TechStuff Classic: TechStuff Goes Steampunk

fictional past. It is time for another classic episode of tech Stuff, and in this episode, we're going to look at the speculative fiction sub category known as steampunk, the aesthetic that is based on a history that never was, history of brass and copper and steam that ended up never evolving beyond that technology, but influenced everything to come after it. And this has sort of gone through a little bit of a lull, I would say, over the

last soveral years. For a while, it was very much in fashion, at least in the speculative fiction world, in science fiction conventions and that kind of thing. You don't see it quite as much anymore, but there's still people who really cling to this and really enjoy it. I happen to be one of them. Just about a pair of sunglasses, they kind of fall into that aesthetic. So let's listen back on this episode, which originally aired on

August two thousand and twelve. So we wanted to talk about steampunk, and one of our sister podcast, pop Stuff, has has addressed steampunk, but we thought we would talk about steampunk as well, because we're doing this whole series of episodes about technology that you reinvent, you know, in some way, so it is different from what it originally was, and and steampunk is is sort of an aesthetic approach to that it's and it's not confined solely to technology.

In fact, you would argue, I would argue that it originally was a literary genre or sub honra and so let's kind of talk about what it is before we get into any steampunk hacks that we have seen and enjoyed on the interwebs. So you're familiar with some of the the forefathers of modern science fiction. We're therefore there's many more than that, right, Well, it's f O R E. H. So Jules Verne, Jules Verne, very famous author H. H. G.

Wells another one. Yes, Jules Verne and H. G. Wells together produced a lot of work that kind of serves as a an inspiration for the steampunk movement. Yes, and if they had actually worked together around the world in eighty days could have been accomplished with a time machine and it wouldn't have taken around the world yesterday. So uh sorry, but the time machine didn't only travel in time but not in space. Wasn't that its thing? Anyway?

So the the the Yeah, so you'd have to have it on the on the balloon, I guess nothing bad could happen from that, right, So so the the the aesthetic that Jules Vernon H. G. Wells kind of set is sort of what creates the foundation for steampunk. Steam

Punk in general takes a very Victorian era approach to technology. Yes, the idea is, what if during the Victorian era, uh, tinkerers who have been able to build some of the more complex electronics and machinery that we have at our disposal today, but with that Victorian aesthetic and the materials

that they would have used during that era. So you get a lot of stuff with copper and brass and uh and and sometimes things like vacuum tubes and stuff like that, although that's vacuum tubes earlier post Victorian, but anyway, you get you get the lots of wood as well, a lot of a lot of these materials that you would find in Victorian furniture and things like that would be incorporated into this sort of technology of this this

fictional world, this world that could have been but wasn't. So. Yeah, the Victorian area that we're talking about is the late nineteenth century, so you know, around the eighteen eighties. There's a lot of different literature that came out around that time, eighteen eighties, eighteen nineties. Uh that that that really influences the steampunk aesthetics. So some of it is some of it is stuff that H. G. Wells and Jules Verne writing. Some of it is stuff like uh sar Arthur Glendon Doyle,

the Sherlock Home stories. That that definitely influences a lot of the steampunk aesthetic too. It's not just technology. It's a lot of different things, but it's it's that feel, especially the feel that you would associate with something like London during this era. Although steampunk, I would say steampunk is kind of very much an English influenced um esthetic

or movement, or at least Western European. Yeah. And the reason why I say English is because a lot of the steampunk stuff I see is based off Victorian fashion or colonial fashion, the stuff that was done during that late UH nineteenth century colonial era, like in in UH in India. So you'll see a lot of steampunk that takes design elements from that as well. But the the idea of creating the sort of science fiction world based on the Victorian era of technology is a little more modern.

