Yes, a proud and noble order, we, and smelling of dust and binding glue.
Speaking of which, read the Difference Engine (in a comp. lab or I'd tell you the author's name). Basically posits an alternate England in which the computer gets a running start in the 19th cen, in the form of those punch-card machines. Dreadfully old-fashioned worldviews mixed with this old/new technology that makes me think of brass rivets and green leather and Jules Verne. English empire considerably more entrenched and self-satisfied, meritocracy controled by "savant Lordships," "Lady Ada" as a sort of prophetess-queen...
har!
Speaking of which, read the Difference Engine (in a comp. lab or I'd tell you the author's name). Basically posits an alternate England in which the computer gets a running start in the 19th cen, in the form of those punch-card machines. Dreadfully old-fashioned worldviews mixed with this old/new technology that makes me think of brass rivets and green leather and Jules Verne. English empire considerably more entrenched and self-satisfied, meritocracy controled by "savant Lordships," "Lady Ada" as a sort of prophetess-queen...
/end book pump/ eehhh...Shakespeare! Yay!