History Main / SpaceAgeStasis

** Strangely enough, this is averted by the titular Stargates themselves. The gates in the Pegasus and Milky Way galaxies are visibly different, reflecting different periods of Ancient design. The gates seeded in the galaxies ''[[StargateDestiny Destiny]]'' is traveling through function visibly differently, and are implied or stated to be some of the very first Stargates ever built.

* Averted in ''[[{{ptitleuns0l24r}} A.I.: Artificial Intelligence]]'', where at the end [[spoiler: after millenia, the robots have evolved into the dominant lifeform on the planet]]

* Partly played straight in AndreyLivadny's ''TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'' setting that spans about 1500 years of human space exploration. While there are technological advancements, there are also centuries where nothing appears to change much from the time before. This is surprising, considering that some novels are focused on radical new technologies and their effect on society and warfare. And the argument about "everything has already been discovered" doesn't apply as a number of {{Precursor}} races and ruins have been found whose level of technology vastly surpasses that of the humans (i.e. there ''is'' room for a lot of improvement). Basically, you can pick up a book set in 2607 and one set in 3867 and see a good number of the same pieces of technology with little in terms of improvement.

* It's not quite clear how much technology has advanced in the three thousand years between ''Literature/EndersGame'' and ''Speaker for the Dead'' since the latter largely takes place on a backwater colony world, but the most visible difference is that ship drives capable of instantaneous acceleration to relativistic speed (experimental when Ender left the Solar system) have become commonplace. Might be justified by the limitations of slower-than-light travel.

* In LarryNiven's ''[[KnownSpace Kzinti]]'' histories. The Kzin aren't terribly intelligent to begin with, and gained the great majority of their technology by rising up against their Jotok masters and offing most of them, and in a universe without FTL technology, it takes a long time for things to propagate over several hundred light-years of empire. Imperial standardization as well as simple physics kept the Kzin at a very, very, painfully minuscule level of advancement. The Kzin even have a priest-like caste called the Conservers Of The Ancient Past, whose job is to prevent unneeded change.
** Though after the first couple wars with humanity they become much more motivated to advance, even acquiring hyperdrive shortly after Earth does.
* The faster-than-light engine does that to societies in HarryTurtledove's ''The Road Not Taken''. The most advanced of those ([[InsufficientlyAdvancedAlien stuck in Napoleonic times, technologically]]) attacks 20th century Earth. It was a short invasion.
* Averted in the ''{{Lensman}}'' series, where the war and the weapons tech progresses from interstellar to intergalatic to ''interdimensional''.

In space based sci-fi universes, we might see ever we see the distant past or future (relative to the first work) and the technology present never seems to be no more or less advanced, no matter how far you go in either direction. Even if it’s hundreds of years, they still have the same [[SubspaceOrHyperspace warp drives]], {{robots}}, {{matter replicator}}s, or whatever the setting contains.

But this is presumably done either because the writer included the most advanced tech he/she could think of in the first installment and [[TheSingularity thus has no where else to go]], or because significantly changing the tech level would mean changing the way the stories would have to work.

* Creator/DavidBrin's ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'' series explicitly plants the Galactic civilization in the middle of this trope. After tens of millions of years, their opinion is that everything that can be discovered has already been discovered. What makes HumansAreSpecial is their drive to continue discovery.

* DavidBrin's ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'' series explicitly plants the Galactic civilization in the middle of this trope. After tens of millions of years, their opinion is that everything that can be discovered has already been discovered. What makes HumansAreSpecial is their drive to continue discovery.

** This is eventually subverted as the timeline progresses. By the time of the FedCom Civil War and Word of Blake Jihad, the Inner Sphere powers have rediscovered and even improved upon Star League technology, or invented entirely new equipment.

