With a POD in the 1930s, your challenge is to advance tech so much that the 1980s have 2030s-level technology.
AHC: 2030s tech by 1980s
- Thread starter Nightingale
- Start date
Pkmatrix
Monthly Donor
Well, one possibility might be if Bell Laboratories' discoveries of how the Cat's Whisker crystal detector worked - in OTL this happened around 1940, which led to the eventual development of the Transistor by 1947 - occurred decades earlier. The cat's whisker was patented in 1906, and from what I've read of the experiments conducted there was nothing that was done - other than motivation (they were working on RADAR in the lead up to WW2) - that could not have happened as early as the 1910s.
So, let's say the discovery of how the Cat's Whisker worked occurs in 1910 instead of 1940, with something like the transistor invented by 1917 instead of 1947. Obviously there'd be a lot of butterflies from that, but inventing the transistor 30 years earlier in the wake of WW1 rather than WW2 might potentially lead to the development of digital electronic computers sooner. In which case, who knows how far technology might advance in the lead up to and during World War II?
So, let's say the discovery of how the Cat's Whisker worked occurs in 1910 instead of 1940, with something like the transistor invented by 1917 instead of 1947. Obviously there'd be a lot of butterflies from that, but inventing the transistor 30 years earlier in the wake of WW1 rather than WW2 might potentially lead to the development of digital electronic computers sooner. In which case, who knows how far technology might advance in the lead up to and during World War II?
This would work, yes.
And I'm also going to go against conventional wisdom here and say that without the World Wars, the world would be more advanced. A greater number of scientists and potential scientists would be alive, the economic panorama would look a lot better, allowing people to dedicate themselves to the sciences without being forced into the war effort, and international cooperation and communications would lead to a better spread of scientific discoveries.
Pkmatrix
Monthly Donor
That's always going to be the question, isn't it? World War II caused a huge technological leap, but at the cost of so many lives that it's possible we traded what happened in OTL for what may have been an even greater leap in the '50s or '60s. It's not too hard to imagine a TL where without the War we'd have only reached the technological levels of 1950 by 1960, yet perhaps that ATL's 1970 might look more like 1980 or 1990.
*Shrug*
Unfortunately, while I suppose it's possible, I don't think the transistor arriving 30 years early butterflies away World War II. If anything, it could mean a World War II that looks more like the Korean War...
There was also this talk about Konrad Zuse making the Z2 electric instead of mechanic.
Hmm... I wonder what this would mean for the Golden Age of Hollywood...
Why did they need to detect cat’s whiskers?
This sounds suspiciously like the “Cat Detector Van” by Monty Python!
Hah!
Hah!
Seriously, crystal radios were popular during the 1920s but were replaced by vacuum tubes in the 1930s.
WI crystal technology advanced fast enough to stay ahead of vacuum tubes?
This sounds suspiciously like the “Cat Detector Van” by Monty Python!
Hah!
Hah!
Seriously, crystal radios were popular during the 1920s but were replaced by vacuum tubes in the 1930s.
WI crystal technology advanced fast enough to stay ahead of vacuum tubes?
Aerodynamics and sheet metal airframes advanced rapidly during the 1930s, finally making airlines profitable without hauling mail.
WI airlines competed to open longer and longer routes instead of wasting all that aluminum on bombers?
WI Hitler noticed Lufthansa making profits flying passengers in and out of Poland and Scandinavia and decided that was more profitable than invasion.
Also insider that whoever controls the high ground ..... controls an economy. Look at castles, gothic cathedrals, skyscrapers, radio transmitters, satellites and drones. OTL Drones are already replacing civilian helicopters.
WI airlines competed to open longer and longer routes instead of wasting all that aluminum on bombers?
WI Hitler noticed Lufthansa making profits flying passengers in and out of Poland and Scandinavia and decided that was more profitable than invasion.
Also insider that whoever controls the high ground ..... controls an economy. Look at castles, gothic cathedrals, skyscrapers, radio transmitters, satellites and drones. OTL Drones are already replacing civilian helicopters.