Anachronistic Technology: Ancient Tech Future Times

Comments · 734

• SH

  @Sheriff1776 · 2 years ago

  Technically we still are mostly on steam technology. We just get creative with the heat source

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• MI

  @mikeeggleston1769 · 2 years ago

  Firearms (guns/howitzers/etc) are just a way to throw rocks more efficiently.

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• MP

  @mpetersen6 · 2 years ago

  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.

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• MI

  @missZoey5387 · 2 years ago

  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

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• LE

  @leafykille · 2 years ago

  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.

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• TA

  @tavernburner3066 · 2 years ago

  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.

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• ST

  @stainlesssteelfox1 · 2 years ago (edited)

  When it comes to techno-primitivism, one of the earliest fictional examples I can think of is &apos;Forgetfulness&apos; by John W Campbell from the 1930&apos;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&apos;t know, and have forgotten. However, when the aliens decide they will colonise Earth it&apos;s more a matter that the humans have forgotten those technologies in the same way we&apos;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. <br><br>There&apos;s also the more humouurous version, &apos;With friends like these...&apos; 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.<br><br>I wasn&apos;t counting the Eloi from the Time Machine, as they have genuinely forgotten what they once were, and their technology is supplied from outside.

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• SH

  @Shatterverse · 2 years ago

  You know it&apos;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&apos;m terrible at sewing, but I&apos;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&apos;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.<br><br>Tangentially reminds me of a cultural difference between Chicagoans and New Yorkers or Los Angelinos, specifically regarding shopping. I don&apos;t know if this is still the case, but I understand there&apos;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&apos;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&apos;s no shortage of that in the world. The point is there&apos;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.

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• RE

  @Rex-xi8hx · 2 years ago (edited)

  Dude this channel has been so useful in terms of my world building project, thanks Isaac.

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• JE

  @jengime · 2 years ago

  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 &quot;anachronistic&quot; choices.

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• YO

  @youdontgettoknow139 · 2 years ago (edited)

  I have met some people who will machine-sew the invisible seams, but hand-sew the ones that show, for period garb.

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• JA

  @JAGzilla-ur3lh · 2 years ago

  Star Wars sometimes tries to provide reasons for people riding animals around rather than using vehicles. With Obi-Wan Kenobi, it&apos;s personal preference; he doesn&apos;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&apos;s some level of justification, even if the logic isn&apos;t airtight.

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