Maniac (Mini-series) Timeline..

Hi WWW

Just watched 'Maniac' again on Netflix..

Contrary to how the show seems; it is set in present day.. but one of an alternate reality.. let's explore those differences..

All the screens are CRT.. so in this reality.. LCDs and plasmas weren't invented. GUIs too (Graphical User Interface) , there seems to have been very little development in GUIs.. we can assume this reality has no 'Windows Operating System'.

Due to the NPB* logo looking *very* similar to the IBM logo, we can guess IBM didn't exist also.. this means many things like..

There is no Linux or Unix and so the Internet is not strong enough to emerge.. as the servers we use for the Internet are run on Open Source, mostly Linux and Unix based Operating Systems due to the cost.. so the spread of information is much slower.. like in the 80s.

So far.. no LCDs, no Windows and no Linux or Unix.. open source must also be assumed to be much much lower key when compared to our reality.. no LCDs means no smartphones due to energy efficiency.. no Apple technology.. No Microsoft..

Graphics seem very low powered also.. so that kind of microprocessor chip development hasn't taken place here either. No Nvidia, No ATI.. and Intel and AMD don't seem to exist either..

The parts of this world more advanced are robotics, VR and A.I.. specifically A.I.

We can assume they either have satellites and GPS or sufficient storage for mapping technology due  to the sanitation robot. The chess robot.. is another example of advanced robotics also it may seem.. A.I.

The *adult* VR scene might suggest we do have graphics companies at work.. while the fictional device is made by 'suckulus'.. Kodak seem to still exist.. perhaps Kodak are manufacturing the storage and graphics.. the cell shaded graphics which look 1990s. His headset does not suggest LCDs exist, as it seems the light is simply fired directly into his eyes with no visible screen.

Japanese-American integration seems absolute. I wonder if there was no WWII?

They have Ad Buddy.. like we do for the internet in Cookies. Without the internet they must sort through shredded confidential papers to find out information.

Friend Proxy, Ad Buddy and other such services.. take the place of the internet in their reality.

It seems this world of Maniac is somewhat stuck in an odd version of our 1980s... the cars the clothing the styles.. this society has stagnated.

The fact that Bioceutical companies are dominant.. suggests to me something I have often though about for both Bioshock and Fallout.. in their realities.. 'snake oil' salesmen were not as hated as in our realities.. this could be also true for the Maniac reality.

None of what I have said is any kind of rebuke to the show.. I loved it! I really hope we see a second story with a new cast.. we have had a classic love story.. perhaps season two could be a horror.. or action..

For now only one story was planned but..maybe maybe in the future..

Dava

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*(fictional company of Neberdine Pharmaceutical Biotech)