I mean, their inspiration comes from writers that we're writing around that era, but later writers really kind of brought that back up, like William Gibson and Bruce Sterling who wrote The Difference Engine, which kind of brought this aesthetic into UH, the idea of well, what if we take this basic form of technology and then go a different

evolutionary path than what we actually in reality took. And so this created this sort of idea of neo Victorian UH technology, and you really think about you would have advances in certain areas but not advances in others, and it's really arbitrary where those advances are. So, for example, in a steampunk world, you might have the equivalent of personal computer devices, even handheld computer devices, although they'd probably be clunkier and made out of different materials than what

our current ones are. But you might not have airplanes because the blimps in dirigibles are incredibly popular with the steampunk crowd. It's this idea of this sort of world of of luxury and uh, everything's a lot more. Uh, it takes up a lot more space than what we're typically used to. But I think the person who really kind of nails why the steampunk aesthetic is so compelling to certain people is Mark Fraunfelder, who was a He's the editor in chief of Make magazine and was the

co founder of Boing Boing. Yes, and he says the Victorian era was the great age of the amateur, where non professionals could contribute to the advancement of science. And because these amateurs were most often well healed gentleman, great emphasis was placed on ornamental beauty in their equipment. So the idea here is that the average person with with the right education would be able to make advances in science and technology, whereas today you're talking about really specialized,

really advanced fields. Right, it feels like you have to be part of a much larger project often in order for you to make a big impact in those areas. It's not entirely true, but it's more true than not. So the Victorian era was a time where you could be on the cutting edge. You could be an average person with a good education and be on the cutting edge of science and technology at that time and thus be able to make your own impact on it. So that is one of the reasons why it's so compelling.

Also with the emphasis on ornamentation, so um, it's it's funny that you would bring that up. Was that, well, I mean one of the uh Now, one of the things that you'll find if you start looking for uh steampunk and search engine on the computer, one of the

first things you're going to find is uh clothing. There are lots and lots of of well, i mean existing clothing that you know, I'm sure that people are really excited about because they really wanted to make lots of bowler hats but couldn't figure out why no one would buy them or top hats anymore, and all of a sudden, they're going. Steam has really increased the demand for certain articles of clothing and vests and pocket watches. Watches are crazy and and some of these pieces of clothing don't

necessarily have any uh added ornamentation to them. They may very well, be essentially a Victorian costume, but then you would might have a coutrement which makes that go beyond a period costume and turn it more into steampunk. Yes. For example, goggles seem extremely popular. Well they must requirement with the steampunk costume. Um. Yes, And I'm not making fun of anybody who who does steampunk and likes goggles.

It just seems that they're ubiquitous and it's not. Uh, well, you think about the early people who were driving or flying, Um, they wouldn't have a windscreen necessarily. Yeah, so you you'd see that, you know, they'd have their their driving outfit where they had the gloves and the hat with the goggles to keep the dust out of your eyes. Very necessary. But the funny thing, and I I find this amusing, but not again not in a making fun way, just

sort of, um, that's kind of funny sort of way. Um, the people who some of the people who do who dress in the steampunk fashion embrace the the clothing, will you know, use unadorned goggles just sort of the same kind of thing. But I've seen others that have really modified them with brass fittings, hands, flares and things that you know, really make them stand out, and they're they're very large, and it's just it's kind of amusing to me because I'm going, wow, you're really going out of

your way to draw attention to the goggles. Well, and they might, they might have a fun they might have attachments where they have different filters like glass exactly like a like a magnifying lens that you can swivel in or out of the way. Well, yeah, it's it's and again there you have the idea of well, the practicality would be if you are a tinkerer, then you would have this magnifying glass that you could see the very small, intricate parts. You're doing all this work with their hands,

at least in theory. You know. Now, a lot of the people who are into steampunk do not necessarily make their own gear. But the folks who do, uh take a lot of pride in it, you know, because again, these are works not just of of technology or costume, their works of art. You know, there's there's artistry that goes into this. Although there are those who will say that, you know, there are plenty of people out there who are into steampunk who what they'll do is they'll get

a costume to throw on a pair of goggles. They might wear a necklace has a gear on it and boom,

it's steampunk. Uh. Then there are others who will go into great detail on their costumes and incorporate these really intricate pieces of equipment and even come up with very uh whimsical names for for the things, because you know, they're they're using that Victorian naming convention where it's almost like Louis Carroll has named all of their items, where it's it's this odd you know, nothing is nothing is a simple device. They're all going to be uh adorned

