WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: TechStuff Goes Steampunk 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.240 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios, 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:13.680 How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:17.000 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:18.760 How Stuff Works and I heart Radio and I love 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:22.560 all things tech. And today we're getting a real blast 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:25.119 from the past as well as a blast from the 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:28.960 fictional past. It is time for another classic episode of 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:31.760 tech Stuff, and in this episode, we're going to look 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:38.839 at the speculative fiction sub category known as steampunk, the 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:43.559 aesthetic that is based on a history that never was, 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:48.639 history of brass and copper and steam that ended up 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:53.720 never evolving beyond that technology, but influenced everything to come 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:57.000 after it. And this has sort of gone through a 0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:59.280 little bit of a lull, I would say, over the 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:02.120 last soveral years. For a while, it was very much 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:06.120 in fashion, at least in the speculative fiction world, in 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:09.039 science fiction conventions and that kind of thing. You don't 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:12.200 see it quite as much anymore, but there's still people 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:14.399 who really cling to this and really enjoy it. I 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:16.680 happen to be one of them. Just about a pair 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:19.160 of sunglasses, they kind of fall into that aesthetic. So 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:22.560 let's listen back on this episode, which originally aired on 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:26.520 August two thousand and twelve. So we wanted to talk 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:30.160 about steampunk, and one of our sister podcast, pop Stuff, 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:33.880 has has addressed steampunk, but we thought we would talk 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:36.720 about steampunk as well, because we're doing this whole series 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:41.039 of episodes about technology that you reinvent, you know, in 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.800 some way, so it is different from what it originally was, 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.360 and and steampunk is is sort of an aesthetic approach 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:53.520 to that it's and it's not confined solely to technology. 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:56.440 In fact, you would argue, I would argue that it 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:00.960 originally was a literary genre or sub honra and so 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.480 let's kind of talk about what it is before we 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:07.000 get into any steampunk hacks that we have seen and 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:15.520 enjoyed on the interwebs. So you're familiar with some of 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:21.239 the the forefathers of modern science fiction. We're therefore there's 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:26.200 many more than that, right, Well, it's f O R E. H. 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:32.519 So Jules Verne, Jules Verne, very famous author H. H. G. 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:35.799 Wells another one. Yes, Jules Verne and H. G. Wells 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:39.519 together produced a lot of work that kind of serves 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:46.400 as a an inspiration for the steampunk movement. Yes, and 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:48.480 if they had actually worked together around the world in 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:50.760 eighty days could have been accomplished with a time machine 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:56.320 and it wouldn't have taken around the world yesterday. So 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:00.640 uh sorry, but the time machine didn't only travel in 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:03.800 time but not in space. Wasn't that its thing? Anyway? 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:07.880 So the the the Yeah, so you'd have to have 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:10.560 it on the on the balloon, I guess nothing bad 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:14.959 could happen from that, right, So so the the the 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:18.400 aesthetic that Jules Vernon H. G. Wells kind of set 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:23.200 is sort of what creates the foundation for steampunk. Steam 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:29.840 Punk in general takes a very Victorian era approach to technology. Yes, 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:35.360 the idea is, what if during the Victorian era, uh, 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:38.440 tinkerers who have been able to build some of the 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:41.800 more complex electronics and machinery that we have at our 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:45.920 disposal today, but with that Victorian aesthetic and the materials 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:48.600 that they would have used during that era. So you 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.920 get a lot of stuff with copper and brass and 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:54.920 uh and and sometimes things like vacuum tubes and stuff 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.960 like that, although that's vacuum tubes earlier post Victorian, but anyway, 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:01.720 you get you get the lots of wood as well, 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:03.480 a lot of a lot of these materials that you 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:07.240 would find in Victorian furniture and things like that would 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:12.200 be incorporated into this sort of technology of this this 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:16.839 fictional world, this world that could have been but wasn't. So. Yeah, 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:19.840 the Victorian area that we're talking about is the late 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:24.800 nineteenth century, so you know, around the eighteen eighties. There's 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:27.720 a lot of different literature that came out around that time, 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:33.200 eighteen eighties, eighteen nineties. Uh that that that really influences 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:36.039 the steampunk aesthetics. So some of it is some of 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:39.159 it is stuff that H. G. Wells and Jules Verne writing. 