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The March of Science!


Elbrop

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There seems to have been very little advancement in technology between the old republic and the later Empire/Republic from the movies.

 

Even things like the Death Star seem to be more of a matter of scale than true advancement (basically if you're the dictator of all known space you can throw enough resources to build your own moon). So why has technological progress stagnated?

 

We know that more advanced technology is possible (there seems to be plenty of big dumb objects like the star forge floating around).

 

I'm not too familiar with the Star Wars setting outside the movies and the Kotor games so if this has been answered in a novel or something feel free to spoil it for me :)

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I'd blame it on stormtrooper syndrome if that wasnt silly.

 

I know for a fact, however that blasters are a prime example of the advancement of technology.

 

 

It's easier to just link you to the page of the blaster.

 

 

So, there is 'an' advancement in technology, but I don't find it too big myself.

 

Wookiepedia Link

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Scientist 1: "Lightsabers, check. Hovercars, check. Holocrons, check. Interstellar hyperspace travel, check. Hot twi'lek holodancers, check. Three dimensional battle chess, check. Personal droid servants, check."

 

Scientist 2: "It's Miller time, forever!!!"

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This is actually from a post I put up on MMORPG.com in regards to this question. It was a reply to a person asking this same thing, so don't be put off by it's wording.

 

"I thought about it and I think it is largely due to many of the factors already mentioned. From a lore standpoint:

 

 

 

1) The people and representatives of the republic have shown that they're not exactly super bright. They applauded Palpatine as he stole their freedom and liberty. If people are so quick and eager to turn over their freedom for a sense of security, then it speaks to their character. Generally, a population that is not vigilant or focused on responsibility (delegating their rights) is not inovating or pushing the boundaries of industry.

 

 

 

2) Constant conflict as has been mentioned prior. While conflict can produce great technological innovations if there is a clear and decisive winner, it can also lead to degredation , which is a devastating back and forth between two major alignments. If you want an example of war destroying tech, look at KotoR 1. The leveling of Taris and KotoR 2 focusing heavily on projects meant to rebuild planets that were devastated (such an importance was placed on bringing these planets back to LIVABLE conditions that it was implied that if they didn't, it would lead to a colapse of the Republic.) So, imagine, if they are having to import wild life from a planet where it is resiliant to revitalize planets, how much more damage was done to any research, industries, or planned developments? Now repeat this on a semi-regular basis, would make sense for tech to ebb and flow.

 

 

 

3) Tech is only as relevant as our need for it. As mentioned before, the cortosis weave. It was an aditional expense to the creation of armor and weapons. When lightsabers became less of a concern/focus due to reduction in force users, then why bother with the excess expense? Also, look at the personal cloaking technology. Could easily be explained away by an affordable counter being developed. Why produce or purchase cloaking technology when you buy a decloaking unit for cheap at the five and dime. One product eliminates the other, leading to less people bothering even purchasing or wearing a cloak generator, until they both fade due to reason 2 somewhere in the big galactic shuffle."

Edited by dracophoenix
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Actually there is a lot of advancement, Not the Leaps and Bounds Made by Unique revelations. But there is a kind of slow but methodical march of progress.

 

Any major Leaps are turned immediately into Superweapons which seem plentful in the EU.

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The tech stagnation over thousand-year timescales isn't easy to reconcile with what we know how tech advances, especially over the last century or so. The tech in KOTOR and TOR is definitely chunkier and less refined than in the movie era, but its function is pretty much the same. Hyperdrive, blasters, lightsabers, etc..

 

Advances do take place, however. And keep in mind that over thousands of years there could still be analogues to the "Dark Ages" where knowledge was lost.

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Massive wars that annihilate civilizations tend to have a negative effect on technology advancement. Look at the Dark Ages.

 

Pretty much this. We forgot how to build domes and make concrete here on Earth... just imagine what the war-torn galaxy far-far away has forgotten.

 

Also, there's an idea that once technology has advanced to a certain point, it become difficult to do more than make minor improvements upon it. It's sort of like a diminishing return.

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Pretty much this. We forgot how to build domes and make concrete here on Earth... just imagine what the war-torn galaxy far-far away has forgotten.

 

Also, there's an idea that once technology has advanced to a certain point, it become difficult to do more than make minor improvements upon it. It's sort of like a diminishing return.

 

I think this is more or less the case. They've reached a technological plateau where the kind of exponential improvements we're experiencing are just not possible.

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I see what you mean. I mean, look at how much our civilization has progressed. 2,000-3,000 years means the difference between having the internet or having roads. Star Wars is a fictional Universe so hard to make significant technological reduction and still make players feel like they're in the same universe they've come to know and love. Edited by IsaakC
Grammar mistake
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You typically don't improve a technology if it isn't already at the top of the "best in _____" category.

 

Most times, most people will operate with the most frequented and generalized products for the majority of the tasks at hand. As I recall, people still use dynamite to blow stuff up. If you've got money, you invest into bigger, better bombs. If you don't, use the tried-and-true.

 

Laser guns/swords don't seem to have needed to be upgraded into anything other than what they were to begin with. Same with the hyperdrive. Just make bigger/better versions. As I recall, some species still use slug-throwers, so....guns as we know them still exist. Missiles too; and grenades....

 

Need I go on?

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Setting continuity reasons aside, for most of human history, technology improved gradually over generations. It's really only in the past two centuries we've seen the sort of exponential technological growth we're currently accustomed to. The idea of constant progress is a modern conceit. Realistically how much more will we need to develop before we reach a plateau? With Jedi mind powers, cheap unlimited power sources, commonly available hyper-drive routes across an entire galaxy, advanced cybernetics, droids, and lifesaving biotech, it's easy to imagine a society that stagnates for millennia with no real impetus for major leaps in technological advancement.
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Setting continuity reasons aside, for most of human history, technology improved gradually over generations. It's really only in the past two centuries we've seen the sort of exponential technological growth we're currently accustomed to. The idea of constant progress is a modern conceit. Realistically how much more will we need to develop before we reach a plateau? With Jedi mind powers, cheap unlimited power sources, commonly available hyper-drive routes across an entire galaxy, advanced cybernetics, droids, and lifesaving biotech, it's easy to imagine a society that stagnates for millennia with no real impetus for major leaps in technological advancement.

 

This. The other thing to look at is improvements over new stuff. For instance, TOR has the hyperdrives, but are they as fast as in the OT? I think an ISD would destroy a Hammerhead easily.

 

Look at firearms as an example. We are constantly making improvements to firearms, bullets, cartirdiges, etc. At the core however it is fundamentally the same, an explosive charge propel metal along barrel at high velocity to inflict injury upon soft tissues. Some sources cite the Chinese having working firearms as early as 700 AD. That's 1300 years we've been using the same basic principle for firearms, though it has been improved.

 

The internal combustion engine could serve as another example, sources citing the first ICE to be around the 13th century. That's 7 centuries of improvement, but again pretty similar execution. You can see a lot of these paralells in our tech, where we are constantly "tweaking" it. Star Wars tech for a lot of people would have hit the top so to speak. FTL travel gets the job done so it sits in the "tweaking phase" where people just keep pushing it (like the classic "She'll make .5 past lightspeed". If you look at it that things are getting tweaked, but brand new ground breaking things are invented, then factor in constant strife and it seems the Star Wars universe isn't that far fetched or stangnant after all.

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