While reading about
Victorian genius engineer
Brunel, I wondered about his big ideas which did not succeed, including his
atmospheric railway. Suppose he could have iterated and improved and ultimately made it work? What
alternative pathways would humanity
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH4haYwDJfo9wj3hQt5Dj31gPamC2f1VPdzL3cKnWdeAOB1EVV4SmBziy9ZaS6WGrfI76LAlnoIGWFee_errWaQ4Xqe_y45j051eLC7Q7_CwNPZJRuR60B7t6gROw8iJHAFvHS9zcjQTo/s400/240px-TheDifferenceEngine%25281stEd%2529.jpg)
now be on? This got me thinking about what if
Charles Babbage had succeeded in building his
mechanical computer. That's such a ripe theme that science fiction authors
William Gibson and
Bruce Sterling wrote an
alternate history SF novel exploring it,
The Difference Engine, a world where
both Industrial and Information Revolutions happen together and human progress is accelerated. Several comic/novelist/movies have taken up variations on this theme as well, including the
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the
Wild Wild West and even the polychronic
Back to the Future.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh72o3LIwpdOz0Ddct2m-NIBbz2b7MvfjCtTs1t7WXN8Jf4X7qIRH9KaD0sVGMP6orMTdoAlqMst9DZB6xgbl99-I-rjxS30m6_8dY83cgg0QBEVtOLJz-BZpmnRUcWbPwc9Je9s6J5cPo/s400/wake3cov.jpg)
One of my favorites is from the
WAKE graphic novel series by
Jean-David Morvan and
Philippe Buchet when lead character Navee visits a strangely
steampunk world in volume 3,
Gearing Up. Perhaps the most intriguing
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3dcNZnTtncxsSA1SwkBnPKnXVX6uOSpaT8vdc8gdqdzIk7UAtnjheQgjAfP8x_Cv-Xn7n-Gn4wiLIZWU6q9d34SVvxjKUgNQv48FCLMDr8a_HyB_vYjBf2-s2QW0HfkHz1ZX-AY-5Vk/s400/The_Diamond_Age.jpg)
of this genre, though, is
Neal Stephenson's
The Diamond Age set in a future when sophisticated nanotechnology and AI prevail and enable a wild mixing of sociomes, including a curiously neo-Victorian culture. What this genre especially allows is exploring what is central to being human in the face of vastly differing technologies. Epic!