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:42.880 Some of it is stuff like uh sar Arthur Glendon Doyle, 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.800 the Sherlock Home stories. That that definitely influences a lot 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.800 of the steampunk aesthetic too. It's not just technology. It's 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:52.480 a lot of different things, but it's it's that feel, 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:57.000 especially the feel that you would associate with something like 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:01.760 London during this era. Although steampunk, I would say steampunk 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:07.719 is kind of very much an English influenced um esthetic 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:11.120 or movement, or at least Western European. Yeah. And the 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:13.000 reason why I say English is because a lot of 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.040 the steampunk stuff I see is based off Victorian fashion 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:20.640 or colonial fashion, the stuff that was done during that 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:25.400 late UH nineteenth century colonial era, like in in UH 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:29.120 in India. So you'll see a lot of steampunk that 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:34.359 takes design elements from that as well. But the the 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.640 idea of creating the sort of science fiction world based 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:41.240 on the Victorian era of technology is a little more modern. 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:45.560 I mean, their inspiration comes from writers that we're writing 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:49.320 around that era, but later writers really kind of brought 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:52.600 that back up, like William Gibson and Bruce Sterling who 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:56.520 wrote The Difference Engine, which kind of brought this aesthetic 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.359 into UH, the idea of well, what if we take 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:04.040 this basic form of technology and then go a different 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:08.039 evolutionary path than what we actually in reality took. And 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:11.120 so this created this sort of idea of neo Victorian 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:18.240 UH technology, and you really think about you would have 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:21.440 advances in certain areas but not advances in others, and 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:25.600 it's really arbitrary where those advances are. So, for example, 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:29.520 in a steampunk world, you might have the equivalent of 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:33.760 personal computer devices, even handheld computer devices, although they'd probably 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:36.640 be clunkier and made out of different materials than what 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:40.400 our current ones are. But you might not have airplanes 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:44.920 because the blimps in dirigibles are incredibly popular with the 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:49.239 steampunk crowd. It's this idea of this sort of world 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:54.640 of of luxury and uh, everything's a lot more. Uh, 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:56.840 it takes up a lot more space than what we're 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:00.840 typically used to. But I think the person who really 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:05.479 kind of nails why the steampunk aesthetic is so compelling 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:10.840 to certain people is Mark Fraunfelder, who was a He's 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.840 the editor in chief of Make magazine and was the 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:18.000 co founder of Boing Boing. Yes, and he says the 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:22.240 Victorian era was the great age of the amateur, where 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:25.600 non professionals could contribute to the advancement of science. And 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:29.280 because these amateurs were most often well healed gentleman, great 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:32.560 emphasis was placed on ornamental beauty in their equipment. So 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:36.440 the idea here is that the average person with with 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:40.600 the right education would be able to make advances in 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:45.320 science and technology, whereas today you're talking about really specialized, 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:49.280 really advanced fields. Right, it feels like you have to 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:52.680 be part of a much larger project often in order 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:55.120 for you to make a big impact in those areas. 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.360 It's not entirely true, but it's more true than not. 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.520 So the Victorian era was a time where you could 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:04.720 be on the cutting edge. You could be an average 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:07.200 person with a good education and be on the cutting 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:10.400 edge of science and technology at that time and thus 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:13.080 be able to make your own impact on it. So 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:15.200 that is one of the reasons why it's so compelling. 