Skip to main content

Why are there so many technologically similar civilizations in the Star Trek universe?


It's uncanny how many alien races encountered in Star Trek are at a comparable level of technological development: humans, Vulcans, Romulans, Klingons, + numerous other species. The likelihood of all these races independently evolving warp drive within a few thousand years of each other seems improbable.


Are there canonical explanations for this? A few possible answers (which may be supported by canon, I don't know):




  • Advanced species share or involuntarily leak their technology with low-tech species.

  • Advanced species "uplift" less evolved species as the Dominion did.

  • Low-tech species are annihilated or absorbed into the empires/federations of expanding high-tech warp capable species. This continues until two or more advanced civilizations at the same military tech level eventually bump into each other.

  • Most civilizations tend to stagnate once they hit a tech level say a few hundred or thousand years beyond our own.

  • Many intelligent species either go extinct (eg, the Tkon and Iconian Empires) or evolve to a higher state of being (eg, the Zalkonians) soon after developing warp technology and leave our plane of existence or become aloof to mundane matters. This would conveniently clear out all civilizations that had evolved billions of years in the past up through several thousand years ago, and also explain the many god-like entities throughout the Galaxy.


Any other thoughts?



Answer



As sort-of revealed in Voyager, this is largely a quirk of the parts of the Alpha/Beta quadrants that we're used to seeing.



Technology in Voyager, over in the Delta quadrant, varied drastically from species to species:



  • Kes's people barely had any understanding of the outside world

  • The Kazon stole everything, including their ships

  • The Vidiians were extremely advanced in the biological sciences, not quite as much in others

  • Some species had artificial lifeforms as an everyday thing (VOY 4x05, Revulsion), while others had never heard of it before (and subsequently pushed Federation technology further than the Federation ever intentionally did!)

  • None of the species encountered (that I recall) had replicators, although some did have transporters as Voyager got closer to home (like the Hirogen)


The Gamma Quadrant, explored in Deep Space Nine, had similar gaps that were explored a bit before the conflict with the Dominion began:




  • The hunters after Tosk had some sort of phaser-absorbing glove (DS9 1x06, Captive Pursuit)

  • The Wadi have a bizarre offshoot of transporter/holodeck technology never seen before or since (DS9 1x10, Move Along Home)

  • The Skrreeans were largely agricultural (DS9 2x10, Sanctuary), if I recall correctly


There is one thing unique to the Alpha and Beta quadrants that the others do not share, that would definitely account for at least some of the technological similarity: The Ferengi, who will sell to anyone for the right price. (paraphrased from Odo, I believe, in an episode of Deep Space Nine)



Additionally, there have been at least two seedings of humanoid life that might help explain why the gap is more on the order of thousands of years, rather than millions:



(And I believe there was one other mentioned/hinted at, but I cannot recall at the moment)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more