SGA - Something new from the "slow on the uptake"-column

[patk]

Yesterday I watched "Childhoods End" and it occured to me (yeah, I *know* - as I said *slow* on the uptake) how many of the "seemingly on a low development stage"-societies in Pegasus have actually an advanced-tech past (and were most likely beaten down by the Wraith

Comments

[timespirt]

I think since the Ancients seeded all the planets of Pegasus that they also visited these planets since many have Ancient ruins or hidden labs and such. I don't think it's far fetched that an Ancient had hidden away the ZPM run shield because the kids didn't know about it until Rodney uncovered it. They just knew that the ships fell from the sky when they came close to where they were settled. Then too TPTB never bothered to give us any canon background on anything so all we can do is really guess and speculate about it all?

[patk]

>>TPTB never bothered to give us any canon background on anything so all we can do is really guess and speculate about it all? <<

Exactly.

It's perfectly possible that it were the Ancients who built the shield, though if that's the case I wonder why they didn't use it for other planets as well. And given the technological abilities of the Ancients I also wonder why they wouldn't have stringed together more ZPMs to cover a bigger area, making the development of the suicide pact superflous before it even happened. The only reasonable explanation that comes to my mind is, that there was actually only one ZPM available - which leaves the question: why?

Ah, speculation and guessing, trying to make sense of things that don't quite add up in SGA - my favorite pastime. :-)

[timespirt]

I would kind of think that maybe the Ancient that was staying/observing/doing research on that planet might have had the ZPM for his own protection. I think when the Ancient's abandoned Pegasus they left behind stuff that was already put into place, some powered down and others still running. The primitive culture of the kids on the planet brought about the ritual death before 25 thing to keep the Wraith away. Something was inevitable since the shield was shrinking and sooner or later it would have cost them if they hadn't kept the population small enough for the shield to accommodate

[patk]

>> I kind of wondered why it was so hard to find any reference to making ZPM's or where they could really find more.

[antares04a]

I think that there existed a lot of societies that were technolocigally advanced. But as it is with wars, the societies are so fixed on surviving that they 'forget' everything else. I mean, when you think about Earth history and how advanced e.g. the Romans were in many domains from heating houses, to irrigation systems, to paintings (painters later 'forgot' about using perspective in paintings) and so much more, it is very much believable that also a lot of Pegasus societies have forgotten about how to build technology. Sometimes perhaps only the knowledge about how to use it - but not how to build it - survived.

And Ronon is less the 'Barbarian' than often portrayed. *lol*

[patk]

Good point - and if you add in the Wraith's habit of taking down societies that got too advanced for their taste and thus prompting that kind of "forgetting the level of technology" with each attack more, then it shouldn't be surprising to find a lot of peoples that were more technologically advanced in their past.

[melagan]

Very interesting. I'd just assumed that the Ancients set up the shield, but I love this idea of ZPMs lying around as part of salvage. My guess is there were a lot of advanced societies that fell to the Wraith the minute they had the capability of being a real threat.

I love this topic of "advanced in the past" societies. May I link to this from sga_squee?

[patk]

Of course, go link away

[starwatcher307]

.
or the kids' ancestors were technologically advanced enough to come up with that plan and technology on their own

It may be that the Pegasus peoples recognized the Wraith would cull/bomb a planet back to barbarism if, as you say, that planet developed enough technology to become a threat/capable of fighting back. (Like Sateda.) I could see some planets, at least, might decide that their loss of people is less if they accept a lower level of tech with a tradeoff of "limited" culling rather than annihilation; some planets might have deliberately "devolved" their tech as an attempt to draw less Wraith attention. Balancing those choices, the kids' ancestors may have decided the third choice -- no technology at all, and limited lifespans -- was the greatest good for their people and, indeed, developed the shield themselves.

more or less familiar with the concept of technology/machines - perhaps by the remnants of their ancestors equipment lying around, by legends, myths, rumours. That, and they know and use the Rings/Gates, and

[patk]

I'm glad you like the topic of discussion here

[aadarshinah]

I think you're mostly right. The cultures in Pegasus are advanced, simply kept down by the Wraith. However, since they have the Stargates and use them for commerce, ideas are able to spread fairly thoroughly throughout the galaxy. So while innovation does happen, its still at a fairly sedate level comparable to most of pre-Industrial Revolution Earth on most planets, but it does get spread to all planets.

[patk]

>> The cultures in Pegasus are advanced, simply kept down by the Wraith.<<

Which fits very well with the fact that the most technologically advanced people in Pegasus is a nomadic people, the Travelers.

>>However, since they have the Stargates and use them for commerce, ideas are able to spread fairly thoroughly throughout the galaxy. <<

I wonder about the (inhabited) planets that have only a spacegate. How got the people there? Why isn't there a gate on the planet? Eh - come to think of, *are* there inhabited planets that have only a spacegate canonically?

I remember "38 Minutes" - that planet had only a spacegate, no population but apparently the iratus bugs were domestic there. No wonder there wasn't a gate installed planet-side. But other then that - I think I have to do a little research on the topic of "inhabited planets that have only a space gate".

[aadarshinah]

There was the one from "sanctuary" and the people john was visting when he met the Travellers. Oh, and the people from "the game".