Charles Stross' polemic against steam punk

I think the accessibility of steampunk is what makes it so popular. Popular like say a fantasy novel of orcs, elves, and fairies.

Charles seems to lump steampunk in with science fiction the way Starwars fans seem to think that Starwars has anything to do with science.

The reality is that there is very little 'steampunk' that actually has anything remotely to do with science. 'Steampunk' like the 'Diamond Age' is not really even about steam, unless you consider 'clouds' steam, and then consider that nanopunk is cloudpunk, and then cloudpunk is somehow steampunk. 'Diamond Age' in contrast to your typical steampunk adventures is very much so about the ubiquity of technology, about the ubiquity of information, and the ubiquity of how connected we are. it actually has nothing to do with the notion of using steam to power a mechanical device, and more looks at how cloud services and nano tech will effect our lives.

I think steampunk really is becoming a more modern place for fairy tales, a place where the modern age can look back and go look how quaint that story of the knight in shining Armour is ( or rather that inventor who used technology to save us ). If you look at steampunk as a modernization of the fairy tale and the fable into something closer to modern day, then you can see why it has so much power.

I mean how many of us can really relate to castles and forests? How many of us can relate to zeppelins and trains?

If you look at steampunk as the modernization of culture it's amazing to watch. I am sure at some point the tales of the primitive hunt were modernized into those of knights and kings.

What will the fairy tales of 200 years from now be about? what realities will we do away with? which ones will we latch onto?