Re: Tech Advances & others

[Forwarded to TML broadcast, with subject line fix, by James Perkins]

>From: [email removed]
Subject: RE: Tech Advances & others

Re:
 >I read a book a long time ago (oh no I hear you say ... suffer!) where
 >technology took a different path.  There was a simple law of physics that
 >if seen would lead on to anti-grav and space flight but precluded all
 >electrical type technology as we know it today.  If you took the path to
 >electricity then the other path disappers as "not cost effective" etc.
 >eventually you reach the "electricity" dead end and everyone's forgotten
 >about the other technology path.

I think this one may have been by Poul Anderson.  As I recall, one of the
side effects of taking the antigrav path is that you never get the really
neato weapons, flight tech, etc.

I think the story starts with a group of conquistador type ETs landing their
spaceship on a current tech Earth, and opening up on the natives with their
super high tech weapons (muskets).  Things progress as might be expected
from this point.

Joe
"Backwards compatibility means never getting to fix your mistakes." - me