I see what you mean, but it’s less the exploitation itself than its immediacy and legibility. It doesn’t vanish behind a million abstractions or complicated miniaturization processes but can be readily experienced and understood, like steam.
replyOn the other hand one might as well associate it with “solar punk”, especially when powered by ambient temperature.
Yes, it seems generally *punk. It’s funny that steam, diesel, and solar punk have this association with immediacy.
replyDoes the originator, cyberpunk? Lots of cyberpunk stories present us with a society that is dominated by a digital abstraction. But the protagonist is special, so, they might not be.
I think the “punk” in cyberpunk was about the AI having a gritty, streetwise protagonist to enable it/fight against it. Extremely immediate.
replyI have bad news to tell you about your "digital" computer.
reply> Objects like this make me think of grimdark (steam|diesel)punk works like the video games Dishonored or BioShock. It feels like there's a touch of occultism or corruption whenever one creates a device that exploits analog side effects to create machines in a closed, black-box package.
replyThe second sentence also fits for field effect transistors and solid state electronics in general.
In the spirit of grimdark steampunk, have you ever heard of pneumatic logic? I still see these systems operating normally in some older mechanical rooms, it’s cool to see them still working after 40-50 years.