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A very broad, general question for you all: What PODs would you suggest for a world more technologically advanced than our own? What would have to happen for us, within reason, to have the Bomb by 1800, a man on Mars by 1900, for example? Please, throw out your ideas and examples of groundbreaking innovations that could have been, but came to nothing.

We all know about Hero’s steam engine and the Antikythera Mechanism, and we know why, for example, steam power did not take off in Rome even though they had a basic knowledge of its mechanics. But what are some other lesser-known examples in Europe and Asia, and what would have had to happen to throw science and technology into overdrive? Or do you think we as a species are advancing as fast as can reasonably be expected?

It’s 2015, and I’m still waiting for my hoverboard.
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