want to make self-sustainable habitat, you will need vegetation, and with vegetation come problems, like roots of trees damaging the structure of the cylinder etc. etc. etc. 3. Disorientation - The difference between gravity and the centrifugal force can cause human senses to become disoriented, which can cause significal problems for human psyche. 4. Animals might have the same problems, and for pets alone this is gonna be a problem, not including farm animals etc. 5. Space radiation - You will need radiation shields. 6. Many other problems I might had not forseen. There is a huge question, whether actually building space habitats is a good idea altogether, due to all these facts. Maybe there are enough problems with space habitats, that in the future, if we colonize other planets, we will only colonize planets, and not make space habitats because of the problems that are associated with living in such spaces. Or they will be a rarity, because only specific kind of people will want to live on them at all - after all not every person will want to live in a space habitat. Unless we find a way to manipulate gravity wells somehow to make faux gravity without need for rotation of course, but even with that, some problems might remain.
Big fan of Jane Austin because of my Mom and Sister. What people don't often realize about that time and the Victorian age after is that it was an insane mix of advancing technology and political theory in Britain while the society became more conservative and backwards looking. The dresses in Jane's time were made to look like Greco Roman togas at the same time Napoleon was making his steam engine comment. It's almost human nature to look backwards the faster we run forwards.
I can definitely concur with the anachronistic interest thing, and it's immediately visible in the trinkets I keep around in my apartment. Next to the desk where my computer setup is, there's a rapier on a stand, and decorating my bookshelf is a model of the Normandy SR1, with a stone-tipped arrow directly below it. And despite my preference for hairbrushes, I still keep a wooden comb on my desk because I like how it feels to handle it (if it was a plastic comb I probably would've lost it by now. The comb is only a few years old, but it's very similar in shape to the Vimose comb, which is over 1800 years old.
i must say isaac, the way you say things and the way you speak has really come along way, you have grown on that behalf... i wouldnt even notice you are on the spectrum if i didnt allready know from back in 2009. way to go bro
Isaac, hello. I like anachronism and the mix of more advanced technologies of the future and other more primitive ones coexisting. I write. Your channel has served me well for scientific realism by creating a science fiction universe, even if it involves exotic physics and clarktech technologies. It has helped me and a friend who collaborates with me. I have several stories and universes, but the main one that I and my friend are working on is the Ikanis universe (Ikaniverse or IKV), it is actually a Multiverse. I recently wrote a story, Memories of the Future; My friend collaborated a little on some lines, another did too, then a friend will add more. This story talks about transhumanism and the possibility of ancient extraterrestrial visitations. We mentioned your channel in the story, as a thank you. I wish you could read that story. We have a blog. I don't know how to get it to you. I would like to ask you a few questions Isaac, how many interstellar colonies would it be realistic and plausible for a 23rd century civilization to have, that has FTL warp engines and a quasi-post-scarcity economy, where they still use money for certain things, but not the rest? What do you think of this idea? That the magical, supernatural beings of ancient legends and myths are interdimensional beings of a universe, or dimension with other physical laws; what for us would be magic, for them would be their physics. But still, these beings do not have infinite and omnipotent powers like Q in Star Trek, but rather they have limitations; Although they could manipulate our physics in our universe to produce "magical" effects, at the same time our physics can be a limitation and that is why they need to use technology as well. Thus fairies, genies (djinns), ancient gods would not be like Marvel beings, but with limited powers and would have to use technologies as well. What do you tell me to give it scientific realism, like hard science fiction with this exotic extradimensional physics of these beings? Greetings Isaac.
One good reason to keep older tech designs in service is that different architectures will run slightly differently even if producing results that are almost identical. Think about how video game emulation works, comparing software level emulation to the actual operation of the physical hardware for an easy example. If that difference matters, then there is the reason.
Great video as always Minor addition: South America and parts of Africa didn't have wheels because they didn't have animals to pull carts or the climate suited for the animals they could have from Eurasia. And there were methods of steel mass production (by medieval European standards) in use in China and India. The Roman empire was a large importer of Indian steel that would later be known as the legendary Damascus steel.
The wheel is incredibly useful without animals to pull them, like llamas. The climate excuse is also ludicrously laughable. This is the same excuse making we see in African and the north American people's 's lack of domesticated animals, even with a myriad of options, as if the aurochs look or act like modern day cows.
Bookbinder here. Great episode as usual. Books stored in a dry warm place with something to keep rats away are effectively eternal. I think that technological anachronism would be more prevalent with people in far flung colonies, where the infrastructure has not yet been set up, so a diesel engine is a reliable low tech way of going around.
2 Books that I feel are related to 31:42 part of this video. The Last EMpero is a good sci-fi book where nearly all locations are on space habitats in one way or another. The Privateers is another one that tends to take place in ships but does visit side characters and where they lived.
In the future? We already have tech that looks like magic. Most of us are carrying the repository of all collected human knowledge in our pockets. Captain Kirk would blow a Gorn to get his hands on a used i-phone.
Most of which are so fragile in their technological foundations that they would cease to function properly in very short order without replacement. A used iPhone would be pretty useless by itself beoynd the hardware and materials in a vacuum like lack of access within a few decade or so window of modern internet and Apple as a functioning entity. We are building an incredibly fragile tower and keep knocking pillars out from under it with our policies and behaviors.
Another influence is geography, which has a huge impact on which technologies are used where. For example, internet connectivity is fairly fast and reliable in some places-but not so much in mountainous regions because mountains tend to interfere with signals. This could lead to a species abandoning one particular type of technology early (or not developing the tech at all, based on modeling) - but not stop them from developing other types of technology.
Firearms (guns/howitzers/etc) are just a way to throw rocks more efficiently.
Until you to directed energy weapons which dispense with the rocks.
Even energy weapons are lots of very small rocks.
@@mikeeggleston1769 Ah yes, the smallest rock, a photon.
And tractor beams. 🙂
Crusher: Will, did you just throw an asteroid?
Riker: God damned right I did.
@@mpetersen6powered by what? That’s right, rocks
Reminded of a 80's cartoon called Galaxy Rangers that had a wild west in space theme. The characters were wearing cowboy outfits and had robotic horses they rode in. At the same time, they had FTL ships and represented a humanity that had just joined a interstellar community
Galaxy rangers had some cool characters, like Shane gooseman and his biodefensive powers. It was a cool show back in the day.