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:22.000 Also with the emphasis on ornamentation, so um, it's it's 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.400 funny that you would bring that up. Was that, well, 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.440 I mean one of the uh Now, one of the 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:30.560 things that you'll find if you start looking for uh 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:33.960 steampunk and search engine on the computer, one of the 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:37.440 first things you're going to find is uh clothing. There 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:40.680 are lots and lots of of well, i mean existing 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:44.160 clothing that you know, I'm sure that people are really 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:46.480 excited about because they really wanted to make lots of 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:49.640 bowler hats but couldn't figure out why no one would 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:51.720 buy them or top hats anymore, and all of a sudden, 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:55.120 they're going. Steam has really increased the demand for certain 0:08:55.280 --> 0:09:01.640 articles of clothing and vests and pocket watches. Watches are 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:04.800 crazy and and some of these pieces of clothing don't 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:09.160 necessarily have any uh added ornamentation to them. They may 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:14.000 very well, be essentially a Victorian costume, but then you 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:17.480 would might have a coutrement which makes that go beyond 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:21.760 a period costume and turn it more into steampunk. Yes. 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:27.520 For example, goggles seem extremely popular. Well they must requirement 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:30.800 with the steampunk costume. Um. Yes, And I'm not making 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:34.000 fun of anybody who who does steampunk and likes goggles. 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:38.640 It just seems that they're ubiquitous and it's not. Uh, well, 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:43.000 you think about the early people who were driving or flying, Um, 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.280 they wouldn't have a windscreen necessarily. Yeah, so you you'd 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:48.959 see that, you know, they'd have their their driving outfit 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:51.240 where they had the gloves and the hat with the 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:55.320 goggles to keep the dust out of your eyes. Very necessary. 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:58.760 But the funny thing, and I I find this amusing, 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.720 but not again not in a making fun way, just 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:06.480 sort of, um, that's kind of funny sort of way. Um, 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:09.439 the people who some of the people who do who 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:14.920 dress in the steampunk fashion embrace the the clothing, will 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:17.640 you know, use unadorned goggles just sort of the same 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:21.160 kind of thing. But I've seen others that have really 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:26.640 modified them with brass fittings, hands, flares and things that 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:29.800 you know, really make them stand out, and they're they're 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:32.760 very large, and it's just it's kind of amusing to 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:35.160 me because I'm going, wow, you're really going out of 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:37.800 your way to draw attention to the goggles. Well, and 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:39.839 they might, they might have a fun they might have 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:44.800 attachments where they have different filters like glass exactly like 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:47.920 a like a magnifying lens that you can swivel in 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:51.080 or out of the way. Well, yeah, it's it's and 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:53.400 again there you have the idea of well, the practicality 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:55.480 would be if you are a tinkerer, then you would 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:57.880 have this magnifying glass that you could see the very small, 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:00.679 intricate parts. You're doing all this work with their hands, 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:03.400 at least in theory. You know. Now, a lot of 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:06.320 the people who are into steampunk do not necessarily make 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:09.360 their own gear. But the folks who do, uh take 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:11.640 a lot of pride in it, you know, because again, 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:15.080 these are works not just of of technology or costume, 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:18.000 their works of art. You know, there's there's artistry that 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:22.080 goes into this. Although there are those who will say that, 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:23.520 you know, there are plenty of people out there who 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:25.760 are into steampunk who what they'll do is they'll get 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:28.120 a costume to throw on a pair of goggles. They 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:30.480 might wear a necklace has a gear on it and boom, 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.280 it's steampunk. Uh. Then there are others who will go 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:38.400 into great detail on their costumes and incorporate these really 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:42.080 intricate pieces of equipment and even come up with very 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:46.040 uh whimsical names for for the things, because you know, 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:49.840 they're they're using that Victorian naming convention where it's almost 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:53.840 like Louis Carroll has named all of their items, where 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:56.880 it's it's this odd you know, nothing is nothing is 0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:00.720 a simple device. They're all going to be uh adorned 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:05.120 with these