“ Steampunk is nothing more than what happens when Goths discover brown. ”
Unfortunately it's also true to say that good management is a bit like oxygen - it's invisible and you don't notice its presence until it's gone, and then you're sorry.
~ Charles Stross
I was raised thinking that moral and ethical standards are universals that apply equally to everyone. And these values aren't easily compatible with the kind of religion that posits a Creator. To my way of thinking, an omnipotent being who sets up a universe in which thinking beings proliferate, grow old, and die (usually in agony, alone, and in fear) is a cosmic sadist.
Any civilization where the main symbol of religious veneration is a tool of execution is a bad place to have children.
The rules of physics are, in some cases, suspiciously anthropic.