One of the better cartoons of the time, IMHO
@@barryon8706 Agreed!!
@@barryon8706 From what I've seen of it, yea
Brave Star
One thing that people tend to forget. Steam as a technology was heavily dependent on two other technologies. Metallurgy needed for cutting tools and Machine Tools and the improvements made to them to produce parts to ever increasing tolerances and accuracy.
Well, and the detail that they were only made practical because of wet coal mines; the first 'practical' steam engines were used to pump water out of coal mines, and were only practical because they didn't have to ship the fuel.
There are fascinating videos on RUclips, "The Origins of Precision", and "The Science of Flatness". Turns out it's not that easy for example to manufacture a flat surface without already having a flat surface. Same goes for machines and tools.
@@NeovanGoth
You can manufacture a flat surface by hand with no machine tools. Although having a mill or planer eliminates a lot of work. Only you need to make three at a time constantly checking between the three plates as you scrape the surfaces.
And in turn the demand for precisely manufactured metall parts for steam engines helped their development in a virtuous cycle.
@@comentedonakeyboard
And standards for screw pitches, thread forms, thread fits, surface finishes, blue prints, sliding fits, precision fits, interference fits, gear teeth, bearings, lubricants etc.
You know it's funny. As a Chicagoan, I grew up with my mother doing typical Midwestern things you would expect, like gardening, canning, baking, crocheting, and sewing. I never was able to pick up the crocheting and I'm terrible at sewing, but I've actually gotten really good at the other three. A few years ago I met somebody who was originally from Texas, and who had moved around a lot. She commented and how amazed she was by midwesterners who know the most random things from her point of view, from blacksmithing, to woodworking, gardening, canning, beekeeping, animal husbandry, etc. And not like farm folk; city and suburb dwellers. And it's not like we all go looking for the stuff, we just pick it up as we go I think in general, which that encourages us to go and work or learn on more similarly esoteric, low-tech skills.
Tangentially reminds me of a cultural difference between Chicagoans and New Yorkers or Los Angelinos, specifically regarding shopping. I don't know if this is still the case, but I understand there's been a traditional aversion to admitting you bought something cheaply, even amongst the middle class or some of the working class on the coasts. Meanwhile Chicagoans, and midwesterners in general, will brag about getting something half off. I once stumbled upon a duster that was marks down from $300 to $75 I don't even remember the brand. It was a good coat. It was the last one, it happened to be exactly my size, and it was on sale because it was spring clearance. There are whole groups of people who would never admit to pay anything but full retail for such a thing and would even view it as a mark of plebeian shame to have even considered what it cost when they bought it. Personally I think those kinds of people are wasteful idiots, but there's no shortage of that in the world. The point is there's certain mindset that bleeds into both kinds of areas, kind of frugal utilitarianism which well not necessarily pervasive in all avenues of this culture, nevertheless remains a clearly discernible undercurrent.
Insightful, thank you.
I have a sister in law that would prefer that others think she had paid full price at one of the pricier stores in the area.
I am a joiner, I still use chisels and manual planes, but I also use a high impact driver for screes and a circular saw for cutting.
Similar principle yes sometimes just because a tool is advanced does not mean it is the best tool for the situation
A master simply uses the right tool for the job, not the most advanced or complicated. That's what I learned when I got really good at something.
This is something that the TV show Firefly got right. If you're colonizing an Earth-like planet, you don't want to have to rely on technology that you can't manufacture right there on the planet. Automobiles require steel, rubber, and all kinds of other materials, plus factories to manufacture the parts and oil wells and refineries to fuel it all. Horses just need to be able to graze somewhere, and are pretty good at making their own replacements. The axe you brought with you might be made of a high-tech steel alloy that keeps its edge through years of constant use, but when you do finally need to replace it, an iron axehead and wooden handle will work just fine.
I could also see an early colony running steam engines off of gunpowder made using the French method, using latrines to make the necessary chemicals. Theoretically, you could bootstrap a 19th century tech level in this way without ever finding coal.
I see a catch. The prospective colony world had best have a compatible biome with plants that livestock can eat. Otherwise, colonies could be very resource intensive, almost like the antarctic research stations are now.
Technically we still are mostly on steam technology. We just get creative with the heat source
and the means to transmit the power from the engine to the load
wires are easier to se up then belts and line shafts
Electricity tech will be looked upon same way as we look upon steam trains now.
And they will discuss that one time scientists of our tome tried to get funding for some obscure gadget that could have rushed in the future few millennia faster but were dismissed.
The main issue Is we have no idea which obscure gadget it is
@Arcgateway that would almost be a fun long term gambling game. Like, you bet on the mp3 player that's newly in development. 22 years later it's acknowledged that the ipod revolutionized tech so much it changed our phones which then became handheld information terminals that can access most of human knowledge.
Oh wait, they do. It's called stock market I guess
Even our computer games are powered by Steam. 😉
Thermoelectric and photovoltaic are not as reliable as working fluids.
Dude this channel has been so useful in terms of my world building project, thanks Isaac.
I’ve incorporated loads of stuff from SFIA in my D&D worlds.
Especially when we play in a 3.75e Dragonstar campaign.
this video made me want to watch a sci-fi movie in the similar low-budget vein of "Clerks". But instead of a convenience store setting, it's a group of construction dudes, working on assembling a giant battle mech. They just chit-chat about life problems and other random bullshit. The tools they use do fantastical things, but look boring at first glance. The whole thing would be an exercise in "same human shit, different setting".
your world building project !! lmfao.
@@AdamGuitar420 maybe they work for Magrathea… 🤷♂️
The Flintstones / Jetsons Crossover
a theory states that the Flinstones and are not the distant past but a post technological future of humanity left behind on Earth as their space colonist cousins left it behind to colonize the galaxy.
million dollar idea!
@@ilkoderez601 They actually did it years ago. It's a cute movie.
Anyone ever consider that the Flintstones are actually a post-apocalyptic society AFTER the Jetsons; this is why humans and dinosaurs live together, and everything is reminiscent of technology.
