by Neil Vodavzny

In these post-Enlightenment days the signs are ominous, regardless of facts A to Z. Nowhere is this more apparent than with theory-mongers of Anthropogenic Global Warming. I intend to bypass all that rigmarole and cut to the chase.

In order to make sense of the weather, we know it’s divided into 4 seasons. We also know there are 2 equinoxes (day and night of equal length with sun crossing the equator) and solstices (sun furthest from equator). We know there are longer cycles that precipitate glaciations.

These are vast and overarching astronomic cycles of largely unknown dimension. The evolution of Earth’s tilt in its spin takes 47,000 years; a “wobble” of equinox precession takes 23,000 years; cold summers beckon Frost Giants since winter snow doesn’t melt. Man’s efforts are puny compared to these age-old mythical-cycles. Not forgetting Maunder’s cycles of solar activity, idle sunspots and little ice-ages. That’s certainly a lot to play with, but no obviously rational way round the maze of information. It does seem possible a Maunder Minimum could act as a counter to AGW. I get the impression sceptics are clustering around this notion, clucking knowingly to themselves like novice initiates to the Masons.

I jest; the odd thing is each side thinks they’re right for the reason they’re so clever at sorting through all the noise to get to the “real” information that tells them sunspots, AGW, capitalist conspiracy ... are to blame.

The more likely possibility is that all those factors are to a degree irrational since no one can predict them. What we do know ... have always known ... is weather can be predicted by signs – the red sky at night-type folklore. Usually, weather patterns have a sort of coherence – I mean the four seasons paradigm – so you’re happy to have a frosty winter and then get set for spring festivities.

There’s an alternate scenario – we live in a Newtonian paradigm but weather is more aligned with chaos theory. It does seem to me there’s excess energy at large: California has a proximal front of high pressure lying in the pacific (drought); Britain has a proximal jet-stream causing gales and floods. In chaotic systems, energy is in dynamic equilibrium, forming patterns. Without patterns, the weather has energy with no coherence. Dynamic force has a strange beauty as with a fractal; we can’t predict but can admire a tempest.

Signs of the folkloric variety or perturbations as with the Stonehenge monument are more predictable (see prev). So, is it possible the lack of coherence in weather phenomena is actually what counts? Without signs we have nothing to guide us, no direction at all. Signs are to a degree irrational; Stonehenge is a monument to veracity, but beyond a certain point Newtonian mechanics breaks down. The important thing is to be aware that things are, to a degree, indeterminate by rational thought.

Stonehenge occupies a place, and is aligned with Avebury. These ancient pilgrimages were hubs for group festivities where signs are much more plainly observable, relating to the landscape of which the group partakes. They are meaningful on a cosmic scale because they clearly anticipate monumental cycles in Earth’s tilt and wobble (equinox precession). Whether the ancients were aware of this, who knows, but they were on the right track! We have come off the rails. I might again invoke Clifton’s traditional take on art: Don’t challenge the answers intuited over millennia, only the questions that swallow everything in indecision and rationalising.

Thus is the intricacy of archaic design, whether Celtic or Greek temples, born of simplicity and timeless subtlety. That’s quite a good principle of good design – its effect is often in its subtlety. Where would we be without Swiss watches? What we see in the “old days” are products of group collaboration, of place, vernacular architecture.

This is quite a close approximation to the ethos of steam-punk, originally relating to 19th century aesthetic, with its improvised retro-chic, rugged, hand-crafted, organic-tech, often one-of-a-kind. How might this relate to our global reality? Let’s consider what the global reality is, in terms of product design..

There seems to be a trend toward utilitarian simplicity and functionality you might almost date from the iphone. Clean lines with no subtlety – the basic principle is they do the job without the “thing-ness” of retro-tech chic. I’m thinking of disparate products, really. Vehicles which are supposedly cutting-edge like Landrover Freelander are not exactly brimming with personality. The emphasis seems to be on functionality pure and simple. In a way it’s perfect, but boring. Imperfection is a type of interest. Compare a retro-tech military-style Defender – wow! Take me to Ibiza.

