An Eye to the Future; A Link to the Past

I love a costume party, but unfortunately this year, I see no invites coming my way. I chose to do my annual pumpkin carve instead, going on its fifth year now.

BUT, if I was going to don an alter ego, I love the Steampunk idea! Who doesn't love a corset paired with some combat boots, frilly skirt, mechanical jewelry and a top hat!!

 

I love the whole notion of this sub-genre of science fiction, as it is known. Its inspiration comes from industrialized Western culture, particularly during the 19th Century. Think of Jules Verne and all. But the Industrial Age really has its infancy in the 18th Century, around 1760-1780, in Britian.

In fact, though the Victorians love to claim the Age, one of the earliest recorded uses of the term "industrial" comes much earlier.A letter written July 6, 1799 written by French envoy Louis-Guillaume Otto,  announces that France had entered the race to industrialise.

In his 1976 book Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, Raymond Williams (Englishman) states in the entry for "Industry": "The idea of a new social order based on major industrial change was clear in towns of Southey and Owen."

An increasing use of steam-powered engines allowed for the transition of hand production methods to the use of the new machines. The mass production of textiles was totally fueled by machines that could warp and weft faster than anyone could ever imagine. And people's living standards changed drastically, offering them more time to do other things at home and in the work place. I love the following statistic, "The living standards of the mass of the people in 1700 hardly differed from those living in Babylonia in 2000BC. In 1760, taken as the start of the Industrial Revolution, power was generated by water (70,000 hp), wind (10,000 hp) and steam (5,000 hp)." Can you image the difference?!

The population of Great Britain in the late 1700's was about seven million just before the start of the Industrial Revolution. During the Revolution, the population swelled to 12 million by 1811.

By the way, Jules Verne, with his eye toward the future, had written a remarkable book, published in 1880, called "The great Navigators of the Eighteenth Century", where he chronicled the efforts of French navigators of the 1700's across the globe and their profound influence on science. This is perhaps why Verne's and HG Wells' fiction is so compelling. The research was done!