It's called warhammer 40k
Body armour stopped being a think for decades before coming back again with technoloical development. When very popular example in science fiction is warrior nobility is being brought back again by genetic and cybernetic modification. Old ideas have a weird way of coming back when you least expect it.
Life extension combined with physical enhancements of sufficient cost would almost certainly recreate something akin to knights and warrior nobility.
you get yourself a 100+ year old warrior, a veteran of innumerable battles, who had been trained since childhood and kitted out with custom equipment and genetic modification and cybernetics... That sort of investment isn't cheap. Either your wealthy parents pay for this or this is paid for by an institution which wouldn't want to make bad investments or lose good ones and would thus try and instill particular values upon members and retain them with incentive structures.
And thus, a modern knighthood is born. Arguably, special forces teams are very close to being this. The problem is aging resulting in the decline of physical abilities and thus a need for frequent replacements. Anti-aging tech or cybernetics or similar could change this
Why would you need to incentivize robotic people? Just program them...@@shdowdrgonrider
Recruiting for a fully professional army from military families would recreate a warrior caste after a few generations.
@@comentedonakeyboard Most professional soldiers already come from military families. It's just that they don't get any special privileges in the 20th and 21st century.
@@Just_some_guy_1 true, they dont get any Special privileges so far, but with recruitment lacking in numbers this might change in the future (just as an recruitment bonus)
Star Wars sometimes tries to provide reasons for people riding animals around rather than using vehicles. With Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's personal preference; he doesn't trust machines and connects better with animals. The desert conditions on Tatooine or the cold of Hoth are shown to be rough on machines, making native animals debatably more practical. The Geonosians use animals in their gladiator arena just because they enjoy bloodsport. I appreciate that there's some level of justification, even if the logic isn't airtight.
Darn illogical humans.
The only correct answer is that it is Techno-Barbarism. Rakatan Empire conquered almost entire galaxy destroying all advanced cultures. When they fall, they slaves take over and reverse-engineer they technology. But the truth is that no one actually know how hyperdrive actually work. There is also quite likely that droids are actually designing bulk of the tech, with humans only providing guidelines. Look for example on Gemini droids.
the star wars logic makes sense, this happens in our current world too. certain communities/ countries that are not as developed or cities/ villages etc that inhabit very challenging terrain, where things like cars and trucks are very hard to use because they cannot handle the harsh off road terrain or the area is lacking heavily in resources both in parts/fuel logistics and economically. These places see heavier than usual animal use because animals are cheap and easy to use. Where as owning a car is expensive,hard to use and maintaining it is a complete chore. So logically if you part of such a community it makes logical sense to stick with something lower tech
@@TAKIZAWAYAMASHITA Also advanced civilizations seams to hord technology to a degree.
@@TheRezro true just look at our species we do the exact same thing hord tech
When it comes to techno-primitivism, one of the earliest fictional examples I can think of is 'Forgetfulness' by John W Campbell from the 1930's. An alien race comes looking to colonise Earth, finding humans living in simple villages in the shadow of great abandoned cities. When trhey ask about the technologies (which are far more advanced than theirs) the human say they don't know, and have forgotten. However, when the aliens decide they will colonise Earth it's more a matter that the humans have forgotten those technologies in the same way we've forgotten how to knap flint, or make a bow and arrow. They no longer need gegreat macines or cities or spaceships, as they can manipulate space and tiime mentally.
There's also the more humouurous version, 'With friends like these...' by Alan Dean Foster, which is a call back to the sci-fi of Van Vogt, Canmopell and E.E Smith. HFY and hilarious in equal measure.
I wasn't counting the Eloi from the Time Machine, as they have genuinely forgotten what they once were, and their technology is supplied from outside.
Fire, the wheel and concrete, hard to beat. The old BBC show "Connections," (hosted by James Burke) made in the 1970s so a bit behind on today's technology was a great show regarding the linkages between various social and technological advances. Great show Isaac!
I've seen a few episodes of that. Genuinely enjoyed it.
@@hazonku Yeah, great series. Some of it is available on RUclips, look it up before it gets deleted.
_Connections_ was largely an adaptation of Burke's book of the same name. Burke made a couple other series, although _Connections 2_ is the one that immediately jumps to mind. Good stuff, but with less budget (both monetary and time-wise, dropping from hour-long episodes to half-hour) the other Burke shows are still good stuff, but not as good.
1: first thing I noticed about Star Wars was the troopers on both sides had leather holsters for their blasters and remember even as a kid thinking this odd. I later on found that the British army issued a cloth bag as a holster for a service pistol, it gave you a rash under it through your trousers which had a constant wet patch, and flopped all over the place when running and got wet and dirt could not be removed short of a jet wash. Quite soon it became practice to wear a privately purchased leather holster just like great grandpa would have had. Techknowlogy is great, but the old stuff often works much better. So clearly the navy troopers in a galaxy far far away had the same experience.
2: the horse is the best all round 4x4 vehicle on rough hilly terrain, Decent speed and carrying capacity and you can even talk to it and not get funny looks.
Also, the stormtroopers’s leather holsters might be made of plastic that looks, either by coincidence or design, like leather.
In our modern world many new technologies come with opportunistic or predatory monetization from corpoations that monopolize the technology, in ways that do not affect the older simpler technological option. That is also a large motivator for certain "anachronistic" choices.
Digital makes searching and storage better, but paper books are still easier to read AND best of all, you actually own it! The company you purchased it from can't limit your access to it just because they feel like it (like one large ebook distributor I won't mention).
That is one reason why I don’t download music or books. I prefer to own a tangible object if I am going to spend money on something.
Digital only works as long as you have the right power source and the right connection and the right App or the latest version of it. A book works as long as you have light.
Special forces used horse in the gulf wars because they could not carry enough fuel to complete missions and horses and mules could handle the rough terrain much faster than going on foot and could carry much more gear
Use what works
The Kingdom of Jordania has Bedouin Forces on Camels for similar Reasons.
Regarding boiler explosions in the early days of steam engines: the problem was so common on riverboats that they prompted the first federal safety regulations in the US.
Safety regulations are usually “written in blood.”
A great real-world example of technological advancement being non-linear: the bicycle.
