Closed Minded? Or A Bridge Too Far?

[rinue]

I'm willing to accept just about any SF premise (although not necessarily what you do after that), but I really can't get behind steampunk androids. I know they have a long history, but there is no way you could fit that kind of computing power inside a robot head without quantum circuits, if then. I mean, Jesus, a difference engine? That approximated human-like reasoning? At less than 1 square foot? Without a network? How much . . . how much can you fit on a punchcard?

I of course still like Tik-Tok the Royal Army of Oz, but he exists in a magical world where there are living scarecrows and so forth. It goes without saying that Atomic Robo is atomic and by definition not steam-powered.

Comments

[movingfinger]

Steampunk as it is being written and practiced these days is innately magical, IMO. (The milieu shown in the highly influential Foglio comic is obviously so.) Most steampunk fiction is not science fiction, and most of it isn't punk either. Or very steamy, at that. It's more fantasy.

[knaveofstaves]

Totally. It's basically just about being Victorian and riding in zeppelins anymore, isn't it?

[rinue]

I really miss Tale Spin. That show was some weird kind of genius.

[valancy_jane]

Am just strting Infernal Devices. Now am wondering if I shall meet clockwork man.

But there with you. I love Victorian anything, but steampunk is a bit confusing at times.

And on that note, I need to send a love letter to the author of a recent Victorian Dr. Who episode that felt authentically Victorian and featured Diana Rigg and her daughter (and was written with them in mind, according to the commercial behind-the-scenes bit). Thank you, writer. Thank you.

[rinue]

I am all for writing things with Diana Rigg in mind.

[valancy_jane]

Wahaa! Just researched. Guess what else he wrote? Sherlock, "The Great Game"!

Don't know if I ever properly thanked you for introducing me, by the way. So beautiful.

Mark Gatiss - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Gatiss#Writer