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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Lit What technology is strangely not seen in Star Wars?

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Yunzabit, Mar 24, 2017.

  1. Yunzabit

    Yunzabit Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2015
    What tech is absent in Star Wars CANON, besides obvious story-changing things like teleportation and time travel?
     
  2. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

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    Jul 30, 2000
    The internet
     
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  3. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

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    Oct 13, 2003
    Ah, it's that time again :p

    http://boards.theforce.net/threads/things-the-gffa-hasnt-invented-yet.30666391/

    http://boards.theforce.net/threads/will-the-gffa-go-beyond-its-past-technological-limits.50020969/

    http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...iate-gffa-technologies-force-powers.50012987/

    http://boards.theforce.net/threads/in-universe-sci-fi-fantasy.50041886/




    The biggest thing is efficiently using existing Star Wars tech to live in a post-scarcity economy.

    They have unlimited energy and a galaxy-sized wealth of raw resources, along with cheap and plentiful droids.

    No one should have to work, everyone should have everything they need and most things they want.

    Yet this isn't the case, at least from what we've seen so far.
     
  4. Yunzabit

    Yunzabit Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2015


    Doesn't the Holonet have that type of function?
     
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  5. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

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    Jul 30, 2000
    Only in the canon universe. IN legends, Palpatine dismantled it.

    Honestly, I think it nicely reflects our world.

    There's First World (Core Worlds) and Third World (Outer Rim) with resources spread accordingly as well as tech.
     
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  6. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

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    Oct 13, 2003
    My point is it shouldn't reflect our world, in that area, given their technology. Even Core Worlds like Coruscant show massive poverty and crime.
     
  7. Coherent Axe

    Coherent Axe Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Dec 20, 2016
    Pablo tweeted recently about having a loose, unofficial rule to keep technology at a level that could be feasibly understood by someone from the 30's or 40's -- essentially Flash Gordon, pulp sci-fi kinda stuff, I guess. Rogue One seems to stick to it, what with its disks and beaming and radar dishes, and actually requiring a wired connection for communications to work. It doesn't seem like the new canon is, generally, interested in much more advanced than that.
     
  8. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

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    Jul 30, 2000
    Which...again reflects our world. As it should.

    Star Wars is also more primitive than our world in many places given places you ride horses, monsters, and have gladiator fights as well as slavery.

    The idea it's the future is wrong.

    It's a different parallel culture.
     
  9. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

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    Oct 13, 2003
    But the core story would be virtually unchanged if they established most "civilized" planets, like Coruscant/Alderaan/Naboo/etc. had already dealt with those things, and it was only the frontier and isolated planets that had those problems... since those are most of the worlds we visit in Star Wars, and those problems existing on planets like Coruscant don't impact the movie storylines at all. Earth is still reflected in both the movies as they are, frontier worlds, and these hypothetical post-scarcity worlds.

    Our world is gradually shifting to a post-scarcity world, and Star Wars should definitely have it, at least on the developed worlds, given the technology they have.
     
  10. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

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    Jul 30, 2000
    I write cyberpunk for a living. See my new avatar for my first book in a series of it. As such, the idea that technology will create post-scarity society versus making poverty even WORSE in some areas is a very quastionable assumption.

    I love the idea of Coruscant as basically Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

    Super rich and super-super poor.

    Ditto Taris.
     
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  11. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

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    Oct 13, 2003
    And I write fictional stories set in post-scarcity scenarios enabled by technology, and some have been published.
     
  12. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

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    Jul 30, 2000
    Good for you, it's important to want to see your type of science fiction shown but I don't think Star Wars has ever been shown as a post-scarcity economy. BTW, could you share some links? I'd love to read your stuff.
     
  13. Karl0413

    Karl0413 Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Mar 11, 2015

    Hate to break it to you but technology doesn't change man's basic nature. Horse Thievery gets replaced by Grand Theft Auto. Details change but the core underlying themes remain the same. You are always going to have crime because unless you want to give everyone access to everything (like say giving every disturbed individual the ability to own a turbolaser cannon or allow every teen looking for a fun time the ability to become a spicehead) there is going to be restrictions on who can and can't own what. And when you have that there is always going to be some *******

    [​IMG]
    (ah-hem)

    who has something to gain by bypassing those restrictions. Also poverty is one of those things that has less to do with technology and hell of a lot more to do with social policy, economic regulations, social welfare, economic policy and politics in general. So if you have a guy in charge who doesn't give a damn about making sure everyone is treated equally and fairly

    [​IMG]
    (oh)

    you are going to have poverty. Also in a war zone (Star Wars, remember) you are going to have poverty because factories and infrastructure don't magically rebuild themselves after getting the crap blasted out of them.
     
  14. Darth Invictus

    Darth Invictus Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Aug 8, 2016
    I have always wanted to see planets with industrial to contemporary earth level tech. Not simply Stone Age or primitive tribespeople or totally integrated into galactic society.

    I want to see a Jedi walking amongst industrial laborer sir driving something analogous to a modern car on a planet that hasn't joined the galactic community and only has a few colonies on other planets.
     
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  15. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

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    Oct 13, 2003
    I know. That's the foundation of my writing.
    And why the plot of the Star Wars movies would be basically unchanged.


    Not necessarily. Post-scarcity anarchism combined with making certain things like murder, torture, rape, theft, trespassing, vandalism, etc. physically impossible. I've thought a lot about this in my writings.


    They're related. You can have a good policies with some modern technology and still have poverty. You can have bad policies with advanced technology and still have poverty. But it's possible to have no poverty with good policies and advanced technology.





    I know we've seen it in the EU before, and some places in the movies (Tatooine, Jakku) are close.




    No it hasn't, but it could be, with only small changes (if any) to existing plots.