The parts to construct a bicycle have been available simultaneously since the Iron Age. Attempts to invent a "human-powered" vehicle failed repeatedly for at least two thousand years. The problem was mindset: horseless carriages, horseless chariots, horseless wagons. Eventually, someone finally thought "why not a horseless horse?"
Incidentally -strange lack of bicycles in post-apocalyptic fiction.
You need machine tolerances to make a chain-drive work. Also, the materials used in the construction of a bicycle today are very different from those used in the 1800s.
@@wpatrickw2012 I did not say it would be a good bike
I recall that early on in the invasion of Afghanistan, western forces found that their .556 calibre weapons were being outranged by Afghans using long rifles, Jezails, some dating back to the 19th century. I seem to recall they had to hurriedly bring back some 7.62 calibre weapons to combat this. In Afghanistan you had one side equipped with laser and satellite guided bombs and the other side were using small arms, some of which were over 100 years old and homemade bombs.
The USSR left a lot of high tech weapons when they left from losing the war in Afghanistan and the CIA funneled hundreds of millions of Hi tech weapons in the 80s so that USSR wouldnt win These are all public knowledge and well known facts What you wrote sounds like some propagnda to make USA Army sound good that had to come from some bias news organization We recently left Billions in weapons this time What makes you think that's the first time ?
And they still won.
@@PrimericanIdolWho? The West? For a time but the enemy never really surrendered so when they returned they just took over.
I would have felt Pity for Afghan Women if only they were willing to pick up arms and fight back.
@@arnowisp6244 I meant the Taliban.
@@PrimericanIdol More like never Surrendered so the US could never achieve full victory and turned into a waiting game.
There was an old science fiction story decades ago about an interstellar military force trying to occupy a planet with a long lost human colony. The society appeared to be at a pre-industrial, bucolic agricultural level. It turns out the people had actually developed very high levels of technology but enjoyed pretending to live at a simple, close to the land lifestyle, and you only saw the tech when they needed to use it. The invaders found that out the hard way when locals decided that the “occupiers” had made enough of a nuisance of themselves. One of the TOS episodes played on a similar theme.
This was flipped on its head in Stargate Atlantis.
Talking of Stargate The Nox appeared to be primitive but were actually highly advanced.
@@ericpode6095 Look at the Genii. That's an even better example.
Appearing at the agrarian level of social development - as a deliberate obfuscation.
Do you happen to remember the name of that story?
I was waiting for the Stargate SG-1 reference right from the start, and I was not disappointed. Keep up the good work, Isaac!
I really liked the episode with organic fusion...
SG-1 was a great show
Made me think of how the protagonists use battle axes in All You Need is Kill.
I sell my TTRPG builds and maps. I guarantee it doesn't even pay for itself. But I don't think I would ever give it up. Not because I think it will ever "pay off" or become my day job, but because it simply brings me joy and satisfaction.
Ahh. Like the Battlestar Galactica remake where by the ship uses non-networked computers and hand held, landline telephones.
Our society, where people still use sailing ships and boats, even though they're made with space age materials.
Or the Atlanteans using stone to build the Pyramids, which are their version of power plants, perhaps ...
Wait till you see the new Alien movie. Clunky computers in the future. And they lost 4k surveillance camera technology. All the while having huge space stations and cryo-sleep pods
@mp51998 (they had priorities)
works canonicly as in alien the owner of that universes mega corp elon musk equivalent type seems obsesed with imortality, meeting his gods and the great question WHY
I really wish they'd gone down a whole radio comms only and missile weapons route for Star Trek Enterprise.
Knifes and brooms will be used by humans for thousands of years to come
Not to mention wooden spoons.
Modern knives and brooms aren't the same as what we used in the past. They use better materials, and better manufacturing processes, both kinda 'hidden' technical improvements that apply to a lot of things we tend to think have stayed the same for ages.
Simple cheap effective
The three things can make a tool out live a age...
That's not to say the technological advancements in these devices won't continue to occur they will continue to get better in small ways such as better materials for brooms plastics to make them last longer better steel for knives etc
Flying brooms might become popular just for fun.
@@ArawnOfAnnwn, "knives and Brooms will be used by humans for thousands of years to come" is a true standalone statement that makes no claims against (and has no reason to include) your commentary. In fact all you've mentioned is that modern production exists which is tantamount to me saying sometimes when I fart I can't smell it.
I have seen in I think a travel documentary an image of an Indian fisherman. Standing on a narrow bamboo raft, wearing just a loincloth, he was throwing a net in the river. I suspect the net was nylon. Behind him, in the morning mist, the river was covered in a layer of foam from the pollutants. Above the mist on the other bank of the river, a dark squat, cylindrical structure of a skyscraper was as if suspended above ground in the orange-pink sky.
And then again, a group of Pashtun men in Pakistan, traditional clothes and plastic sandals, starting up a hundred year old stationary engine in a mud- brick workshop, with Toyota pickup truck and motorcycles parked in front.
@@nosuchthingasshould4175 there are potholes after winter where I live so i understand the feeling
I have met some people who will machine-sew the invisible seams, but hand-sew the ones that show, for period garb.
Thanks Isaac. Once again brillent episode, all the sci-fi tropes we love hand picked, blended and distilled allowing us to relive, extend and get meta with those ah-ha moments that make science fiction so addictive.
I love reminding people that different parts of the world were still using stone tools while agriculture and bronze was used. We still use coal power but we're also in space. There are still parts of the world using "stone age" technology. There are still nomads and hunters despite agriculture. There's small chicken coops and there's industrial giant chicken houses. There are still people who ride horses for work, recreation, and sport. Bayonets are most basically swords that sit on guns.
Bayonet-equipped rifles replaced pikes, allowing _tercios_ (and _tercio_ adjacent) formations to have more firepower since gunners with bayonets could protect themselves from the enemy in melee. That's not 'anachronism.'
Bayonets are designed to be used as pikes or spears in combat
@@wpatrickw2012 ok
That's a perfect way of saying that technology doesn't typically cease to exist; it just finds a niche in the marketplace of ideas. We even still have sundials and windmills.
