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Worldbuilding

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  • $\begingroup$ How would there not be an incentive to invest in computers for a society interested in interplanetary travel? They'd need to do calculations on orbits, planetary mass, and so much more to safely navigate. Then is the calculations needed to build any spacecraft with precision. Just keeping track of the expenses for materials and labor would drive them to want computing devices of some sort. The computers may be mechanical rather than electronic, or analog than digital, but computing devices of all sorts would likely be highly valued. $\endgroup$
    – MacGuffin
    Commented Apr 30 at 10:28
  • $\begingroup$ Because maybe only a relatively small group of people need to work out these calculations. Only a specialised industries will need to use the computers to do the things you say. They aren't going to be able to sell them to hundreds of millions of people in order to recoup the huge costs of the R&D that goes into making them. There aren't going to be the CEOs of microprocessor companies continuously thinking, "if we could make it just 10% faster, then we'd be market leaders and make millions in profit", and then trying to out-do each other $\endgroup$
    – komodosp
    Commented Apr 30 at 13:28
  • $\begingroup$ My point is though, you can argue that there might still be an incentive, it's enough for the OP's purposes that - given the different needs and interests of his civilisation - that it's possible there isn't, and that their technological development simply took a different trajectory to ours. $\endgroup$
    – komodosp
    Commented Apr 30 at 13:37