Some technology of the inhabitants of Balnibarbi are truly magnificent wonders for their age. Other research is simply catastrophic.
It's worth noticing that Swift has a knack for predicting future discoveries and innovations. The telescopes mentioned used by the Laputans are three feet long, about the same size as many consumer-mid range telescopes. These have the range to clearly see the rings of Saturn and the individual moons of Jupiter and probably have the capability to see many of the major stars in constellations of the cosmos.
Another peculiar future-telling discovery mentioned in the book by the Laputans is the presence of two moons orbiting around Mars. While we know these as Phobos and Deimos today, these two moons were not discovered until 1877 by Asaph Hall, a little more than 150 years after Swift published Gulliver's Travels in 1726. They do not orbit in the same resonance frequencies as described in the book, however (in fact, Phobos is on a crash course with Mars, while Deimos is slowly inching away much alike our Moon), but it is a remarkable coincidence in literature.
Magnetic levitation, another prediction that we have only managed to accomplish on a small scale with high-speed Maglev trains (German ICE, French TGV, Japanese Shinkansen), powers the floating force of Laputa. It is rather fascinating to see a 7,000-yard object propel itself across a small radius within which the inhabitants of Balnibarbi live.
Of course, the "practicality" of Balnibarbians results in unexpected experiments, many of which can be noted at the Lagado academy. Capturing beams of sunlight for consumption by cucumbers, reassembling excrement to its original form, ice to gunpowder, color from touch and smell, cultivation with swine, and building houses from the roof down are some of the absurd experiments the Balinbarbians have managed to begin and fund.
It seems that the most absurd of experiments are what are focused on. Almost like they want to go as large possible to achieve the most fame once it actually works. Obviously this doesn't work and once again Gulliver takes this into careful consideration when returning to England, keeping in mind just how crazy a few of the researchers seemed, but also their dedication to an otherwise thought to be impossible task.
ReplyDeleteThe strange experiments that are being conducted are likely all serving the want for convenience. In other words, the experiments are similar to modern times because both want to exploit efficiency in something that would appear purposeless (ice to gunpowder could be a useful thing if fully discovered).
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