* The ''Franchise/MassEffect'' universe has a zig-zagging example of the trope. On one hand, technology doesn't seem to have advanced too much since the Council started inhabiting the Citadel. On the other hand, we do know that it is advancing technologically, as more powerful "heat sink," based weapons are the norm by ME2, as well as omni-gel proof systems, and by ''Mass Effect 3'', Mech suits and omnitool lightsabers have come into practice. On the ''third'' hand, everything about the technology in the ''Mass Effect'' universe [[spoiler: is a trap. Everything is reverse engineered from technology left behind by the Protheans, who reverse engineered the tech from another race that came before them, who did the same thing to the previous race, and so on and so forth. The entire tech base is a trap set by the Reapers, who use organic life to further their own technology before taking anything good, while having the benefit of millions of years of development to crush anything in their path.]]

This is in space based sci-fi universes when ever we see the distant past or future (relative to the first work) and technology never seems to be no more or less advanced no matter how far you go in either direction even if it’s hundreds of years.

This is presumably done either because the writer included the most advanced tech he/she could think of in the first installment and [[TheSingularity thus has no where else to go]], or because significantly changing the tech level would mean changing the way the stories would have to work.

* Literature/TheCulture first appear with [[DeusEstMachina god-like AIs]], CasualInterstellarTravel, robot drones [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot that count as people]], vast space habitats and all the comforts of being {{Sufficently Advanced Alien}}s and aren't substantially different eight hundred later. But then, they're at a very high and easily sustained level of technological and societal advancement, so they're reaching a plateau.

* Literature/TheCulture first appear with [[DeusEstMachina god-like AIs]], CasualInterstellarTravel, robot drones [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot that count as people]], vast space habitats and all the comforts of being SufficentlyAdvancedAliens and aren't substantially different eight hundred later. But then, they're at a very high and easily sustained level of technological and societal advancement, so they're reaching a plateau.

* Such a stasis is also arguably the main theme and plot point of another Yulia Latynina novel: ''Inhuman'', which is set in the dystopian interstellar Empire of Humans where, according to one of the characters, no technological advances were made for the last several centuries. [[spoiler: The, uh, antagonists (both sides involved are villains by most measures), effectively an alien conspiracy masquerading as a government conspiracy, want to remedy this.]]
* The Lizards in HarryTurtledove's ''{{Worldwar}}'' novels have been technologically stagnant for nearly 50,000 years, as have been the other alien species they conquered and subjugated in that time. Their leaders are quite surprised when, in the mere 800 years between their first reconnaissance flights over Earth in the 12th century and the arrival of their invasion fleet in 1942, that the human race has gone from horseback to radar.
** It's also stated in the books that their slow technological development is at least in part on purpose. When something new is invented or discovered, it is introduced into their society over the course of decades or centuries, so they can study it's impact on society.
** In the final book, one hundred years later the Lizards are only just beginning to consider what the difference in advancement might mean to their future when the first earth FTL ship arrives in orbit of their Homeworld. The Lizards didn't think FTL was possible and haven't thought about it, or even considered it, in their 50,000 year history.

* In LarryNiven's ''[[KnownSpace Kzinti]]'' histories. The Kzin aren't terribly intelligent to begin with, and gained the great majority of their technology by rising up against their Jotok masters and offing most of them, and in a universe without FTL technology, it takes a LONG time for things to propagate over several hundred light-years of empire. Imperial standardization as well as simple physics kept the Kzin at a very, very, painfully minuscule level of advancement. The Kzin even have a priest-like caste called the Conservers Of The Ancient Past, whose job is to prevent unneeded change.

* The faster-than-light engine does that to societies in HarryTurtledove's ''The Road Not Taken''. One of those (stuck in Napoleonic times, technologically) attacks 20th century Earth. It was a short invasion.

* DavidBrin's Literature/{{Uplift}} series explicitly plants the Galactic civilization in the middle of this trope. After tens of millions of years, their opinion is that everything that can be discovered has already been discovered. What makes HumansAreSpecial is their drive to continue discovery.

* In TheCourseOfEmpire and TheCrucibleOfEmpire the Jao have almost no new technology. That is not their fault however so much as the fact that they were a race of SlaveMooks that revolted ages in the past and their masters had not seen fit to engineer imagination into them. In fact one of the aspects of their relation with their new human vassals is that HumansAdvanceSwiftly and therefore can provide assistance in that department.

