Now that the Drakians have that audacity to make such huge guns and shells work accurately, they must have the capability to bomb everywhere right now without the use of a vulnerable air platform. Now, it may prove detrimental on their part once rocketry and stealth technology make for badder payloads and more reliable platforms respectively, but those cannons must have given them some sense of a strategic edge for a short time, at least on the part on demolishing permanent fortifications. This will only push back space age by some few good years, however.
It's gonna be a dark horse contender like China, I can feel it...
China is also the best guess for such a rapid development of theoretical physics, since that is the only country that would be willing enough to dabble in more esoteric ideas, given their Situationist attitude. China is also far from being a dark horse considering their certainly functional industry (development and recovery must have been comparable to post-war Japan in the late 50's and 60's).
This is huge, the consequences of having the Alliance for Demcracy interconnected at such an early stage can only help their efforts, as well as changing cultural spread in general. By the time the Internet became really widespread in OTL, the Soviet Union wasn't a threat to American hegemony, so having the Drakian Empire as a major threat to global safety would be a big unifying factor in this new generation's psyche once social media develops. I can also see it helping the dormant nationalist movements in the United States (I still remember that one chapter with the indigenous person who went to the city in Old Mexico and saw a protest there, would love an update in that vein at some point). And I can already picture the casette futurist aesthetic this technological development would create...
I guess that the world will also leave behind that aesthetic quite quickly in favor of streamlining and keyboards, even touchscreens. By the 80's, it would certainly be, but it also depends on the aim that TTL's Moore's law would give. Would the governments waste so much money on space guns and military expenditure that it would slow down research, or would they also allocate more resources to hasten its development, especially once they realize the potential of internet?
Anyways, we're also realizing some aspects of a cyberpunk culture ourselves IOTL. In case of
gaudy (and probably overfunded
) holographic presentations, it would be very much appreciated if a headquarters would present such information this way:
Of course, it won't have the analog sticks, as the Chief of Staff should be able to easily sift through information to properly observe the breadth of the field. Just don't ask the contractors involved in developing such an expensive operating system, as it is basically a brainchild of his colleague back in his university days at the University of New York.
Since the Internet and programming languages are English/Latin Alphabet centered, is there a convenient romanization for Hindi?
Well, the languages of most prominent powers like China, Japan, and India may be worth to do a localization over. American Spanish speakers would also certainly include their language in the package. Irish developers would also be incredibly privileged in developing localization for themselves. I dunno for the Pan-Europeans; the French, fascinated with the Situationist hoo-hah, may find time for it. The Germans and Italians could too, but mostly for the sake of their military.
Edit: The exhausting nature of logographic writing in the East may also delay the commercial and personal adoption of computerization in the region, like how it did in Japan in the 90's and early 2000's.
It's sad that there's not so much of a way in the "West" ITTL, considering that being devastated and surrounded by the Societists in all sides won't help them at all in leveraging themselves in the world stage.
View attachment 584314
Polemarch Ulysses Kobold announces to the world his intentions to annex the Moon (1958, colorized)
Well, there are already color-capable cameras since the 50's.
Last but not the least, how does the Global Warming progress ITTL? All these extra industrialization won't help reducing carbon emissions, and we all had so much..
foresight on the pain it would cause right now.