with these very elaborate names. Um. Like, for example, instead of saying a computer, you might say that it is a manipulator of random information or something like that. Yeah, it's um, you know, the the or you it's some variation on the difference engine. Because they're actually that's a good example to say. If you've ever seen an picture of the replica of Babbage's difference engine, people have actually

built the difference engine. Uh. It's a massive device made out of brass and other medals, and you see all these gears and things that you turn, and that's how you work this this difference engine that speaks a lot to the aesthetics of that Victorian era where you've got

you know, it doesn't need to look sleek. It can look complicated, complicated and even bulky, but it's done in such a way that it's uh emphasizing the aesthetic not you know, it's not it doesn't look like a big clunky piece of equipment ideally unless that was, of course

the intent from the big get go. But yeah, if you if you look up these devices, you'll often come across names that are just uh, you know, really tongue twisters and and you know there's usually an ether thrown in there somewhere, like it uses it uses the ether. This this nebulous source of energy. UM one uh, one really cool thing about steampunk and it it could be frustrating for somebody who's getting into it, UM who may

need a little bit more structure. Is that unlike other um hobbyists and cost players and and you know, groups of of that style, UM, you don't have like a Star Trek universe or a Star Wars universe or a Lord of the Rings. You don't have something that tells you what is and what isn't steampunk. So for example, you have somebody who dresses in Victorian garb and they are speaking uh, you know, English, with the the verbal expressions that they might use in vernacular of the Yes,

the vernacular of the time. However, Uh, they might have a uh, they might use a computer with brass fittings and ornamentation on the front. Or they might carry ray guns of the buck Rogers, talking like old style buck Rogers, you know, with the big bulgy stuff in the big um cannab on the on the shooting end. So it could be anything could be steampunk because there's not you're not having to go, well, that's cannon or that's not cannon. So it could be kind of anything you wanted to be.

If you if you look at um, like you know what kind you know, Weather Industries, what the effects companies that did fiction effects, They did the they did a lot of the props for the Lord of the Rings movies. Um, they have a division called Dr groad Boards uh and it's uh Dr gord Boards ray guns essentially, and these are yes, yes, beautiful devices, but these are all designed after that old science fiction aesthetic, which definitely is related

to steampunk, but it's not necessarily. It isn't isn't yeah, because because some of the ideally the steampunk type stuff should look like it's technology that runs on Victorian era resources, thus the steam the steam power being far more common than other forms. Chris and I have more to say about steampunk, but first let's take a quick break. There are other forms of this punk aesthetic too. There's diesel punk. Yeah, I was gonna mentioned that you had done something on that. Yeah,

diesel punk is is a slightly later era. It's usually like World War One era technology aesthetic. So the aesthetic is different the you know, and you would argue that the whatever is running the technology is a different source of energy, but it's the same sort of idea that you're taking this aesthetic from a different time period and applying it to modern day clothing, electronics, all sorts of stuff.

I have an example that I wanted to mention something that I thought was really clever in the sense that a lot of the steampunk projects you'll see are not just beautiful but are also equally um impractical. But but they're impractical on purpose. They're not you know, it's practicality was not part of the design element. So one of those is what It's a project that was created by John Knight, as in, uh, let's get up on horse

and have a squire night. He created something that he calls the Electromagnetic Geospatial Globe and remote view with obligatory goggles and goggles have to be in there. But this is uh, this is his version of Google Earth and what it is. What what he can do is he runs Google Earth on a computer and this globe, this it looks like a big brass globe, is hooked up

to the computer. So as he uh moves a little uh indicator on the physical globe, the virtual globe on Google Earth will turn and show whatever point is in focus on his indicator on the screen. So, in other words, it's a way to navigate Google Earth using a physical globe. And uh it's kind of an interesting um approach. It again not necessarily practical, but definitely very visually arresting, very pretty. Uh. There are a lot of really well known artists within

