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Lost Technology Discussion

Ununnilium: The extra stuff added to the Galaxy Angel example doesn't really matter in this context, and makes it entirely inelegant.

Ununnilium:

Real life example. The world is crawling with New Agers, Conspiracy Nuts and Forteans who insist that there really were high tech civilizations (or Ancient Astronauts) all over the Earth in the old days. They will point to the amazing dimensions of the Pyramids, the way the Nazca pictures can only be fully seen from the air, the close-fitting stones in Inca or Aztec walls, the story of Atlantis and on and on and on. Granted, sensible archaeologists can explain these things, but they aren't explaining them, you see, they're trying to explain them away. They're part of the establishment They're suppressing the truth, can't you see it? can't you? ;)

...no, this is not, in fact, a real-life example of this. Also, it's a rant about something almost entirely unrelated to the trope.

Foxyshadis: A true real life example is more the technologies of the Romans after the Empire's fall, and the Chinese knowledge that was periodically lost in periods of war or suppression and found or reinvented centuries later. In particular, the Romans were famous for building very efficient and durable stone bridges, as well as sewers, aqueducts, and generally more-efficient manufacture than later, but that engineering was rarely seen again until after the Renaissance. Some of their innovations were less durable and simply lost outside of paper descriptions, though.

Baughn: Lost technology being in perfect condition after a thousand years is, if it's supposed to be from the late-21st-century or better, perfectly reasonable. Self-repairing technology isn't *that* hard.

This, of course, means that we're about ready for an apocalypse now so the viewers can have a genre shift.

Kalaong: I'm just throwing this out as a possibility; Babylon 5. None of the younger races actually developed jumpgate technology, they just found and copied them. Most races treat technology as something you steal from other races or Shmuck Bait you dig out of dangerous ruins on dead worlds(Thirdspace, the Shadows, that Ikarran war machine, it seems that lots of people just consider that acceptable risk) rather than stuff you research and develop. Given that there is no real capitalism in the Earth Alliance, just megacorporations running presidents in exchange for contracts and monopoly priviledges, it makes sense that technology has stagnated to the point that Earthforce considers flying gyroscopes to be state of the art and is getting in on fighting over all the Shmuck Bait.

Cidolfas: Far, far too much detail on A Fire Upon The Deep. Removed most of it.

Hey, unless I'm missing something, last I checked, there were many, many examples of non-anime Lost Technology, so therefore, the statement "Anime's Applied Phlebotinium" is incorrect. Essentially, what I'm trying to say is that the statement implies there are very few Western examples, which is clearly wrong. Is it just more prevalent in that sort of thing, or what?

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