Comments on: Medical steampunk

By: Raytheon

Raytheon — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:01:28 +0000

Don’t believe the hype, be it from Wikipedia or from any “official” source on Steampunk. Steampunk is merely the desire to emulate the Victorian era while retaining certain elements of the present, or the future. Whether that is utopian or dystopian depends entirely on each individual devotee of the genre. For some, it’s all about dressing up; for others, it’s all about Second Life and roleplaying; for others, it’s a literary thing; for others, it’s an all-pervasive desire to immerse oneself in a modified version of a historic period. If you dig the period, Steampunk is whatever YOU choose to do with it, not what people trying to pin it down and define it want it to be.

By: Jeppe

Jeppe — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:27:03 +0000

I think the point about steampunk being less dystopian than cyberpunk is pretty interesting as well. At first glance it might seem coincidental and (at least medically) irrelevant, but here’s a thought that I’m in all probability not the first to articulate: Perhaps steampunk being less dystopian and pessimistic about technology in general is reflected in the fact that it’s often (if not always?) portrayed as a sort of “19th century science fiction”? That is, it portrays a time very much like the 19th century (and perhaps sometimes the 18th as well), apart from the inclusion of wondrous machines and technology. I tend to think that this is a reflection of how the general conception of technology and progress was much more optimistic in those periods, whereas it’s much harder to credibly present a fictional 21st century world, where science is universally benign.
It might be neither here nor there, but I definitely think there might be a connection. Although I have no idea whether it’s at all relevant in a medical context.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:22:07 +0000

Indeed! Sometimes we’ve been embarassed about having all that brass and cast iron medical machinery in our repositories. Sometimes we show it to selected audiences, like students in the medical engineering programme. However, the value of a collection is a question of how it is framed. From being pet objects for medical engineers to potentially becoming objects of worship for a broader subculture. I cannot wait.

By: Benny

Benny — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:02:51 +0000

So, you’re hiding all the good stuff and stash in the basement! That should be a crime – it will totally open up for a brand new audience getting more steampunk into the exhibitions.