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Has anyone else ever wondered...
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wintermute




wintermute

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March 23, 2006
Posts: 22

PostPosted:     Post subject: Has anyone else ever wondered...
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Why is it that almost everytime there is a race that has been extinct for a very long time they had the most advanced technology? This has never made any sense to me but it seems like such a staple of Sci-fi.
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iswallowedabug
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Posted:     Post subject: Re: Has anyone else ever wondered...

A way to rephrase this question is: why do the most technologically advanced races want us to THINK they've been extinct for a very long time, and what are they up to now...?

"The meek shall inherit the earth, the rest of us will go to the stars."
(was it RAH who wrote that?)

Actually, I find it quite believable for advanced societies to disappear/go extinct. Our own histories have lots of examples of civilizations that were advanced for the time and suddenly declined or disappeard. Plus, the human race has genocidal tendencies and roots. One route to becoming a dominant lifeform/civilization is to kill everyone else (or every possible competitor). Thus, if one's nature is to be warlike/adversarial, it naturally follows that the race could cause its own demise, especially once its technologies became advanced and its weapons had greater destructive potential.

Plus, it makes for fun stories. (:
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wintermute




wintermute

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True but thats only on the condition that said race was aggressive in nature.
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rayman




rayman

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March 14, 2006
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Anything can kill off a more advanced civilization, war, famine, disease or even nature (ice age, giant meteors, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes). Atlantis is the most famous one, although some people say Plato made it up to send a message about a people who were corrupted by power and greed and ended up destroying themselves. And you can forget about those flying machines and laser beams supposedly advanced technology Atlantis had, that was made up later in the early 20th century when a book was published about the civilization. Anyway I'm getting off topic, No it's not a science-fiction staple to use, there seems to be a "memory imprint" of a long-lost civilization since most countries have a slightly different story about it, either documented or passed down through the generations.
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wintermute




wintermute

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PostPosted:     Post subject:
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rayman wrote: Anything can kill off a more advanced civilization, war, famine, disease or even nature (ice age, giant meteors, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes). Atlantis is the most famous one, although some people say Plato made it up to send a message about a people who were corrupted by power and greed and ended up destroying themselves. And you can forget about those flying machines and laser beams supposedly advanced technology Atlantis had, that was made up later in the early 20th century when a book was published about the civilization. Anyway I'm getting off topic, No it's not a science-fiction staple to use, there seems to be a "memory imprint" of a long-lost civilization since most countries have a slightly different story about it, either documented or passed down through the generations.

Bah you obviously dont watch SG:A =P
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rayman




rayman

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PostPosted:     Post subject:
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wintermute wrote: rayman wrote: Anything can kill off a more advanced civilization, war, famine, disease or even nature (ice age, giant meteors, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes). Atlantis is the most famous one, although some people say Plato made it up to send a message about a people who were corrupted by power and greed and ended up destroying themselves. And you can forget about those flying machines and laser beams supposedly advanced technology Atlantis had, that was made up later in the early 20th century when a book was published about the civilization. Anyway I'm getting off topic, No it's not a science-fiction staple to use, there seems to be a "memory imprint" of a long-lost civilization since most countries have a slightly different story about it, either documented or passed down through the generations.

Bah you obviously dont watch SG:A =P

I do , I'm talking about myth and legends and even historical facts that sci-fi writers use. Don't be surprised to see King Arthur and the Knights of the round table on Stargate SG1.
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slytherinpinup
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Posted:     Post subject:

I believe it is taken and fostered in part by the stories of Atlantis. Of an amazingly advanced society that just dissappeard or was destroyed and leaving us clues.

This story and so many others have just been recycled over and over again until it becomes one of those "Harliquin Romance" recipies for stuck writers.

You know," Society meets science, society looses science, society blows it's self to smithereens and leaves hieroglyphic clues scattered across the universe all because science had a bad day"..type of things.
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twincarb




twincarb

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Some writers seem to use the idea as a cop out instead of working the grey cells a little harder
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valarules
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Posted:     Post subject:

They could have been so advanced that they just simply killed themselves because of the level of technology that they acheived. Like in BSG (old and new) where the Cylons grew so smart that they decided to wipe out the human race or in any sci-fi movie that has a supercomputer that becomes way smarter than the creator's and decides to take over all of that civilation's primary functions and ends up killing off all humans in the planet.
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bimpavidus
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Posted:     Post subject:

As presented above there are numerous stories to be told about how an ancient/advanced civilization became extinct. I think "extinct" is not really what is used, it is more like they are no longer within the ruins that we are looking at, or there are only stories left of them... It is a plot device for telling a part of any number of stories/lessons to the viewer/reader.

You can use an ancient highly advanced civilization as a plot device over and over, they are so advanced and so mysteriously ancient, that they don't have to obey any of our rules

cheers
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heroofcanton
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Posted:     Post subject:

hillary will save us!
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ninjabear




ninjabear

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PostPosted:     Post subject: Have you considered...
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Perhaps they didn't die off; could be they evolved or "ascended" to a higher plane of existance.
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valarules
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Posted:     Post subject:

or they could have reached the point of true enlightenment and were then able to "ascend", shedding thier earthly bodies and knowing the secrets of the universe, maybe even creating life its self.
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cooky37




cooky37

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July 1, 2006
Posts: 862

PostPosted:     Post subject:
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"No One Knows" Those are verry powerful words to scientists and science fans. and are always tied to these type of stories A writer loves to answer those questions over and over again.
As for Atlantist: They moved to Cimeria, the Austria Then Kali forn eha
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capttribulas




capttribulas

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PostPosted:     Post subject:
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`very good feedback on the question. loved all the comments. you all have good points. ever read the gateway series? theres another one with the same theme. also ringworld by larry niven.

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