@@michaeldavis3819 but our sundials are decorative and our windmills have blades made of fiberglass
I could imagine a society that is perhaps created and maintained by an outside force to be as some kind of a "Garden of Eden" style paradise world where the inhabitants are highly genetically engineered to survive and thrive in primitive conditions with long lifespans and resilience to most disease. There could be present some highly advanced medical and atmospheric technologies to maintain the idyllic nature of the environment by the "overseers", meanwhile the actual residents live with bronze age technology.
probably a star trek episode for that. or stargate
Okay, but they have to follow a set of laws or they would damage the idyllic environment… I’m pretty sure I heard this story already 😅
@@ASlickNamedPimpback I think a star trek movie had something like that.
that sounds like a society of elves
After watching Cameron's first _Avatar_ movie, that's what Pandora looked like to me.
There is something about physical books. Maybe its because I'm older then Arthur, but even though I have a tablet with thousands of books, i'm just as easily able to forget to read a book as if it was in a large book case, there are real pros and cons between both that I think tend to cancel out most differences. Perhaps tablet for travel and physical books for home/work is the best balance. Having children now in their early 20s. I find it funny how they are fascinated with CDs and other physical media, when I remember how amazing it was that I could have hundreds of songs available to play at any time instead of 12.
Books have fewer failure modes than electronics.
I use a E-Reader but prefer real Paper.
Already im into the video intro and im thinking about the neural connection between the Na'vi and their animals in Avatar. They are very similar to the more technological versions in Halo's Spartans or the personal link/neuro port on V's left wrist from Cyberpunk 2077.
Haha, you said animes instead of animals.
@@JustAnotherDinosaurFan whoops
The Spartans can control mjolnir at the Speed of Thought + Augmentations, Titanium bones and a hi-tech Power Armor Makes them way superior than the Strongest Na’vi on Avatar
@@WaterBottlePro-vi2ph and I would agree except I wasn't talking about if the Na'vi are stronger then Spartans. If an Na'vi first finds out that MJOLNIR systems directly link up with the wearer's nervous system, they'll be just like "Oh so it works like how we connect with our animals back at my home planet."
Isaac watching Skallagrim is the crossover I didn't know I needed
In other words, one nerd is watching another nerd.
Even in the modern military, soldiers carry knives as both tools and weapons. It's not their primary weapon, but it's still there for that purpose.
Those knives probably are made of very modern alloys to make the sharper and more durable than knives in previous ages.
@@wpatrickw2012 True, but the point is that it's still a melee weapon soldiers carry into battle.
@@twrampage indeed. Both as a dagger or as a pike-like weapon. One weapon has multiple functions in melee combat. My point was that the same weapon has been made better in that role by advances in technology.
@@wpatrickw2012 We are in agreement then.
The anachronistic technology did happened in the real life as the development of the technology over is not linear dur to the condition of the economy and society. Plus, there were cases of making the technology without notice it. Example: Carbon Nanotubes in making the swordmaking during the Middle Age Middle East; and use of donkey in the Germany Military during the Modern world.
Thank you for mentioning the forced updating. I've been worried I'm the only one noticing. It's worrying.
I feel like as usual Isaac ignores a major real-world cause of anachronistic technology: poverty and bad government. Here in NYC, during the pandemic schools gave kids laptops so they could attend class remotely ... and then discovered that many poor families don't have internet access at home, because they can't afford it. If you go to a developing country these days you'll find that a majority of even quite poor people have cell phones, even smartphones, but often don't have refrigerators or sometimes even running water. This is usually because their government has not thought it was worth spending the money on infrastructure for low-income people (and/or disfavored ethnic groups) and thus the electrical/water system is either inaccessible or unreliable.
Yeah I’m sure the government spending money would just fix everything.
I've actually tried to have this conversation with him during a monthly. He believes the technology enough will fix it all, and wouldn't acknowledge that human politics are the issue really. We have the technology we need if we are being honest. Not a reason to stop, but we coule live quite well if the tech we have was used correctly for the best good for the people. Instead politicians keep us fighting each other
Yeah, I'm sure somebody wants to listen to some communist whining about how government doesn't give random black kids enough money to become Elon Musk. People are here to learn and explore technology and Humanity flourishing not your whining BS crap take it somewhere else communist.
Because the wheel is overrated. Along with iron sights, apparently.
There was actually a steampunk red dot. The Grubb optical sight, 1901 patent
Flash Gordon and a some of others used rayguns and rocket pistols with iron sights while fighting sword wielding knight-analogues in plate armor on lizard horses.
@@AnalystPrime I miss Flash Gordon.
Apparently, the Incans built their empire without the wheel
@@punchkitten874and the Aztec and the maya
In the mostly medieval fantasy Genshin Impact, there are people with clothes Zippers. a technology that wouldnt be fully invented until the early 1900's! the steam train existed for decades and handheld blackpowder weapons for centuries before the zipper!
But it isn’t necessary for zippers to post date those other techs.
That's just a common trope in Asian IPs. The too many belts and/zippers haven been around for a long time. The Japanese love them for some reason.
@@loupnuit1
Zippers require some very precise manufacturing technology. You are not going to hand make them.
Our own reality has to be someone else's fantasy, as it had men on the moon before it had wheels on suitcases
@@smorrow that was more of a function of generally not traveling very far, often or having ubiquitous smooth flooring.
My Mum swears by her mechanical bedside clock that's unfortunately broken down, and we can't find anyone who can repair it. Modern watch shops are all about batteries and the like, not springs...
I was also going to say computing is a possible "could have been discovered earlier tech", alongside steam engines, but I see Isaac covered it in the latter part of the video
My Mum insists on reading real Paper.
your mum swears by a clock that is broken ? and you dint realize how stupid that sounds ?
@@AdamGuitar420 The clock itself works, but the alarm does not :/ and no one can fix the alarm
10 years, wow. I found you back in the days you were doing explainers of basic physics and astrophysical concepts as well as far out mega projects. Good times. When people ask me about future technology and space related things, I'd guess most of the time I'm drawing on things I learned from Isaac.
If I lived in a house with a tiny lawn outside, I would probably go for an old-style manually powered lawn mower.
@@michaelpettersson4919 that’s a good point, if the lawn is small enough, a more advanced system would actually be more work.
