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Tech Levels at the start of next series

This fascinating series is a combination of historical seafaring, swashbuckling adventure, and high technological science-fiction. Join us in a discussion!
Re: Tech Levels at the start of next series
Post by isaac_newton   » Mon Sep 11, 2017 9:35 am

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fallsfromtrees wrote:The one thing I haven't seen mentioned is fluidic computing. It is possible to build the equivalent of an original IBM PC in a cube about 3ft on a side using only fluidic technology. It never got started in our time period because it was short circuited by electronic junctions that were faster and much smaller, but with no electricity, that won't happen on Safehold.


out of curiousity - could it have been built with non electrical tech?
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Re: Tech Levels at the start of next series
Post by PeterZ   » Mon Sep 11, 2017 10:22 am

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Pneumatic message tubes connecting key city buildings and departments within building complexes. Can't use phones at all and can't use speaking tubes beyond a certain distance. Message tubes are faster than messengers.

Steam and pneumatic powered refrigeration. Eventually diesel powered. With the large ships the RCN is deploying, that suggests a need for better food preservation. Passengers aboard commercial liners would pay for more comforts better food preservation would make available.

All sorts of chemistry and medicine improvements. The good thing about improvements in chemistry is that as an explanation, they can hide Merlin's nanos at work. Heck, they can hide the development of and use of anti aging drugs by the Inner Circle.

Hmmmm, one wonders if Irys will champion chemical research into medicine as a way to heal her husband or to improve survival of trauma victims. I can just see her nickname now...Her Grace, the Princess Angel of Mercy (sounds like its straight out of the best Anime storylines). God has already moved in her to provide great healing and the dear soul wants to share that healing with her subjects. Corisande doesn't deserve that sort of selfless mercy....sniffle, sniffle. That sort of narrative would hide a great deal of modern medicine coming from research she champions.
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Re: Tech Levels at the start of next series
Post by TangoLima   » Thu Sep 14, 2017 6:20 pm

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A windup type early Victrola would be feasible.
The would allow Merlin & Niume to introduce, by way of
OWL a lot of terran music, which in turn be another
propaganda tool for social et al change.
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Re: Tech Levels at the start of next series
Post by Keith_w   » Fri Sep 15, 2017 8:44 am

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TangoLima wrote:A windup type early Victrola would be feasible.
The would allow Merlin & Niume to introduce, by way of
OWL a lot of terran music, which in turn be another
propaganda tool for social et al change.


They already have terran style music - country with a bagpipe added.
--
A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
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Re: Tech Levels at the start of next series
Post by TangoLima   » Fri Sep 15, 2017 11:22 am

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Recorded music ?
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Re: Tech Levels at the start of next series
Post by Bluesqueak   » Sat Sep 16, 2017 11:35 am

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TangoLima wrote:Recorded music ?


Technically possible, but the purely mechanical sound recordings were dreadful quality. Electricity moved in to the process pretty swiftly, if I recall my history aright.
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Re: Tech Levels at the start of next series
Post by n7axw   » Sat Sep 16, 2017 1:59 pm

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Bluesqueak wrote:
TangoLima wrote:Recorded music ?


Technically possible, but the purely mechanical sound recordings were dreadful quality. Electricity moved in to the process pretty swiftly, if I recall my history aright.


Correct. But just a thought. Had not electricity been available, would the incentive to improve the quality of mechanism mechanical energy have borne fruit in something that sounded better? We'll never know, will we...

Don

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When any group seeks political power in God's name, both religion and politics are instantly corrupted.
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Re: Tech Levels at the start of next series
Post by TangoLima   » Sat Sep 16, 2017 2:13 pm

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Indeed

How far could it be improved by our fearless innovators
without electricity.
Many music1ans prefer LP quality.
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Re: Tech Levels at the start of next series
Post by Keith_w   » Sun Sep 17, 2017 8:28 am

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TangoLima wrote:Indeed

How far could it be improved by our fearless innovators
without electricity.
Many music1ans prefer LP quality.


Shellac sucks. Vinyl (Polyvinyl chloride, PVC) is much better.
--
A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
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Re: Tech Levels at the start of next series
Post by phillies   » Sat Sep 23, 2017 10:32 am

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Bluesqueak wrote:
TangoLima wrote:Recorded music ?


Technically possible, but the purely mechanical sound recordings were dreadful quality. Electricity moved in to the process pretty swiftly, if I recall my history aright.


Player pianos work quite well. The fancy player piano --there are very very few of these left in existence, but they left what could be recordings of famous 19th century pianists -- was approximately as good as reality. There were also the large music box devices which used in essence a floppy disk made of punched tin with diameters of a foot or more and data densities of a note per square millimeter.
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