In our English history, in 1837 Charles Babbage designed what might have been a very early sort of computer, the analytical engine, except that he never quite finished the design and manufacturing technology could not have produced even if he had. Authors William Gibson and Bruce Sterling launched the steampunk strand of science fiction in 1991 by speculating in this volume on what might have been if Babbage’s engines were built.
Gibson and Sterling (both Americans) focus primarily on the political ramifications of the invention, not surprising given the rest of their oeuvres, and the key change is a rapid rise of technocrats not unlike our own Silicon Valley elite except that in that time and place money and politics are far more directly linked, especially in light of the connection between Babbage and Ada Lovelace. Her father becomes not only Prime Minister but also the channel through which radical political changes are wrought.
The book itself is more a series of short stories rather than a novel, connected by a mysterious box of punch cards. Babbage’s engines were card-driven for both instructions and memory, with every resident of Britain having their details recorded on a bureaucratic card.
My memories of The Difference Engine were quite fond–and justified on re-reading–and so I took advantage after coming across a copy on deep discount at Tower Records’ going out of business sale.
recommended
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