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I've read bits of Stephenson's Anathem recently, and it kind of got me thinking...

Imagine a typical ATL, like the ones we write about all the time. It is currently in the 21st century. In terms of technology, almost absolutely everything is the same as in OTL. With the exception of a few technologies. Communication tech is a bit backwards. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. The backwardness is partly due to a complete absence of spaceflight tech. Something happened. Maybe the reasons were cultural, maybe social, maybe economic, maybe political, maybe complete and utter happenstance. But, whatever they were, people ITTL have never sent so much as a screw above Earth's atmosphere. They have advanced aircraft, nukes, comps as powerful as ours, more primitive mobiles... But no one has ever really developed rocketry or some other method.

This challenge is simple : Come up with a plausible explanation for WHY this is the way it is. NO ASB explanations (geology/biology/physics), no "they have wacky taboos" handwaves, just plausible explanations for why this particular type of tech never took off and why people aren't even interested in it.
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