** It's shown a few times that some isolated worlds, free from Goa'uld control, had actually advanced FURTHER technologically than humans on Earth.

* The ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' game setting is another sci-fi example of this trope: thanks to the Imperium of Man's CargoCult approach to maintaining technology and its leaders' unshakable belief that the StatusQuoIsGod, or rather that God is Status Quo, human technology and culture have remained largely unchanged for the past ten thousand years.
** This has bitten the Imperium in the ass on occasion. In one case a planetary purge and colonization was postponed indefinitely (due to a violent [[NegativeSpaceWedgie warp storm]] that enveloped the planet) abandoning the spear-wielding natives for almost 6,000 years[[note]]Exactly 5,953 years, but who's counting?.[[/note]] They were more than a bit surprised when said spear-wielding natives showed up on some of their frontier colonies with railguns and plasma rifles.

** Ork culture is far too chaotic and violent to ever manage to develop very far and their basic technology is innate knowledge coded in their genes. That said, they have managed to develop rough-and-ready tractor beams and mass teleporters that are much more effective (if more dangerous to the user) than any other race's equivalents quite recently in the current setting.
*** Of course, Orks aren't driven by the desire for improved life or scientific inquiry, they just want MoreDakka. And most of their "technology" literally [[ClapYourHandsifYouBelieve runs on enough Orks believing it works]].

* {{Traveller}} did this twice. Once it was a deliberate act of social enginneering by the rulers of the First Imperium who thought it necessary for order. The second time, during the later Third had reasons unexplained.

Compare with Main/MedievalStasis, where the technology stagnates at a lower level or the low level technology is the reason for the stagnation.

* An interesting variant appears in ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'', in which the Goa'uld are shown in ancient Egypt sequences as using the same technology as they do in the regular episodes. In the time that humans went from simple bows to nuclear missiles, the Goa'uld haven't added trigger guards to their guns. This is justified by Goa'uld culture being antithetical to good scientific practice (although Goa'uld scientists like Nirrti and Nerus do exist), and all their technology being stolen anyway, but to be this extreme, they need to be quite the {{Planet of Hats}}.

* In TheCourseOfEmpire and TheCrucibleOfEmpire the Jao have almost no new technology. That is not their fault however so much as the fact that they are a race of SlaveMooks that revolted ages in the past and their masters had not seen fit to engineer imagination into them. In fact one of the aspects of their relation with their new human vassals is that HumansAdvanceSwiftly and therefore can provide assistance in that department.

* In TheCourseOfEmpire and CrucibleOfEmpire the Jao have almost no new technology. That is not their fault however so much as the fact that they are a race of SlaveMooks that revolted ages in the past and their masters had not seen fit to engineer imagination into them. In fact one of the aspects of their relation with their new human vassals is that HumansAdvanceSwiftly and therefore can provide assistance in that department.

* In MarvelComics, advanced beings such as the Celestials have been around since before the Earth was formed but stories that take place thousands of years ago show them more or less using the same technology. {{Galactus}} is an even bigger example since he is older than the universe itself but still rides around on the same moon-sized ship. A possible justification for this is that the Celestials and Galactus are advanced to the point of no longer needing iprovements.
* As mentioned below, the ''Franchise/StarWars'' comics series often take place hundreds, if not, thousands of years in the past but the technology still seems to be relatively the same. For instance, fans can easily look at certain ships and make out their future equivilants.

* In ArthurCClarke's ''3001'', the final sequel to his ''2001'', a 3001-version-of-TV presenter opines that a person from the year 2000 would have a much easier time of adjusting were he to be suddently plopped into the year 3000 than a year 1000 man would adjusting to 2000, since the 3000 level of tech is relatively similar to the 2000 time, compared to the 1000-2000 difference. [[ChekhovsGun Not long after that]] Frank Poole, Dave Bowman's crewmember from the ''Odyssey'', is discovered [[HumanPopsicle frozen floating in space]] and is brought back to life.

