Regarding Technological Evolution...

[SckizoBoy]

... in fictional franchises.

The obvious question being 'why isn't there any?'

I can't really remember many, or even a few, long running sci-fi/fantasy/steampunk series in which the in-story universe/story actually goes through a gradual technological progression in any way whatsoever beyond the occasional flash of genius that amounts to nothing. Take the EU in Star Wars... Midkemia by Raymond E Feist[/i]... the backstory to LotR... sweet diddly fuck all, and in the first and third examples, there's little by way of real political evolution either, only political revolution.

Now, only two cases come to mind (technology-wise): Rigante, by David Gemmell (RIP), but it's very abrupt from the second to third (sudden introduction of primitive firearms); and maybe the Engineer by KJ Parker, but the central character is surrounded by absolute idiots for the most part.

Discuss...

 

[Albino Boo]

Well the only one I can think off is Ian M Banks Culture novels, but they are set over about 500 years and are only loosely connected. Off the top of my head there is only one character that makes more than one appearance.

As to why. Well I think technological evolution isn't very heroic. Suddenly giving the protagonist the BGF9000 and then going on rampage with it, isn't that dramatic.

 

[DoPo]

And I can't remember many long running series. Yeah, there is Star Wars and...ummm...err...something else, I suppose. Rarely have I seen franchises that ran long enough to have anything of note to be able to happen in the universe. And fantasy things are usually locked down in their time period for some unknown reason.

 

[Redingold]

Discworld has had a technological evolution, in a sense. It started out as a pretty generic fantasy land, and over time, has developed the printing press, colour photography, semaphore, the gun (though that technology was found to be too terrible to continue to exist) and the computer, though only one of those, and magic is involved just as much as technology, though possibly that doesn't matter, see Clarke's Third Law.

 

[Quaxar]

And how about Dune? They've got some pretty rad technology developments over the millenia the story arch takes place, including ground-breaking new steps like a navigation computer that works without a spice-laden guild navigator, cloning, no-ships, political and religious evolution, actual human evolution even.

EDIT: Damn you, Katatori-kun!

 

[Esotera]

The Destiny's Children series by Stephen Baxter covers the gradual technological evolution between 2000-2080, and then the third covers gradual evolution as part of the novel's plot.

The obvious answer is that either most works don't span enough time to show change, or change has stopped in the sci-fi universe.

 

[AgentNein]

This does bring up a great point. I'd love a new book or series that introduces a new technology to the world and then plays with how that would effect the world, it's cultures, etc.

For instance, imagine if teleportation was invented halfway through say, the run of Star Trek The Next Generation, and then it proceeded to study how that revolutionized the world?

Anytime anything was invented in that show it was forgotten like the next freakin' week.

 

[AgentNein]

I think the problem, at least for pop sci fi television series, is that the creators come up with some neat idea, and either they're too excited to hold onto it til later in the series or there's pressure from the network to throw all the cards on the table immediately so that the show will interest people and survive. Which still doesn't explain why the writers can't seem to come up with even one new cool world changing technology after the outset to save their lives...

With fantasy, I guess it's a bit different. I think that for the most part, when a lot of people think fantasy they also think, even in the back of their heads of a regression to another time, and progress in this purposefully regressed reality seems antithetical? Or maybe I'm just speaking out of my ass? Not saying I think this way mind you. I'd love it in say, the next A Song of Ice and Fire novel someone invents gun powder.

 

[Lever]

This does bring up a great point. I'd love a new book or series that introduces a new technology to the world and then plays with how that would effect the world, it's cultures, etc.

For instance, imagine if teleportation was invented halfway through say, the run of Star Trek The Next Generation, and then it proceeded to study how that revolutionized the world?

Anytime anything was invented in that show it was forgotten like the next freakin' week.

I'm thinking you should check out a book by the name of "The Light of Other Days", it's by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Light_of_Other_Days

OP: The only series that I can think of would, possibly, be the Mistborn series, by Brandon Sanderson. The first 3 books are at a typical fantasy level of tech. The 4th book is set a couple of hundred years after the initial trilogy, with a new set of characters, and the world has begun to industrialize to some degree. Ummm... The Legend of Korra series took a lot of cues from the 1920(ish) era, whereas the first series was more swords'n'such, but those are TV shows.

I'm going to have to guess that most series don't actually take place over a long enough time period to show any drastic changes.

 

[Vault101]

because swords and shit are awsome and god damn if we wont keep it that way!

part of the reason I wouldnt want to be a wizard in the HP universe is because they seem to suffer from technological and cultural stagnation..it shows when theres still rampant racism and slavery