technology continues to advance;
misused technology knocks society back to an earlier or pre-technological level.
Poul Anderson presents both kinds of futures many times well, e.g.:
half a dozen different kinds of FTL;
in Genesis, AIs become post-organic intelligences and supersede humanity;
the post-nuclear Maurai Federation develops alternative technologies;
scientific knowledge is preserved in Vault Of The Ages.
Nowadays, a writer setting a novel just a few years in the past has to carefully check the state of information and communications technology in that year in order to avoid anachronisms.
The test launch of the Moonraker rocket in 1954 was covered by BBC radio but not by live TV. The James Bond novels are becoming historical fiction.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
We have discussed how the Maurai timeline had at least one major implausibility, the alleged lack of metals. No need to rehash just now why metals, while perhaps more costly than they used to be, would still not be rare. At least Anderson did not repeat that mistake in THE WINTER OF THE WORLD.
And ORION SHALL RISE does not quite fit into the scenario seen in the older Maurai stories. Mostly because Anderson simply could not bring himself to erroneously repeating the idea about metals being prohibitively expensive and rare.
The problem the Maurai faced was while alternative technologies were fine and dandy, they could not provide the MASSIVE energy all high tech societies need for both taking advantage of that technology and spreading its benefits as widely as possible. Attempts by the Maurai to suppress, for example, nuclear energy, could not succeed forever.
I repeat, if you want to replace oil and coal, then you will need PRACTICAL and workable replacements. And only nuclear energy and a SPACE based solar energy system can provide them. So I have some sympathy for the Northwest Union in ORION SHALL RISE.
Ad astra! Sean
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