very elaborate names. Um. Like, for example, instead 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:07.760 of saying a computer, you might say that it is 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:12.920 a manipulator of random information or something like that. Yeah, 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:16.520 it's um, you know, the the or you it's some 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:19.720 variation on the difference engine. Because they're actually that's a 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:22.840 good example to say. If you've ever seen an picture 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:27.600 of the replica of Babbage's difference engine, people have actually 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:33.560 built the difference engine. Uh. It's a massive device made 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.720 out of brass and other medals, and you see all 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:39.719 these gears and things that you turn, and that's how 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:44.440 you work this this difference engine that speaks a lot 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.880 to the aesthetics of that Victorian era where you've got 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:51.360 you know, it doesn't need to look sleek. It can 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:55.520 look complicated, complicated and even bulky, but it's done in 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:59.680 such a way that it's uh emphasizing the aesthetic not 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.440 you know, it's not it doesn't look like a big 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:07.199 clunky piece of equipment ideally unless that was, of course 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:11.120 the intent from the big get go. But yeah, if 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:14.199 you if you look up these devices, you'll often come 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:19.520 across names that are just uh, you know, really tongue 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:22.800 twisters and and you know there's usually an ether thrown 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:26.360 in there somewhere, like it uses it uses the ether. 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:31.560 This this nebulous source of energy. UM one uh, one 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:35.280 really cool thing about steampunk and it it could be 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:38.760 frustrating for somebody who's getting into it, UM who may 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:43.959 need a little bit more structure. Is that unlike other 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:48.680 um hobbyists and cost players and and you know, groups 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:52.520 of of that style, UM, you don't have like a 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:55.520 Star Trek universe or a Star Wars universe or a 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:59.360 Lord of the Rings. You don't have something that tells 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:04.120 you what is and what isn't steampunk. So for example, 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:09.040 you have somebody who dresses in Victorian garb and they 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:14.240 are speaking uh, you know, English, with the the verbal 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:18.800 expressions that they might use in vernacular of the Yes, 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:22.520 the vernacular of the time. However, Uh, they might have 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:27.120 a uh, they might use a computer with brass fittings 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:31.360 and ornamentation on the front. Or they might carry ray 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:37.560 guns of the buck Rogers, talking like old style buck Rogers, 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:39.680 you know, with the big bulgy stuff in the big 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:44.760 um cannab on the on the shooting end. So it 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:48.560 could be anything could be steampunk because there's not you're 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.400 not having to go, well, that's cannon or that's not cannon. 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:54.160 So it could be kind of anything you wanted to be. 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:56.520 If you if you look at um, like you know 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:00.840 what kind you know, Weather Industries, what the effects companies 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:04.640 that did fiction effects, They did the they did a 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:08.920 lot of the props for the Lord of the Rings movies. Um, 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:14.040 they have a division called Dr groad Boards uh and 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.400 it's uh Dr gord Boards ray guns essentially, and these 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:23.160 are yes, yes, beautiful devices, but these are all designed 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:28.200 after that old science fiction aesthetic, which definitely is related 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:32.560 to steampunk, but it's not necessarily. It isn't isn't yeah, 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:36.320 because because some of the ideally the steampunk type stuff 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:41.920 should look like it's technology that runs on Victorian era resources, 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:46.440 thus the steam the steam power being far more common 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:48.800 than other forms. Chris and I have more to say 0:15:48.840 --> 0:16:00.280 about steampunk, but first let's take a quick break. There 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:04.040 are other forms of this punk aesthetic too. There's diesel punk. Yeah, 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:06.640 I was gonna mentioned that you had done something on that. Yeah, 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:09.240 diesel punk is is a slightly later era. It's usually 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:14.120 like World War One era technology aesthetic. So the aesthetic 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:16.760 is different the you know, and you would argue that 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.520 the whatever is running the technology is a different source 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:21.800 of energy, but it's the same sort of idea that 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.760 you're taking this aesthetic from a different time period and 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:29.120 applying it to modern day clothing, electronics, all sorts of stuff. 