I’ve seen a few manual lawnmowers around me; the lawns are small enough and manual mowers are free to use.
@@jsbrads1 how bout an 18V BLDC motor to drive the reel powred buy an 18VB power tool battery should be cheap way to power one compared to gas engine or something more high tech and plenty enough for the job
@@ThunderClawShocktrix obviously this is a pure benefit for someone who needs a little sun and exercise too. But the cost investment and relative low reliability of other alternatives, making even charging a battery a lengthy detour unneeded in the above scenario where it is a nominal amount of work.
Reel type mowers cut the grass better. If properly sharpened.
I was born around the end of the “vacuum tube” era I’m now preparing to program a data logger the size of a sugar cube.
It’s been quite a ride.
Is using outdated technology really beneficial in a high-tech society, or is it just a waste of resources and time?
Maintaining and improving old technologies can be a way to preserve culture and diversify future technology choices, right?
Depends on the situation. The hydroponic system was introduced in the Aztecs.
Different situations require different things. During the Russian revolution the Reds thought horses were outdated. The white army thought otherwise, and saw great success with it.
Who wins in a fight? A guy with 50 Caliber machine gun, or a guy with a simple knife standing 3 inches from him?
@@MrKIMBO345 Is it possible that using old technologies, such as the Aztec hydroponic systems, could not only help preserve culture but also provide sustainable and effective solutions to problems that modern technology has not yet fully solved?
I don't think it's a waste of resource and time.
For one, there's other leisure activities more commonly enjoyed in "high-tech" civilisations like ourselves (such as playing computer games, watching shows etc) that could be considered a waste of time and resources aswell. Imo, leisure and people doing/maintaining/using what is fun to them and makes them feel happy is (within reason) not a waste of resources.
Also, keeping around outdated and seemingly useless technology may be a way of inspiring people to think outside the box (museums where you can actually use and tinker around with old tech in a safe environment) and can also serve as a backup or emergency solutions in case things go south and for some reason your high-tech becomes temporarily inaccessible.
Last but not least, I could envision a combination of cutting-edge research incorporating certain principles used in otherwise obsolete technology to create new, better technology combining. Can't serve an example for the last point off the top of my hat but I think it's not implausible. Goes somewhat along with my 2nd point of inspiring people to think outside the box.
A society may also develop conventions that don't update with better technology. For example, in many places cash is still a preferred payment method, even though we have more advanced technology for handling transactions. If a technological advancement doesn't provide a huge improvement in quality of life, people may opt not to adopt it simply because they are used to their old ways.
Some abandoned branches of technology has the potential to be revolutionary if realized well. Like thorium energy and bioelectricity
You know of any other abandoned branches of technology worth exploring?
i too am curious of more of these "abandoned branches of technology"
Curious what branches you know about
Biobutanol fuel is much less theoretical than thorium or bioelectricity, but is largely stagnant due to electric cars and petroleum derived fuels. Continuous problems with the electric side of things may lead to it making a reappearance.
Apparently, William Gibson (father of cyberpunk) still writes on some old DOS pc not connected to the internet. Or some old word processor, I don't remember exactly.
Steam turbines. They where invented a long time ago, and yet almost all power that isn't solar PV still uses them and there is no plan to phase them out!
Yeah! Because everything involved is relatively cheap! It will be the standard until we invent one that is frictionless as that is practically the only advance we have left to make, besides constantly improving efficiency
Just like to point out, the book that kicked off steampunk, the Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce sterling, was actually an alternate history.
The alternate point is that when lord Babbage had drafted and patented a design for a mechanical computer in 1838, he had actually built it as well. This ability to compute vast sums and complex formula quickly essentially Kickstarted the information revolution in Imperial Britain in the 1850s rather than in America in the 70s/80s, which lead to all manner of social and technological upheaval.
2:31 top right looking sus
😂
😂
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Hahahah baha hahah
Been a while since ive had a chance to listen. Have to say im impressed with just how much your speech has improved over the time ive been listening.
Its at the stage now where, if it wasnt for your accent, id say it wasnt the person.
Kudos to you sir. And thanks for the content. ✌️
11:30 Name dropped Skallagrim. Nice.
Dune and in parts stargate are always the two franchises I have to think of when it comes to anachronistic technology. Frank Herbert did an unbelievable job by creating a world where it makes total sense that dudes stab each other with knives, while also having atomic weapons and travelling to far away stars.
I wonder if some use of anachronistic technology could be due to corruption of businesses?
I've had it up to here with subscription based printers, office software, 60 day learning courses(without physical text books, that also restrict your ability to save or print material), and digital copies of games that are not available when the virtual store stops supporting the software.
One point to note is that the idea for railways was developed _well_ before the industrial era, and indeed might have been one of the factors that allowed it. Even ignoring earlier examples like the Diolkos (~600 BC), the first known example of carts running on rails, at least, outside of a mineshaft, is the Wollaton Wagonway, opened in 1604, over a century before Newcomen introduced his Atmospheric Engine (which, admittedly, wasn't the first steam engine). This, and other similar trackways would transport ever-increasing quantities of coal from the mines to the ports, and them onwards to the growing industries springing up around Britain.
Better computer modeling and automation will eventually make custom, bespoke furniture cheaper than the commoditized, particle board furniture we find so prevalent. A piece made to fit exactly the area you need that reflects the unique points of specific materials is going to be commonplace again. (*fingers crossed*)
carbon tax or other policies making cheap low quality furniture less feasible would probably be better. I would also worry about the effects of automating the jobs of skilled woodworkers. But this is probably already possible with a good scan of the room and 3d printing. You could also carve out wood with massive robot arms but that requires a lot of upfront cost.
All great stories are a blend 😢 selected tropes and aesthetics. All in the service of making a relatable world for eelatable characters. If things seem out of place at a technological level, so be it.
A superb sci-fi Sunday episode Isaac.
I recently have been thinking about this...camels would be great to have on mars once there is enough vegetation to sustain them...maybe special bred mars camels...😂
Would this still count as anachronistic i wonder?
Hey we have smartwatches that look like old mechanical clocks and swords made with modern tech that could probably cut through classic sword like nothing
and we have high end mechanical watches (Rolex Pateks, etc) that keep worse time than a cheap Seiko quartz watch yet some people will spend tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars for them!