* In LarryNiven's ''[[KnownSpace Kzinti]]'' histories. The Kzin aren't terribly intelligent to begin with, and gained the great majority of their technology by rising up against their Jotok masters and offing most of them, and in a universe without FTL technology, it takes a LONG time for things to propagate over several hundred light-years of empire. Imperial standardization as well as simple physics kept the Kzin at a very, very, painfully minuscule level of advancement. The Kzin even have a priestlike caste called the Conservers Of The Ancient Past, whose job is to prevent unneeded change.

This is in space based sci-fi universes when ever we see the distant past or future (relative to the first work) and technology never seems to be no more or less advanced no matter how far you go in either direction even if it’s hundreds of years

[[AC: Comic Books]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* ''Franchise/StarWars''. Technology is largely the same between the prequel and original trilogies, with the only visible changes being minor advances in prosthetics and holograms.

*** Hinted in the current comics to be this, as it's about a clan of Predators who don't follow the hunter's code of honor.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'' series is a complex example.
** At the height of the [[GalacticSuperpower Galactic Empire]], technology was FTL, a central planet was a multilevel city with diverse cultures and goals, defying PlanetOfHats, despite the rest of the galaxy being recognized as having them. But because technology was so advanced, people were convinced TheSingularity had been reached, and stopped studying the sciences. Which meant their culture was losing the ability to do maintanence (preventative or repairing). After a few centuries or millennia, the technology would be destroyed.
** InUniverse legends tell future galactic citizens that Hari Seldon realized this, and created ThePlan. A plan that would restore the civilization after a mere 10,000 years, instead of the predicted 30,000.

** In the final book, one hundred years later the Lizards are only just beginning to consider what the difference in advancement might mean to their future when the first earth FTL ship arrives in orbit of their Homeworld. The Lizards didn't think FTL was possible and haven't thought about it, or even considered it, in their 50,000 year history.
* An important plot point in Dan Simmons ''{{Hyperion}}'' Cantos is the fact that the Hegemony of Man is culturally and technologically stagnant, albeit with AI-given toys, while the Ouster "barbarians" have continued to progress.

* The faster-than-light engine does that to societies in HarryTurtledove's ''The Road Not Taken''. One of those (stuck in Napoleonic times, technologically) attacks 20th century Earth. It was a short invasion.

[[AC: Live Action TV]]

[[AC: Tabletop Games]]

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[[AC: Webcomics]]

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* The MassEffect universe has a zig-zagging example of the trope. On one hand, technology doesn't seem to have advanced too much since the Council started inhabiting the Citadel. On the other hand, we do know that it is advancing technologically, as more powerful "heat sink," based weapons are the norm by ME2, as well as omni-gel proof systems, and by Mass Effect 3, Mech suits and omnitool lightsabers have come into practice. On the ''third'' hand, everything about the technology in the Mass Effect universe [[spoiler: is a trap. Everything is reverse engineered from technology left behind by the Protheans, who reverse engineered the tech from another race that came before them, who did the same thing to the previous race, and so on and so forth. The entire tech base is a trap set by the Reapers, who use organic life to further their own technology before taking anything good, while having the benefit of millions of years of development to crush anything in their path.]]
** On the FOURTH hand you have [[spoiler: the Geth, the machine race that happen to not only have the most advanced technology (aside from the Reapers) and progress at the fastest rate, but since they believe in self determination, all of their tech is of their own design, and may be the only suitable counter against the Reapers.]]

** This has bitten the Imperium in the ass on occasion. In one case a planetary purge and colonization was postponed indefinitely (due to a violent [[NegativeSpaceWedgie warp storm]] that enveloped the planet) abandoning the spear-wielding natives for over 6,000 years (technically 5,953 years, but who's counting?). They were more than a bit surprised when said spear-wielding natives showed up on some of their frontier colonies with railguns and plasma rifles.

*** Of course, Orks aren't driven by the desire for improved life or scientific inquiry, they just want {{More Dakka}}. And most of their "technology" literally [[ClapYourHandsifYouBelieve runs on enough Orks believing it works]].

* ''Franchise/StarWars''. The tech in prequel movies is exactly the same as the original trilogy.