    My work so far hasn't made it big, mostly just in print in local and college writers' magazines/journals, but I haven't really tried to publish some of the bigger stories I'm working on yet. I could PM you the outlines and some details of those bigger stories, if you want.
     
  16. MonkeyHouse143

    MonkeyHouse143 Jedi Knight star 1

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    Jun 4, 2015
    There are enough resources on Earth to feed and shelter the entire current population. Yet many people go hungry. The issue isn't a limitation of production or of resources but, but rather greed, conflict and a system that favors some over others. In Star Wars the population spans an entire galaxy rather than a single planet, but the problem still persists.
     
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  17. Barriss_Coffee

    Barriss_Coffee Chosen One star 6

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    Jun 29, 2003

     
  18. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

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    Oct 13, 2003
    I don't 100% buy that argument in real life, since it doesn't take into account logistics, beyond base needs, and many other things.

    But like I said, Star Wars has unlimited energy, a galaxy of raw materials, and plentiful droids. They just need to get their act together and make a better system... and it's surprising that they haven't after thousands of years. Even if it's just the long-settled "civilized" worlds that have their act together. Maybe Alderaan and Naboo come close. But the depiction of Coruscant in the EU shows that's not the case there, which is the planet where such a system is most likely to be in place. So I agree with you that in Star Wars it's more a case of the system... but why? After so long? At least the civilized worlds should have it.


    No, not like that :p

    Peaceful anarchism, individuals enabled by technology, no government. The only limits being programmed into the technology... if a knife goes to stab or a bullet is shot into you, it's stopped by an invisible energy field that's safeguarding your body, that kind of thing. Technological programming that can only be changed if a supermajority of sentient beings agree to it.



    But my idea on post-scarcity might be getting this thread derailed too much.
     
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  19. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

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    Jul 30, 2000
    I'd very much like that, Ghost. I enjoy your insights a lot on the forum and think you'd do well in the writing circuit. Write what you love. :)
     
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  20. Darth Invictus

    Darth Invictus Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Aug 8, 2016
    Star Wars needs a communist faction? All beings and droids unite!
     
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  21. MonkeyHouse143

    MonkeyHouse143 Jedi Knight star 1

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    Jun 4, 2015
    I do think there is enough resources to meet the basic needs of Earth's population, though it has been disputed among scientists. A society where goods are shared equally among the people, where everyone's needs are met and the state becomes unnecessary and dissolves is a great idea, but is fundamentally incompatible with human nature. If we assume there is enough resources to feed and shelter Earth's population then why hasn't it happened yet? Even in a world with seemingly endless resources like the Star Wars universe there will be people/groups of people who want more for themselves at the expense of others. There will always be corruption and people willing to exploit others to benefit themselves. I think it is why a successful socialist society hasn't existed and probably never will.
     
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  22. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

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    Oct 13, 2003
    I'm not talking about the government imposing equality, or controlling resources. I'm not talking about socialism or communism.

    I'm talking about this, a post scarcity economy:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-scarcity_economy
    http://technocracy.wikia.com/wiki/Post_scarcity

    And it's not incompatible with human nature. It's a technological issue.

    And there aren't enough resources to do it at this point, that was what I was saying.

    In post-scarcity, there is no "more" for some at the expense of others. If there is, that's not post-scarcity. Post-scarcity isn't about equality, in that there's 1000 items, there's 100 people, so everyone gets 10 items each. No, that's not post-scarcity. Post-scarcity is everyone gets a machine than allows them to have infinite items, or pretty close to infinite that it's basically infinite.

    The idea of economics depends on scarcity, any encyclopedia entry on economics mentions it at part of the foundation of economics. Take that away, and the game changes.

    It's about, for example, everyone having advanced 3D printers/nanotech fabricators in every home, that only need a little energy beamed to it from space-based solar satellites to fabricate everything you could need, to create matter out of energy, from robot servants to tasty nutritious food to power generators to a new vehicle or house or more 3D printers. That's a super-fantastical version, but it's exaggerated to make the point.

    In Star Wars, you have plentiful droids, unlimited energy, and a galaxy of resources.
    You could build star forges for peace and prosperity, not war:
    http://boards.theforce.net/threads/a-star-forge-for-peace-and-prosperity.50043393/
    Even without that, you can have trillions of automated droids siphoning off bits of energy from stars, or harvesting asteroids and comets, etc., to produce a nearly unlimited supply to all beings in the galaxy.
     
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  23. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

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    Jul 30, 2000
    In Star Wars, I think it's more the matter of the fact that there's a ridiculously large amount of people and planets in this galaxy so the idea of there being enough resources to go around is extremely questionable. There's a trillion people on Coruscant alone. 1 million other planets. Most of which aren't self-sustaining planets. For the most part, droids are also limited in function. R2-D2 is able to ASSIST a mechanic but he doesn't REPLACE a mechanic as we see in the fact there are mechanics supervising them.

    With rare exceptions, droids are okay at jobs but not great.

    So, you might have them picking fruit on a world or harvesting grain but that doesn't replace the need for all the other jobs. Plus, it also seems like droid maintenance isn't THAT much cheaper than paying a wage.

    Which means droid labor doesn't actually save anything.

    Plus a major issue is that starships still need to move around resources tremendously and they exist in limited amounts. It seems the majority of tech in Star Wars isn't renewable energy. Things aren't powered by suns or love but barridium or other things so we have things like the Falcon being refueled. That changes a lot of things.
     
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  24. jasonfry

    jasonfry VIP star 4 VIP

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    Nov 11, 2003
  25. Jeff_Ferguson

    Jeff_Ferguson Force Ghost star 5

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    May 15, 2006
    I've never seen a character with The Simpsons Season 4 DVD. What the hell! That was the best season.
     
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