I recently looked into the invention of the steam engine, and the machine itself was invented on paper about 250 years before anyone could build one, because as that proto-scientific paper assessed, it required a level of precision milling far beyond any human craftsperson in order to avoid having weak spots that would detonated the pressure system, or just cause it to not work at all. It wasn't until the invention of the first preciosion milling machine that steam power became possible, which is one of the first things humans thought to do with it.
That is true for many technologies. The idea can come hundreds of years before we have the means to make it real.
I often think about the dichotomy between 2 of the most rapidly advanced projects. Musical instruments and weapons.
Craftsman spent their lives improving precision and quality for war and music.
Strange creatures.
One of my favorite scifi tropes. Like that episode of TNG where they visit a rural farming community but they're all biologically immortal via technology, they just choose to live simply. I might be confusing multiple episodes, and that might be a Voyager episode, I forget. 😂
IT was also the plot of the Star Trek Insurrection movie, more or less, its been done a fair number of times, though honestly not very well imho.
An anachronism I often use is my sewing machine. A really old industrial sewing machine from the 50/60´s. Yet, it isn´t outdated. If anything I use it as it really is now superior to newer devices after having taken to rework it. With the old sewing machine on top being vastly better build, more reliable and longer lasting than the modern versions, while not really differing in funktion all that much. And just as capable as below the old obsolete clutch motor has been replaced by a modern top of the line servo motor including a vastly higher power, speed, control and the capability to set the needle position.
Man you are so cool. Flawlessly written and edited, you are my inspiration.
Also you might like to consider a try reading with a low pitched voice like you did in the ad, it sounds really better and more vividly.
Happy birthday Issac, your channel have been such a huge blessing
There's also the aspect of outside factor pushing back a technology in favor of something "outdated". I often hear this when the discussion of bicycle infrastructure comes up between Europeans and Americans. In Europe the bicycle never became obsolete as a mode of transportation
thank the higher population density of europe and the great number of alley like streets that are not well suited for cars though there is carmal indinna here in the states that has sort of hybrid of american and euorpan street design that works quite well for both bikes and cars
Bicycles never really became obsolete fortransportation in the US. I know l rode a bike to work for a number of years. As well as walking.
@@mpetersen6 It depends; the US has some truly sprawling cities on the west side of the Mississippi. You can't get to much of a city like LA or Houston by bike.
2:58 where we're going, we don't need stones
Just wait until two galactic superpowers start throwing rocks at eachother...
☄️
Happy Birthday SFIA!
Stop. You had me at "Anachronistic Technology".
Instant subscribe.
Sports- Despite the ease of jet-skis and speedboats, many people still prefer a canoe or a kayak or a stand-up-paddleboard.
Work- Despite the value of a truck or a drone or a quad, many ranches still find going out on a horse to be more effective than driving around in a pick-up truck.
One of the more interesting SciFi stories was by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison, The Keltiad was about ancient Kelts in space. Despite the tech, there was also many anachronisms.
They fight with melee weapons in Dune because repulsor/forcefield technology is widely used, and shooting a forcefield with a laser or similar directed energy weapon results in a quasi-nuclear explosion that results in a lot of unwanted collateral damage.
The fields do stop projectile weapons as intended, as well as anything else moving at high velocity. A trained combatant in the Dune 'verse is a master at swinging his weapon just fast enough to get through a forcefield, and not too fast to bounce off it.
love your videos, no one can futurist quite like you can
Rather than past societies developing more recent technology, such s0cieties would have to first develop the material sciences. One age or era that we fail to credit is the "steel age", Without such materials, there cannot be anachronistic societies.
Imagine a 95 year old lady sitting outside "Infinitely scrolling" on her Smartphone while her teenage grandson are mowing the lawn with an old "Push-wheel mower" in the background. 😇🥰😄
Nothing better than getting up on a peaceful and quiet Sunday morning to a cup of hot coffee and the mental workout that is SFIA
Like Dune. The Fremen using stoneage chrysknife, and stonage ideas, but incorporating the knife being used on a body shield.
في المستقبل البعيد بعد 5مليار سنة وبفضل التكنولوجيا المتقدمة سوف يتساوى الخيال مع الواقع ويمتلك الإنسان قوى الآلهة ليحول الكون والأكوان المتعددة إلى جنة خالدة ❤
This is one of your most insightful videos, despite minor contentions I had on certain points.
Yes! Anachronistic technology is a basis of my world building! I'm using bronze, iron age and some medieval inspired civilizations with early 20th century capabilities like cars! Iron age cities with electricity, ancient Iranic inspired trains, landships with imperial banners, knights in those landships carrying melee weapons and rifles or modernised crossbows. Ancient looking architecture and clothing for people using trams. This kind of stuff. They wouldn't trust fiat currencies and i imagine when they have the ability to make computer networks, there would be many local intranets instead of one internet, and would keep files and information in personal storage devices (think of a NAS) or other physical media like disks. I want the future to have either technological or magical (or both) robots and computers with a cassette futuristic style, and eventually becoming something like Dune with advanced technology but old looking and locally styled clothes and architecture.
14:48 yup. I’m just about finished printing out the internet.
Most decorative stone pillars around here are actually steel beams with foam overtop of them. They get a special plaster laid on top to make them appear like concrete but are essentially just steel reinforced foam. It's kind of trippy when you realize these are not actually stone in any part as the plaster feels exactly like concrete would.
When I write my book reviews; I only read from physical copies. I like the tactile stuff (as you said) and also I somehow find it better for my eyes.
Funnily enough someone online once commented on the “absurdity” of loving future tech but still having an email from 1992. I have AOL and I will never change it.
I have to say that I see a lot of issues with habitats that might make them less viable than proper planets to live on :
1. Ventilation - Simple enough is that winds in atmosphere are always a thing, and in rotating habitat like O'neil cylinder, you will have a constant wind going in one direction because of the differences in the distance from the center. Secondary thing is any kind of leak that might develop due to many types of cirumstances.
2. Vegetation - If you want to make self-sustainable habitat, you will need vegetation, and with vegetation come problems, like roots of trees damaging the structure of the cylinder etc. etc. etc.
