Aphelion

That's a very good thought, Rick. I'm sure if we look around at the different ways our technology is used, we can come up with a modern-present-day- parallel that mirrors 'Steam Punk' of old. The only difference----it is before our eyes and we only have to see it! I'm sure it's there.

The Russian EKRANOPLANS comes close to that concept just right off the top of my head, but I've never thought along your lines before about present day 'Steam Punk' type adaptations. That is a very good thought, Rick!!

I bet there's a lot in the material technologies fields that we don't know about.

Years ago, I used to ride bicycles, and read some of the publications. Cyclists are known fanatics about strength vs weight, and an interesting thing came to light. The US military had been using some kind of steel alloy called Aermet, which had superior strength-to-weight characteristics -- and finally released it for commercial use, after having kept it as a military secret for some twenty years, IIRC.

Lots of research labs work for the military, producing classified stuff.