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:31.880 I have an example that I wanted to mention something 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:35.520 that I thought was really clever in the sense that 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.200 a lot of the steampunk projects you'll see are not 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:45.160 just beautiful but are also equally um impractical. But but 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:49.360 they're impractical on purpose. They're not you know, it's practicality 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:52.120 was not part of the design element. So one of 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:55.960 those is what It's a project that was created by 0:16:56.080 --> 0:17:00.360 John Knight, as in, uh, let's get up on horse 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:03.640 and have a squire night. He created something that he 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:08.240 calls the Electromagnetic Geospatial Globe and remote view with obligatory 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:12.680 goggles and goggles have to be in there. But this 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:16.840 is uh, this is his version of Google Earth and 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:18.800 what it is. What what he can do is he 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:22.439 runs Google Earth on a computer and this globe, this 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:26.840 it looks like a big brass globe, is hooked up 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:32.159 to the computer. So as he uh moves a little 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:37.879 uh indicator on the physical globe, the virtual globe on 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:43.159 Google Earth will turn and show whatever point is in 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:47.200 focus on his indicator on the screen. So, in other words, 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:52.159 it's a way to navigate Google Earth using a physical globe. 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:56.600 And uh it's kind of an interesting um approach. It 0:17:56.840 --> 0:18:03.719 again not necessarily practical, but definitely very visually arresting, very pretty. Uh. 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:08.240 There are a lot of really well known artists within 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.199 the steampunk world. UH. Two of them I wanted to 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:14.000 mention in particular, although there are lots and lots of them, 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:17.320 don't don't think that you know these are like the 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:19.880 end all be all but one of them in particular, 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:24.280 is known for his his work as as sort of 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:29.160 a pioneer in the steampunk physical Let's make stuff space, 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:33.359 and that's Jake von Slat. Jake von Slat has done 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:35.880 lots and lots and lots of of projects where he's 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:42.679 taken either modern day technology and and put new stuff 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:45.560 on it to make it have a steampunk sort of aesthetic, 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:51.760 or has actually built steampunk style devices from the ground 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:55.119 up that do something that a modern device could do 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:57.560 in a totally different way. So he's he's taking both 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:01.200 approaches where he's altering something that exists now or building 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:04.320 based upon the old methods of building. UM. He was 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:07.840 featured in in Make magazine actually a couple of years ago, 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:10.480 and I have an article on the site how Steampunk Works, 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:13.359 and I have some of his work on there as well. Uh. 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:16.359 He has a website called the Steampunk Workshop where he 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:19.440 actually shows you if you want to build your own 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:24.080 steampunk devices, he has do it yourself guides on how 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:26.360 to do them. Now. For people who want to get 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:28.639 into this, you have to be really comfortable with using 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.360 things that allow you to work with metals like soldering 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:35.280 is really important. Uh. You might need you might need 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:38.640 access to special tools to be able to work metals 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:40.720 in a way so that you can shape them, and 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:43.560 not just metals, but would as well, you know, all 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:47.640 sorts of materials. So you're it's for someone who has 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:51.280 like a workshop space that has uh the ability to 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:53.920 use or the access to use these sort of tools. 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:57.159 It's not necessarily something that you can do just you know, 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:00.639 go home and fire up the website. Well cool, I'm 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:04.879 gonna make my own steampunk laptop now, because a lot 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:09.639 of this involves uh, finding things and curiosity shops or 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.600 antique shops or or even like you know, there used 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:14.880 to be a shop near where I live that sells 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:19.760 all sorts of old cabinet fittings, and you you could 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:21.960 go to a place like that and sort through and say, oh, 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:23.840 this has the look that I'm going for, and you 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:26.200 take that and you might repurpose it for something totally different, 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:30.000 Like instead of this being a cabinet handle, it's going 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:32.320 to be the corner the top left corner of a 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:36.040 computer display. That kind of thing. Well, you have to 0:20:36.040 --> 0:20:40.119 be able to you know, manipulate that metal in whatever 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:42.600 way you may have to trim stuff off or reshape something. 