3. Disorientation - The difference between gravity and the centrifugal force can cause human senses to become disoriented, which can cause significal problems for human psyche.
4. Animals might have the same problems, and for pets alone this is gonna be a problem, not including farm animals etc.
5. Space radiation - You will need radiation shields.
6. Many other problems I might had not forseen.
There is a huge question, whether actually building space habitats is a good idea altogether, due to all these facts. Maybe there are enough problems with space habitats, that in the future, if we colonize other planets, we will only colonize planets, and not make space habitats because of the problems that are associated with living in such spaces. Or they will be a rarity, because only specific kind of people will want to live on them at all - after all not every person will want to live in a space habitat.
Unless we find a way to manipulate gravity wells somehow to make faux gravity without need for rotation of course, but even with that, some problems might remain.
Big fan of Jane Austin because of my Mom and Sister. What people don't often realize about that time and the Victorian age after is that it was an insane mix of advancing technology and political theory in Britain while the society became more conservative and backwards looking. The dresses in Jane's time were made to look like Greco Roman togas at the same time Napoleon was making his steam engine comment. It's almost human nature to look backwards the faster we run forwards.
I can definitely concur with the anachronistic interest thing, and it's immediately visible in the trinkets I keep around in my apartment. Next to the desk where my computer setup is, there's a rapier on a stand, and decorating my bookshelf is a model of the Normandy SR1, with a stone-tipped arrow directly below it. And despite my preference for hairbrushes, I still keep a wooden comb on my desk because I like how it feels to handle it (if it was a plastic comb I probably would've lost it by now. The comb is only a few years old, but it's very similar in shape to the Vimose comb, which is over 1800 years old.
Very often antique objects are better made than their more modern counterparts.
i must say isaac, the way you say things and the way you speak has really come along way,
you have grown on that behalf... i wouldnt even notice you are on the spectrum if i didnt allready know from back in 2009. way to go bro
Isaac, hello. I like anachronism and the mix of more advanced technologies of the future and other more primitive ones coexisting.
I write. Your channel has served me well for scientific realism by creating a science fiction universe, even if it involves exotic physics and clarktech technologies. It has helped me and a friend who collaborates with me. I have several stories and universes, but the main one that I and my friend are working on is the Ikanis universe (Ikaniverse or IKV), it is actually a Multiverse. I recently wrote a story, Memories of the Future; My friend collaborated a little on some lines, another did too, then a friend will add more. This story talks about transhumanism and the possibility of ancient extraterrestrial visitations. We mentioned your channel in the story, as a thank you.
I wish you could read that story. We have a blog. I don't know how to get it to you.
I would like to ask you a few questions Isaac, how many interstellar colonies would it be realistic and plausible for a 23rd century civilization to have, that has FTL warp engines and a quasi-post-scarcity economy, where they still use money for certain things, but not the rest?
What do you think of this idea? That the magical, supernatural beings of ancient legends and myths are interdimensional beings of a universe, or dimension with other physical laws; what for us would be magic, for them would be their physics. But still, these beings do not have infinite and omnipotent powers like Q in Star Trek, but rather they have limitations; Although they could manipulate our physics in our universe to produce "magical" effects, at the same time our physics can be a limitation and that is why they need to use technology as well.
Thus fairies, genies (djinns), ancient gods would not be like Marvel beings, but with limited powers and would have to use technologies as well. What do you tell me to give it scientific realism, like hard science fiction with this exotic extradimensional physics of these beings?
Greetings Isaac.
Happy belated birthday! Turning 25 myself on Wednesday. Been following the show since I was 17, can't express my appreciation!
Congratulations on 20 years! A subtle love letter to technology, this episode is.
15:14 Been meaning to ask. What is the story behind that SFIA logo? Who made it, when, what does it represent, etc,?
One good reason to keep older tech designs in service is that different architectures will run slightly differently even if producing results that are almost identical. Think about how video game emulation works, comparing software level emulation to the actual operation of the physical hardware for an easy example. If that difference matters, then there is the reason.
Great video as always
Minor addition: South America and parts of Africa didn't have wheels because they didn't have animals to pull carts or the climate suited for the animals they could have from Eurasia.
And there were methods of steel mass production (by medieval European standards) in use in China and India.
The Roman empire was a large importer of Indian steel that would later be known as the legendary Damascus steel.
The wheel is incredibly useful without animals to pull them, like llamas. The climate excuse is also ludicrously laughable. This is the same excuse making we see in African and the north American people's 's lack of domesticated animals, even with a myriad of options, as if the aurochs look or act like modern day cows.
@@Jcallahan-p2p you say these things as though they change anything.
Bookbinder here. Great episode as usual. Books stored in a dry warm place with something to keep rats away are effectively eternal.
I think that technological anachronism would be more prevalent with people in far flung colonies, where the infrastructure has not yet been set up, so a diesel engine is a reliable low tech way of going around.
2 Books that I feel are related to 31:42 part of this video.
The Last EMpero is a good sci-fi book where nearly all locations are on space habitats in one way or another.
The Privateers is another one that tends to take place in ships but does visit side characters and where they lived.
Happy 10th fit SFIA: a never ending source of intrigue and inspiration 👍🎉
In the future? We already have tech that looks like magic. Most of us are carrying the repository of all collected human knowledge in our pockets. Captain Kirk would blow a Gorn to get his hands on a used i-phone.
Most of which are so fragile in their technological foundations that they would cease to function properly in very short order without replacement.
A used iPhone would be pretty useless by itself beoynd the hardware and materials in a vacuum like lack of access within a few decade or so window of modern internet and Apple as a functioning entity.
We are building an incredibly fragile tower and keep knocking pillars out from under it with our policies and behaviors.
Only the knowledge that people have decided to upload to the web and maintain there.
I like a little anachronism in large space opera settings. Where different cultures should have different cultures, life styles and technology levels.
Love learning new words from this channel
Another influence is geography, which has a huge impact on which technologies are used where. For example, internet connectivity is fairly fast and reliable in some places-but not so much in mountainous regions because mountains tend to interfere with signals. This could lead to a species abandoning one particular type of technology early (or not developing the tech at all, based on modeling) - but not stop them from developing other types of technology.