the steampunk world. UH. Two of them I wanted to mention in particular, although there are lots and lots of them, don't don't think that you know these are like the end all be all but one of them in particular, is known for his his work as as sort of a pioneer in the steampunk physical Let's make stuff space,

and that's Jake von Slat. Jake von Slat has done lots and lots and lots of of projects where he's taken either modern day technology and and put new stuff on it to make it have a steampunk sort of aesthetic, or has actually built steampunk style devices from the ground up that do something that a modern device could do in a totally different way. So he's he's taking both approaches where he's altering something that exists now or building

based upon the old methods of building. UM. He was featured in in Make magazine actually a couple of years ago, and I have an article on the site how Steampunk Works, and I have some of his work on there as well. Uh. He has a website called the Steampunk Workshop where he actually shows you if you want to build your own steampunk devices, he has do it yourself guides on how

to do them. Now. For people who want to get into this, you have to be really comfortable with using things that allow you to work with metals like soldering is really important. Uh. You might need you might need access to special tools to be able to work metals in a way so that you can shape them, and not just metals, but would as well, you know, all

sorts of materials. So you're it's for someone who has like a workshop space that has uh the ability to use or the access to use these sort of tools. It's not necessarily something that you can do just you know,

go home and fire up the website. Well cool, I'm gonna make my own steampunk laptop now, because a lot of this involves uh, finding things and curiosity shops or antique shops or or even like you know, there used to be a shop near where I live that sells all sorts of old cabinet fittings, and you you could go to a place like that and sort through and say, oh, this has the look that I'm going for, and you take that and you might repurpose it for something totally different,

Like instead of this being a cabinet handle, it's going to be the corner the top left corner of a computer display. That kind of thing. Well, you have to be able to you know, manipulate that metal in whatever way you may have to trim stuff off or reshape something. So you may need some special tools for a lot of these d I y projects, but he he actually goes through what he does to to build out these things.

And another pretty well known artist in fact, I remember seeing some of his work, uh in the sci fi series Where House thirteen. So Where House thirteen, you know, you've got these these interesting pieces of technology that are inside artis office where he's got like a computer that

has these old typewriter keys instead of regular keys. Those were built by a guy named Richard doc Nagy also known as Data Manser and data Manswer has done some really amazing work with custom keyboards, laptops, uh, desktop computers. He's really created some neat stuff, and not just in the steampunk aesthetic. He's also branched out. He did some in a sort of an Art Deco inspired approach as well.

So he's he's tried a couple of different things. He takes commissions um and his work is really really labor intensive, so they are expensive things to buy. But on the other hand, these are devices that are made by hand from materials that are more expensive than plastic. So the expense is in not just the labor but also the artistry that goes into it. So you know, you might sit there and think, oh my gosh, that's a keyboard. I can't spend twe buying a keyboard from my computer.

But then you think, all right, when you factor in the materials that went into it, how much time was spent for him to track down all the different stuff that he used to make it, and also just the hours of of work that he puts into it, then you start figuring, Okay, now it's it's a work of art that I'm buying, not just a functional piece of technology. Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean there are there are people who actually make

their living modifying people's living spaces. Um. I went to a modern Victorian which is at mad vic dot com, and they basically remake people's homes into steampunk like environments. Um you know, wood burning stoves and um, you know, portholes and things you might see bad of the Nautilus, big big gears that you would turn in order to open the door instead of a regular door knob. Yes, yes, I mean just that that kind of thing. And if you've got the either the ability to do it yourself

or the wherewithal to pay someone who knows what they're doing. Um, you can do that too, but just in the creativity that that's involved in doing that, and even even something as simple as you know, the keyboards that you see with the typewriter keys instead of uh, computer keys. Um,

it's just kind of fascinating. I saw one computer desk that had pipes behind it, or you know, at the back where it made it look sort of as the as though the computer we're sitting in as part of a pipe organ And it was just kind of cool. The the idea behind that. We haven't run out steam yet, see what I did there. But before we get back

