Mssrs. Mishra and Tiwari mention “anachronism” in terms of its use in science fiction, with specific reference to steam punk. This discussion point does not assert that science fiction is in any way anachronistic, but only that some stories employ anachronistic tropes. In the case of much steam punk, the most common anachronistic tropes rely on the industrial technology of Victorian Great Britain.
Writers who employ the anachronistic (old or historical) imagery are usually doing so because it gives the atmosphere of their stories an otherworldly, perhaps even surreal effect. The intention of the authors is to shake up our expectations of the world. The image of Mohandas T. Gandhi using a cellular phone is not in itself “anachronistic,” but as a historical figure from a time before the invention of cell phones (or even computers and satellites), but Gandhi is an anachronism (someone out of “old” history”) juxtaposed with the ultramodern. This striking contrast forces us to reexamine our understanding of the world in some small way. We wind up thinking about the significance of this unexpected image.
In a science fiction context, however, that one image also suggests something else: an alternative history. One might be led to wonder that the author might be telling us a story of an alternate or parallel Earth historically similar, but also different, in which technological developments the reader is familiar with in the late 20th century came about 60 years earlier in the alternate world. The sci-fi question being implied is, “What might have happened if the Victorian British had developed computer tech as we know in the 1880s, and how might they have designed it?” Suddenly modern technology as we are familiar with it acquires an antique quality that can be quite charming.
It also reminds us that the way we package technology for public consumption is determined by our prevailing ideas of what makes good industrial design and architecture. Did you know that the first cell phones (and many that are still made), the ones that flip open (I have one of those), are direct design descendents of the communicators used in the 1960s TV series Star Trek? Likewise, many PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants, or palmtop computers) have been based on the data padds that characters in the first Star Trek series used. Those designs in turn were created by industrial designers hired by Gene Roddenberry to create the devices used in the TV show—and these designers in their turn reapplied their imaginative designs in the real world of home appliances. You can say that they made the sci-fi designs into a functional reality for all of us.
Medical technology companies are still trying to design equipment that does what the medical equipment show in Star Trek does, especially with non-intrusive remote biometrical scanners that monitor the internal condition of patients.
My point is that the “anachronistic” is brought about by the juxtaposition of of historically incongruous facts, or by dressing up the world in design concepts that were popular 60 or 100 or 150 years ago. One might have that same giddy sense of anachronism if they encountered our high tech times repackaged according to Art Deco or American Air Stream design concepts.
Cheers,
Gene van Troyer
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