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firefly - Why don't the outer planets have advanced technology?


In Firefly why do the outer planets generally all exist in a preindustial, low technology state?



Even if there was limited tech brought from Earth the new civilization has been around long enough for nearly all of the planets to be comfortably terraformed, huge cities to be built (on the inner planets at least) and a relatively robust trade economy to have formed.


This would seem to be a prime setup for the goods and services of the inner planets to become desired commodities on the outer planets, driving a flow of high tech goods to the outer colonies in exchange for any raw materials and other goods they can provide (such as food, ceramic clay, lumber, minerals, etc).



Answer



Quoted from the Firefly Wikia, on Rim planets:



The Rim worlds are the latest results of terraforming technology, only recently settled, and raw and untamed. Out on the farthest edges of the system, life can be quite challenging, as the comforts of civilization common to the Core Worlds just aren't so here. Technology and power are far more expensive out on the outer worlds and moons, so folk have to make do without. People ride horseback, farm with handmade tools, and resort to entertainment that doesn't require electricity or batteries to operate. While some folk dream of the luxuries available on the central planets, others enjoy the freedom of open air and hard toil. In their own way, they're as stuck-up as the Core-Worlders, looking down their noses at soft folk who've never dug a ditch or mucked a horse stall.



In addition, several of the episodes show that on these outer planets/moons, the people in charge are intentionally keeping technology out of the hands of the commoners - just take a look at how Burgess is described in "Heart of Gold":



Mal and Zoë discuss the situation with Nandi, who describes the poverty Burgess enforces on the locals "so he can play cowboy".




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