into the discussion, let's take another quick break. There's no large company that I can think of that that makes this stuff in in amounts that make it would make it cheap for the average person to own one of these. You know, this is all done by hand, but you know you can also say, uh, you know, it's it's done custom work. Not everybody is going to own something like this. Um, there are a lot of one of

the kind pieces out there. Yeah, and it's also an opportunity for uh, for you know, the casual hacker to maybe try his or her hand at something like this. Yeah, I mean this is you know, their plans and and and things like this, and not all the projects are super complex. And that's that's sort of again, that's the whole point that uh that was made about the appeal of steampunk in the first places, that you are creating

something that's much more personal to you. You know, it's not this mass produced piece of technology that looks exactly like every single other version of that particular device, right like every iPhone, like every iPhone four looks like every other iPhone four until you put like a skin on it or put a case around it or whatever. But you know, on its own, they all look the same.

And it's this this approach to mass manufacturer that has created sort of a homogenized approach to technology, and this is kind of a rejection of that, saying I want something that has more personality to it. It's just that this is a personality that evokes a very specific feel and era. So it's interesting because every year that passes, I think, okay, steampunk has gotta like that that fat is got to be on the decline by now, because there are artists who get into it and they're really

really active in it. For a couple of years and then some of them are saying, you know, I really want to do other stuff. I had fun with that, it was great, But as an artist, I want to grow, so I want to try different things. So I often expect to see that kind of trickled down to the general uh steampunk niche. Like I was gonna say general public, but really steampunk is a very specific niche of people. Um,

but so far that hasn't really happened. We'll have to keep our eyes open because I mean, I find it a very compelling aesthetic myself. I really do like the look of it and uh and and it does have an interesting um impact on me emotionally when I see something that's been really well designed and a very clever design. Because well designed and clever again doesn't necessarily mean that the device is practical. Sometimes the more impractical it is,

the more enjoyable it is. That's true. That's true. Well, I mean it's a it's a human thing, I think. Um and yeah, I am fascinated by alternate histories and anachronisms. Um, you know it. It's the what IF's if you will um and just to imagine the like the what if you know, you have a steam steampowered world with the internet. You know, how could those things go together? You know,

handwriting messages and sticking them in pneumatic tubes? Right, yeah, yeah, you know, my dad started writing a science fiction novel, uh that was based in a steampunk type world, and uh, sadly he was one of those projects that never they never completed. But it was funny because when he was writing it, it was before steampunk had really become a thing. Like there were some examples, early examples in the genre, and I think had he had he completed, it would

have been one of them. It certainly would have been an interesting addition to the library of literature that supports this genre. Uh. Of course, we'll never know because it's I mean, maybe one day he'll go back and finish it, but by then it's gonna seem like he's following a trend as opposed to being on the forefront of it. At least it's not another vampire book. You know. It's

funny you mentioned it's the steam powered vampires. There's sparkle, No, not at all, not even a there's a steam powered vampire that sparkles in the daylight, but he gets invited to go to a wizard college. No with where wolves, right, I wonder how many more I can fit in there. There's a Chicago detective who's also a magician who shows up No, uh, none of this is true. And there's a good cop in a bad cop right. And that concludes another classic episode of tech Stuff. Hope you guys

enjoyed it. Obviously, since two thousand twelve, there's been a lot more stuff in the steampunk world, although you could argue it has been losing steam as of late. I don't see quite as much in popular fiction that falls into that category as I used to. I still see

it now and then, just not everywhere. But if you guys have any suggestion for future topics, whether they involve speculative fiction or not, feel free to send them to me the email addresses tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com, or pop on over to our website that's tech stuff podcast dot com. There you will find links to our social media sites, so you can contact me that way, or hey, pop on over to our our

online store. There's a link there over at tech stuff podcast dot com, and every purchasing make at that store goes to help the show. You can get tex Stuff logo t shirts or coffee mugs or mouse pads or all sorts of stuff, and we have some fun designs over there, so go check that out and I will talk to you again really soon. Tex Stuff is a

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