Scott's Books > Leviathan / Behemoth / Goliath

Technology in Leviathan

<< < (3/4) > >>

waxesnostalgic:
Well, tractors weren't really around in 1814, so less than a hundred years. I think Alek means old as in you might say that a car from the 1980s was old. I imagine technology was pretty much the same up until about 1850, which means that they already had trains, photography, steamboats, etc. before they started making beasties.

How the atom bomb would fit into it all is an interesting question. It's not strictly "Clanker" is it?? So I guess it's just a question of what happen in the Leviathan series as to whether or not they would...

I don't really see how Clankers and Communists necessarily go together... While communism as a political system is meant for an industrialized society, Russia was not industrialized (in our universe and presumably in this one too) so they should still have to industrialize, either Clanker or Darwinist industrialization. It's pretty apparent from Deryn's description of Darwinist London that it's still what you would call "industrialized" even though there aren't many machines...

Hello_Sailor:
I don't think the atom bomb would be invented too soon in the books. They don't quite seem like the thing either party would be interested in, neither does it fall into either party's strengths. Darwinists specialize in genetics and bioengineering and Clankers know about mechanics. An atom bomb requires chemistry and nuclear physics, and as far as we know they know relatively little about chemistry and little if any about nuclear physics.

Itzcuintli:
While I was reading Leviathan, I was having trouble believing Victorian England could've in any way invented DNA-modification (or even discovered DNA), simply because I couldn't figure how their level of technology could've facilitated it.

But then I remember something I heard years ago, about ancient Greek technology -- there was apparently a guy named Heronas of Alexandria back then who actually invented the steam engine... only he didn't KNOW it was a steam engine. It was considered a novelty toy, and nothing ever came of it.

But what if, in Leviathan's world, it HAD been recognized for what it really was? That would've started the industrial revolution FAR earlier before it happened in our world. It may have also affected cultural development of the Old World in many unknown ways as well, as well as explaining how Victorian England could've had the technological ability to discover DNA and harness it (and for Clanker technology to have developed as well).

Anyway, that's my 2c.

tridecagirl:
Well, this was the time Darwin figured evolution out. So he just takes it a step further.

Itzcuintli:

--- Quote from: tridecagirl on August 28, 2010, 08:38:24 PM ---Well, this was the time Darwin figured evolution out. So he just takes it a step further.

--- End quote ---

Even though Darwin figured out natural selection in our world, he had no way of actually observing DNA, there were no tools advanced enough at the time.

I'm saying you need a certain level of technology to be able to manipulate DNA. It is more plausible if you move the industrial revolution back a couple hundred (or more) years, instead of assuming it just developed in a different direction at the same time. Given the advanced mechanical knowledge of the Clankers, it really seems to me that the development of combustion engines, mechanization, etc. must have occurred far earlier in their world than it did in ours.

The earliest steam engine was invented in our world in ancient Greece (even though it slipped through the cracks), so that was my theory of when it may have happened in their world (i.e, in their world, the Greeks realized what it was).

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page