Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain-Captain
The question is what significant changes occurred from this divergence in the tume stream? What is particularly different about this world that makes it playable?
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Other than having a lot of space presence much earlier, and the inevitable higher degree of militarization of space? Presumably the Cold War involves a lot more Space Navy battlestations waiting to kill each other's satellites and orbiting nuclear bomb launchers.
Assuming a global nuclear war doesn't happen, I suspect the big one would be a change in spinoff technologies. A lot of effort is going into designing smallish output lightweight nuclear reactors in this setting, so I'd expect to see more of them on the ground - most ships are probably nuclear powered, so are (the much more common) giant airplanes, and likely some tanks and other military vehicles. Small communities and major factories get their electricity from their own reactors. There's more nuclear waste about, but people presumably have a more realistic view of its (non-)hazards and suitability for weaponization - this probably means at least some dirty bombs have been set off. Radiation protection probably gets a little more money - so cheap radiation monitors, and radioprotective drugs are likely around. Cancer rates may be up a bit worldwide, which might have pushed a little more research budget into that.. Electronics miniaturization being much less of an issue with better engines, the microelectronics industry is probably a bit lagging behind OTL for any given year.