No, I'm not talking about ASBs here. What if certain machine components don't get invented? Then the whole machine fails, and something else takes its place.
In the development of alternate history too little focus is given to the development of technology, perhaps because of its sheer complexity (after all, who would have thought that the Diesel engine would be dependent on perfecting a perfume bottle?)
What sorts of technologies would emerge and be submerged? For instance, if the French Revolution were either avoided or muted, would we be driving Cugnots rather than Mercedes-Benzes? Would the Stirling engine be more powerful and widely used? Or would we use electric cars solely?
Would the Babbage Difference Engine usher in an earlier information age? What if cheap air travel never took off and we travelled by maglev trains instead?
Is it plausible?
In the development of alternate history too little focus is given to the development of technology, perhaps because of its sheer complexity (after all, who would have thought that the Diesel engine would be dependent on perfecting a perfume bottle?)
What sorts of technologies would emerge and be submerged? For instance, if the French Revolution were either avoided or muted, would we be driving Cugnots rather than Mercedes-Benzes? Would the Stirling engine be more powerful and widely used? Or would we use electric cars solely?
Would the Babbage Difference Engine usher in an earlier information age? What if cheap air travel never took off and we travelled by maglev trains instead?
Is it plausible?