What if Charles Babbage’s mechanical computers had actually worked, and by 1896 London was already stumbling into an early information age?

I’m joined by Tim Standish, author of The Sterling Directive. His version of late-Victorian London has engines, telegraph networks, and a state security machine that’s worrying in a very familiar way: once records become searchable, identity becomes traceable.

We talk through the nuts and bolts of making that world feel real without turning it into homework. What the tech can do, where it breaks, who controls it, who gets left out, and how “tappers” (his world’s hackers) make the whole thing dangerous. There’s also airships, because obviously there are.

If you like alternate history that actually changes behaviour, or you’re writing your own world and want a few solid craft ideas, you’ll get a lot out of this one.

Episode page with notes: https://richardsonsrubicon.com/worldbuilding-a-victorian-information-state-tim-standish-the-sterling-directive/

Tim's website: https://timstandish.co.uk/

The Episode Question! https://richardsonsrubicon.com/community/season-5-speculative-fiction-where-worlds-meet/new-tech-who-gets-the-power/

#Steampunk #AlternateHistory #SpeculativeFiction #Worldbuilding #AmWriting