Schizo-Tech: Difference between revisions

** In the Naruto manga (chapter 19 page 8) [http://read.mangashare.com/Naruto/chapter-019/page008.html there is a gun behind the shop counter].

** One of the Six Paths of Pain is a friggin cyborg armed to the teeth with high explosive homing missiles and a huge-ass laser beam and {{spoiler|Nagato himself}} is confined into what appears to be some sort of mobile throne, both oddly futuristic compared to the rest.

*** Later, there's evidence that the Asura Path's abilities just a bizarre ninja technique and not an actual "cyborging" of the body {{spoiler|when a revived Nagato spontaneously grows robot arms from his normal, emaciated body in chapter 551}}.

** In chapter 354, apropos of completely freaking nothing [http://read.mangashare.com/Naruto/chapter-354/page004.html we see dozens of buildings of late 20th century build], all of which are abandoned except for one that was used as weapon storehouse by the Uchiha and is inhabited by some old lady, her granddaughter, and their cats.

* ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' is set in a [[Medieval European Fantasy]] setting much like a typical campaign setting for ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''. However, in various strips it has featured coffee machines, indoor plumbing, stethoscopes, bug zappers, cell phones, and even a desktop computer (the last one was admittedly owned by an angel). The [[Technology Levels]] appears to be [[Rule of Funny|whatever inspires the best jokes]].

** V [[Lampshade Hanging|calls the strip out on it]] once:

Durkon: Meh. It could be worse, ye know.... [[Eberron|They could have magic trains]]. }}

*** In a later strip, Redcloak mentions that magical, lightning-powered trains actually do exist in the OOTS-verse (and complains that he's the one who has to make sure they run on time).

** Honestly, magic-powered trains still makes more sense than a majority of Greyhawk's anachronisms...

*** ...especially if you'll count all the insane stuff from ''Book of Wondrous Inventions''.

* ''[[Questionable Content]]'' is set in [[Present Day]] western Massachusetts, but features sentient robots sold at retail, various Transformer-style mecha (Vespa-Bot FTW), and a major character spent her childhood on a space station. This seems to go forgotten for large stretches of time.

** [[Webcomic Time|Also note that every indie pop and post-rock album since 2003 seems to have come out within a span of under two years]].

* Unlike the [[Mayincatec|Aztecs, Maya, etc.]], the Incas didn't even have ''writing''. It didn't slow them down appreciably: imperial administrators communicated by exchanging [[wikipedia:Quipu|quipu]], bundles of strings with knots tied in them to represent numbers. And it was an efficient system too - able to consistently keep state accounts.

** Even weirder: They managed to independently develop halberdiers just like those used in Europe at the time, save for the fact theirs were made of bronze... and despite the complete absence of what made Europeans develop halberdiers: to bring down knights from their horses.

** Among the inventions of Ancient Greece's Hero of Alexandria: a water-powered pipe organ, and a vending machine that gave out cups of holy water.

** The steam engine was invented in Egypt in the 1st century. [[Values Dissonance|But slaves were cheaper]].

*** The Aeolipile (that's what it was originally called) may actually have been around in the first century BC, but unfortunately Vitruvius was a bit scant with his descriptions. Regardless, th Greeks/Romans never too the idea 'beyond' the Aeolipile, which was so pathetically inefficient that it was never useful as anything but a demonstrator.

** Al-Jazari had working humanoid robots in the 12th century, including a musical band.

* The Amish, especially if you [[Shown Their Work|do the research]]. Name a technology level, ''any'' tech level, between [[Medieval Stasis]] and [[No Export for You|"FINALLY released in the US"]], and there's an Amish or Mennonite sect somewhere in the Midwest that's stuck there.

**** Cavalry actually had a remarkable comeback in [[World War II]] and was widely used by the Red Army, as well as by other armies. It could take terrain that moterized transport couldn't and the only fuel it needed was fodder, which could be bought or stolen from any peasant.

**** Actually it was not as much a comeback as a continuity. Heinz Guderian in his ''Memoirs of a Soldier'' was constantly complaining about older, conservative high-ranking officer, who considered mechanized infantry and a mobility doctrine a 'fancy ideas with no real military applications'.

** One finds the same situation in present-day [[Papua New Guinea]], where wilderness tribes (having pre-industrial level agriculture) fight skirmishes with Kalashnikovs and may use modern simple telecom equipment and put petrol-driven outboards on their canoes, provided that they get hold of ammo, fuel and batteries.

** India has a thoroughly modern military, with an Aircraft carrier, an indigenously designed Main Battle Tank, a joint produced 4.5th generation jet fighter, nuclear weapons and... British Lee-Enfield rifles, a design that is 114 years old, yet still in active service (though not as a front-line weapon).

*** A similar example is the Colt M1911 pistol. Yes, it's been produced and used both in military and police service ''for 100 years !''

** The [[wikipedia:Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25#Western intelligence and the MiG-25|Mig-25]] uses vacuum tubes since they are more resilent to EMP attacks, are easier to replace, are more tolerant of temperature extremes, and give the Smerch-A radar a 600 kilowatt output.

** The famous (in certain circles) footage of mid-60s Chinese horse cavalry charging into a combat exercise ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rd9ylueyBY in a test area just hit with an atomic bomb.]'' For a bonus, there's a chance that it might have been dropped by a Soviet-built copy of an American B-29, itself out of combat service for some years in the US. Triple schizo tech?

*** Possibly a [[Justified Trope]] in that case given the electromagnetic pulse from a nuclear blast would have fried the electronics of most military machinery at the time. These days, it'd be safe to assume some vehicles would have electronics hardened against EMP.

** Even better. In many areas in Africa, people would send their friends/relatives/creditors money in the form of cellphone airtime (since most cellphone plans are either prepaid or have limited minutes). Exchanging cellphone airtime became a legitimate unit of currency because it would not depreciate (as opposed to "real money"), and you don't need to belong to a bank in order to exchange money remotely. In this way, Africans basically invented mobile banking before it was a thing. Cellphone service providers have taken heed, and today a lot of "low-footprint" services (i.e., that don't need a lot of bandwidth) get released in Africa first to see if people would want to use them. This works out because basically everyone in Africa has a cellphone, this being by far the easiest way to keep in touch in the absence of other infrastructure. What would you rather do: wire every single house in your village to a land-line, or build one cellphone tower?

* Anything onboard a yacht. The yachts may (and usually do) have GPS plotters, VHF radios, radars and navigation computers onboard, as well as sextants, log lines and handlines for depth. Square sail, long considered obsolete, has made a comeback amongst the bluewater cruisers who do transoceanic legs.

 

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