That’s what I call style – a type of interesting imperfection. Some of what I’m complaining about is undoubtedly down to more items having microtronics (chip implants), such as digital cameras. Even cars are going to be increasingly smart-cars. Taking iphone as the template, everybody loves the iphone, maybe everybody’s wrong?

The emphasis is on “Everyman”. There is much less self-reliance about a smart-product, and the simplicity of design reflects that. What you might call utilitarian Benthamism writ for the global Everyman, the enemy of self-reliance (body or mind).

Anything which you might call “perfect” but bland and egalitarian, so that is the template of egalitarian social-capitalism. The true Right – meaning those individuals of a group consensus – can’t ignore the fact that capitalism is anti-Right – at least in its global manifestation. Global tech-products make the consumer egalitarian. They do the job but haven’t the “thing-ness” of retro-chic tech – Smith-Corona manual typewriter, Linn Sondek turntable ...

Global capitalism is therefore anti-Right, egalitarian or social-capital. Steam-punk is improvised retro-chic, rugged, hand-made, organic-tech, often one-of-a-kind, sometimes super-powerful, sometimes serene. By definition it’s non-egalitarian and money is no object (or alternatively there is no money!) It might be stretching a point to relate it back to Stonehenge, but it’s a type of individualism with group consensus.

Products have some group-function, so their use is neither egalitarian nor completely individualistic. I could bring-in Mel as well here: in Mad Max 2 all the hardware, from road warrior hotrod to decoy tanker and gyro, go toward that end, by dint of hard-bargaining more than much fellow-feeling (for quibblers, MM2 is strictly diesel-punk, apparently).

Technique has to have a retro-punk aspect to have any group-function, for the reason machines, the net and memory-banks (the “cloud”) are coming-together at breakneck velocity, under the domain of global money-markets, natch. The next stage is probably cyborgs, probably meaning humans made even more egalitarian by machine-implants. This techno-trend is indisputably anti-Right, so we should resist it. Contrast the Bauhaus movement of unified crafts in the 20s. Originally established as a guild synthesizing architecture, sculpture and painting into industrial products of simple but advanced design. Does an ipad qualify as no-design or negative design? Similarly, Landrovers and Jeeps are seemingly of one template.

Here’s something perfect – and enigmatic. The two often go together in sci-fi. It could either be super-intelligent or totally uninteresting, actually a bit like the film .

The idea of craft is that the product has “thing-ness”, a sense of tradition. Bauhaus can be traced from 19th century art-deco, through Rennie Mackintosh’s organic-geometry architecture. So, vinyl, Smith-Coronas, steam-punk can be signs of resistance to the advance of products of Benthamite social-egalitarian design. There is a sense in which you can say technology is good in and of itself, so you collect, say, medieval chainmail or chess sets. There are those who say analogue recordings still have the edge – a spaciness and sense of being there. Any imperfection can also add a qualitative difference to the sound, ambiance. KT Tunstall recorded her recent album Invisible Empire on reel-to-reel because it’s the real thing. I was talking to a woman at Oxfam and we were joking they’ll soon be the only ones selling books and CDs, as well as vinyl, on the street. Junk shops and craftshops are now the places to go for the unique and piquant. The technology is still out there. Linn Sondeks are to be had for the right dollar and vinyl is still circulating, scratches and all.

One can foresee improvised technique that partakes of the net as well. You might have heard of 3D printing? This could be applied to any product requiring a group consensus – self-help, collaboration, group oriented action. The type of technology featured in steam-punk is less mass-oriented, things like dirigibles. A future-scenario that was more land-based and self-reliant would be slower and might adopt dirigibles for freight-transport. A spare-parts industry might then develop alongside this by using 3D printing. You could envisage a device to accurately measure (transcribe) a spare; the specifications are sent for processing and then the part is 3D printed onsite.

With a bit of imagination, that could become a type of idiosyncratic steam-punk future, independent of egalitarian consumerism and the reign of global money supply. One could suppose the creative mind has a larger part to play here. My take on this is that dreamers and visionaries are a fairly limited breed, unbound by convention. Their values are a product of a force of will.