I mean, we could speculate and explore the strange future and stuff. Just without that tired trope of “well, science and technology progressed a bunch and then we got this really great machine”.
I mean there’s gotta be another way. Examples?
Canticle for Leibowitz is a classic piece of sci-fi that spends most of its time in future medievalism but it kind of cheats in that it’s both post-apocalypse and society rebuilds its tech base by the end.
Other than that it sounds like you want future fiction without all that pesky science.
If I’m understanding this correctly, you’re looking for fiction that focuses on framing more of cultural and societal shifts than technological changes?
What you’re looking for is difficult to find in the framing of Science Fiction because its very framing invokes technological advancement - technology is the application of science, and machinery is the result of technological innovation. Science fiction is, at its core, about how discoveries in science may change the world.
Nonetheless, you may want to look into the sub-genre referred to as “social science fiction”. Although it’s not going to be devoid of advanced technology, the focus will be more on the social and societal impacts thereof, than the machinery itself.
What you’re looking for is difficult to find in the framing of Science Fiction because its very framing invokes technological advancement - technology is the application of science, and machinery is the result of technological innovation.
Machinery’s certainly a result of technological innovation, but not the only result. Different materials, even altogether different forms of organisms are also results of technological innovation. OP’s left it rather open, so it may be that they also mean these different applications of science.
Alan Dean Foster has a series (Humanx Commonwealth) starting with Midworld. No special machines in the first 4.
Cachelot is excellent and is about sentient space cetaceans after forming a treaty with humans.
Midworld is basically Avatar.
Nor Crystal Tears is about the Thranx side of meeting Aliens (humankind) in first contact.
Sentenced to Prism is about the concepts of non-carbon life forms.
Must books cover elements of humanity and what is humanity.
Children of Men would be a sci-fi without any significant technological improvements. Ender’s Game does have the Ansible, but it’s more a plot device than anything.
Check out Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds
