4 ms·
Mildly interesting literary reference: In Seveneves by Neal Stephenson (light spoiler), in the orbital world, they never, after 5,000 years, get to refined micr
by mseebach 8y ago
Mildly interesting literary reference: In Seveneves by Neal Stephenson (light spoiler), in the orbital world, they never, after 5,000 years, get to refined microelectronics. It's not an important plot device, so I wonder how gamed out that idea is, but it's remarked by Kath that their computers are nowhere as refined as those they had before the hard rain.
- JorgeGT 8y agoIt's very plausible. Most answers are concerned with the technical side, but the real difficulty is achieving a stable society with a continued interest in science and research. Organized civilizations have existed for millennia but war, religious zealotry and social uprisings have been resetting scientific advances every so often. The unknown Greek engineer who built/programmed the Antikythera Mechanism in the 2nd century BC could have worked with Babbage in his 19th century Difference Engine. Add the steam-powered Aeolipile of 1st century AD and the basic technical ingredients for the industrial revolution were already present in classical Greece. However, the proper social factors that allowed the exponential growth in science and research that resulted in the development of microelectronics and the information society are extremely difficult to achieve, more so than the merely technical ones.