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:46.160 So you may need some special tools for a lot 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:49.720 of these d I y projects, but he he actually 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:52.720 goes through what he does to to build out these things. 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:57.119 And another pretty well known artist in fact, I remember 0:20:57.119 --> 0:20:59.960 seeing some of his work, uh in the sci fi 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:03.080 series Where House thirteen. So Where House thirteen, you know, 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:06.800 you've got these these interesting pieces of technology that are 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:12.280 inside artis office where he's got like a computer that 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:15.680 has these old typewriter keys instead of regular keys. Those 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:18.760 were built by a guy named Richard doc Nagy also 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:22.479 known as Data Manser and data Manswer has done some 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:28.040 really amazing work with custom keyboards, laptops, uh, desktop computers. 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:31.320 He's really created some neat stuff, and not just in 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:35.080 the steampunk aesthetic. He's also branched out. He did some 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:38.560 in a sort of an Art Deco inspired approach as well. 0:21:38.840 --> 0:21:41.760 So he's he's tried a couple of different things. He 0:21:41.800 --> 0:21:47.520 takes commissions um and his work is really really labor intensive, 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:51.959 so they are expensive things to buy. But on the 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:55.280 other hand, these are devices that are made by hand 0:21:56.320 --> 0:22:01.840 from materials that are more expensive than plastic. So the 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:05.399 expense is in not just the labor but also the 0:22:05.480 --> 0:22:07.520 artistry that goes into it. So you know, you might 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:11.040 sit there and think, oh my gosh, that's a keyboard. 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:14.240 I can't spend twe buying a keyboard from my computer. 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:16.280 But then you think, all right, when you factor in 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:18.919 the materials that went into it, how much time was 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:21.920 spent for him to track down all the different stuff 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:24.560 that he used to make it, and also just the 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:27.960 hours of of work that he puts into it, then 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:31.399 you start figuring, Okay, now it's it's a work of 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:36.120 art that I'm buying, not just a functional piece of technology. Yeah. Yeah, well, 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:38.600 I mean there are there are people who actually make 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:44.760 their living modifying people's living spaces. Um. I went to 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:48.200 a modern Victorian which is at mad vic dot com, 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:54.360 and they basically remake people's homes into steampunk like environments. 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:58.320 Um you know, wood burning stoves and um, you know, 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:02.560 portholes and things you might see bad of the Nautilus, 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:06.439 big big gears that you would turn in order to 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:09.120 open the door instead of a regular door knob. Yes, yes, 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:10.639 I mean just that that kind of thing. And if 0:23:10.680 --> 0:23:14.080 you've got the either the ability to do it yourself 0:23:14.200 --> 0:23:18.240 or the wherewithal to pay someone who knows what they're doing. Um, 0:23:18.320 --> 0:23:23.680 you can do that too, but just in the creativity 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:27.080 that that's involved in doing that, and even even something 0:23:27.119 --> 0:23:29.160 as simple as you know, the keyboards that you see 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:33.280 with the typewriter keys instead of uh, computer keys. Um, 0:23:33.440 --> 0:23:36.880 it's just kind of fascinating. I saw one computer desk 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:40.760 that had pipes behind it, or you know, at the 0:23:40.800 --> 0:23:42.639 back where it made it look sort of as the 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:45.199 as though the computer we're sitting in as part of 0:23:45.240 --> 0:23:48.520 a pipe organ And it was just kind of cool. 0:23:48.640 --> 0:23:52.600 The the idea behind that. We haven't run out steam yet, 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:55.480 see what I did there. But before we get back 0:23:55.520 --> 0:24:06.000 into the discussion, let's take another quick break. There's no 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:09.240 large company that I can think of that that makes 0:24:09.640 --> 0:24:14.640 this stuff in in amounts that make it would make 0:24:14.640 --> 0:24:18.800 it cheap for the average person to own one of these. 0:24:18.920 --> 0:24:20.840 You know, this is all done by hand, but you 0:24:20.880 --> 0:24:23.720 know you can also say, uh, you know, it's it's 0:24:24.240 --> 0:24:27.280 done custom work. Not everybody is going to own something 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:30.080 like this. Um, there are a lot of one of 0:24:30.119 --> 0:24:32.520 the kind pieces out there. Yeah, and it's also an 0:24:32.560 --> 0:24:36.480 opportunity for uh, for you know, the casual hacker to 0:24:36.560 --> 0:24:40.560 maybe try his or her hand at something like this. Yeah, 0:24:40.600 --> 0:24:42.920 I mean this is you know, their plans and and 0:24:42.920 --> 0:24:44.840 and things like this, and not all the projects are 0:24:44.840 --> 0:24:47.399 super complex. And that's that's sort of again, that's the 0:24:47.400 --> 0:24:52.400 whole point that uh that was made about the appeal 0:24:52.640 --> 0:24:55.879 of steampunk in the first places, that you are creating 0:24:56.280 --> 0:24:58.440 something that's much more personal to you. You know, it's 0:24:58.480 --> 0:25:02.840 not this mass produced piece of technology that looks exactly 0:25:02.880 --> 0:25:07.200