Deterrents to Technological Advancements

[Gidde]

RobA beat me to the Off Armageddon Reef mention, but that's actually the second time Mr. Weber touched on that theme; there was a similar world in the Dahak series (beginning with Mutineer's Moon) where technology was actively suppressed by the local religion. It's always been a fascinating topic for me; good thread GW!

[Jaxilon]

CJ Cherryh wrote a series of books that had a lot of technology related issues: Foreigner_universe. It's been years since I read them but they were good and i wouldn't mind reading the extended series now that they have been written.

If I remember correctly one of the first things that happened was scientists having to go down to this alien planet and learn what the periodic table of the elements were for this world so they could figure out what things they could still create.

"key elements" = Periodic Table of Elements, different ones or missing pieces would surely change what is able to be created technologically.

[jwbjerk]

If I remember correctly one of the first things that happened was scientists having to go down to this alien planet and learn what the periodic table of the elements were for this world so they could figure out what things they could still create.

"key elements" = Periodic Table of Elements, different ones or missing pieces would surely change what is able to be created technologically.

It's been ages since i read a couple of those. I don't remember that part, but if you describe it properly, it's pretty bogus for sci-fi, but could be a good concept for a fantasy or alternate reality.

The periodic table doesn't vary from planet to planet, it's part of the nature of our universe. If you want to discover new elements you need to travel to another reality/dimension/universe. We can find all the elements on Earth, though some are too rare or hard to get to be viable for commercial use. The exception is unstable, temporary, radioactive elements-- some of these we've produced artificially. Some of these might possibly exist naturally on other planets.

Different elements might be rare on another planet, but all would be the ones we already know.

[Jaxilon]

I may not have described it right but the point was they had to determine what could be reproduced with the resources there. .

[Natai]

A lot of great points thus far and magic would obviously take things in a whole different direction, but I was thinking something more basic, at least in terms of why it might take a fantasy-era civilization a long time to improve technologically.

Based off some of Mu's musings on grain, economy, and civilization, the environment itself could play a major role in the rate of early development. If your primary food source is labor intensive, there would be fewer people available to pursue advancement. This would be particularly true if the culture and government were very stable, as there would be less pressing need to advance. War or common threats to the food source (weather, etc.) might encourage advancement, but you would still need people with spare time to pursue it.

The culture itself may also play a role, as more suspicious or change-resistant civs would be less likely to embrace new tech. Perhaps there was a disaster in the past related to a new advancement.

Another possibility was raised in Stargate Atlantis (I think). Basically, a planet had attempted to fight back against the dominant power in that region of space. As a result, the dominant power destroyed most of the civilization and it's technology. In order to prevent the planet's inhabitants from ever posing a threat again, they visited every decade or so and wiped out any advanced tech.

[Aval Penworth]

The magical ruling elite might suppress some inventions while allowing others to develop. The Lord Mage is quite happy for you invent a steam powered carpet weaver, but when he hears about the development of guns or explosives he steps in.

I have that situation in my world at the moment.

[LS-Jebus]

My favourite technological era for fantasy worlds is when there are cannons and guns, but they are not extensively used nor reliable. As well, its a time when things such as accurate gear-based instruments appear, like clocks. Its also great for creating airships - my favourite vehicles.

Since I don't want my world going forward at an exponential rate, I limit the technology by changing one thing; the periodic table (it no longer exists)

People are no longer carbon based life forms, there is no such thing as salt peter, charcoal, and sulfur, metals do not conduct electricity, et cetera. The world looks like ours, but it isn't based on the rules of our universe. The people of the world create similar technologies based off of identical or similar chemicals, but because the chain is different, one thing does not lead to another in an upward climb toward our present age. No matter which chemicals a scientist throws together, he will never make a battery. Lightning still exists, but as a completely different type of atmospheric energy.

This change in the function of the world also makes alchemy possible without magic - maybe a cheap metal (like lead) CAN be turned into gold with the right combination of acids. And maybe the body CAN be altered by an elixir to give a man immortality. This opens a lot of possibilities.

[tilt]

Now Natais comment made me think of one of my favorite series "Mistborn", Sanderson describes a world where ashes are raining from the sky daily making one of the important tasks for the farmers (slaves) to remove the ashes from the fields to give the plant the sparce sunlight they can through the ash clouds. That one thing hampers the world a lot -and colors (pun intened) the world... grey
He also uses metals for magic in the coolest way possible.. and when I heard that they were going to make a movie I rejoiced ... those combat scenes would look soooooo cool

[LS-Jebus]

The one concept in Natais comment is similar to what was developed in Stargate SG-1. Basically, the Goa'uld, the dominant race of the Milky Way galaxy, are power obsessed and want every planet to bow to them as gods and be their slaves. In an effort to maintain power, their System Lords monitor the technological progress of any worlds they know have human/humanoid inhabitants. If they are not properly enslaved, making weapons, materials, and tools for the Goa'uld lords, they attack and destroy the civilization before they reach a point where they might be able to pose a threat to the empire and win freedom. So many worlds, despite being inhabited by humans for thousands of years, do not have a technological level beyond that of the middle ages.

I think a couple Ha'taks blasting your major cities to rubble every now and then serves as a deterrent.

[Midgardsormr]

It could make for some interesting cultural clashes and such, particularly when a "new element" is introduced into a culture that doesn't know about it.

And the results may not always be what you might expect. There is a culture in the south Pacific somewhere (I forget which one) that used stone axes as a form of currency. Since the axes deteriorated through use, there was always a demand, and that demand supported the entire economy. When western explorers encountered these people, they naturally traded their superior metal tools to them. But since the metal axes and knives did not deteriorate like the stone axes, the entire economy was disrupted. Because people no longer needed new tools on a regular basis, the axe-makers and the merchant villages that purchased from them could no longer support themselves, and their communities collapsed. Without the need to trade with other villages, the food-producer communities no longer communicated regularly with outsiders, and the entire culture suffered as a result.