To expand a bit on #5: More so than “expecting Star Trek and [getting] Blade Runner“, we were all expecting to be Da Vinci or Thomas Edison and instead we get DRM wars and corporate-owned patents. (See also: this article about a man whose bio lab equipment was confiscated from his basement.) There’s plenty to love about the steampunk aesthetic (if that’s your forte) but there’s even more to love about its DIY ethos. It’s emblematic of a time when anyone could tinker and invent (for the betterment of mankind, or for worse), when anyone could be master of their destiny, and we are all one clockwork automata run amok away from adventure.