Alright, I've got a Star trek question re: Vulcans

[LostInAnomie]

The Vulcans are the first extra-terrestrial species we encounter, and presumably their technology is centuries ahead of our own. We know this because the Vulcans had nuclear weapons in the 4th century AD. So, why is it that apparently we are on the same technological level as them throughout all the ST series.

I've considered that we might not actually see the full extent of Vulcan technology, but what about the Romulans? They descend from the same culture and presumably should be on the same level technologically. Why is it that we usually hand Romulan Warbirds their ass in battle?

[MilesColtrane]

1. If the ST universe were anything like reality, I'd say...

...that once humans got warp drive they raped, pillaged, and stole their way up the tech chain until they achieved parity with other local races.

Since, in Star Trek the human race had supposedly left all that nasty business behind , I think we traded music, food, and the rights to interstellar MLB broadcasts for alien technology.

[pokerfan]

2. The Vulcans turned out to be suckers for Roy Orbison

And being ethical, they would never stoop to illegal downloading.

[Dr. Strange]

4. You know that's bullshit, right?

Sure, the Vulcans claim they would never download, and of course, they're right. But what they don't tell you is that one of them purchases the music legally, and then shares it with the rest via mind meld. On the bright side, their actions ultimately led to the dissolution of the RIAA.

[NJmaverick]

3. Once the Federation was formed

presumably the members would freely exchange technology.

[fNord]

5. self deleted....

[fNord]

6. the answer is simple....

Gene Roddenberry was a fucking dreamer.....

but not the only one

[Orrex]

7. Vulcans were held back by their Moe haircuts

[Ikonoklast]

8. The Vulcans were suckers for a good laugh.

They would never show it publicly, but behind closed doors they would roll on the floor, amazed at our stupidity. They kept humans around for the sheer entertainment value. They would give us some piece of advanced technology, but wouldn't tell humans what it was for, and just stand back, trying really hard not to laugh, as we messed about with it seeing what it would do.

You should have seen the time they gave the humans a Vulcan sexual device, and used it to peel potatoes for twenty years before they figured out what it was really used for.

The Romulans, however had a massive bureaucracy that paralyzed initiative. They had to go up seven layers of command structure and get approval at every level before they were even allowed to even take a dump.

In the meanwhile, Star Fleet was able to shoot large holes in their spacecraft all the while the Romulans were trying to get permission to put the thing in drive.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. The Vulcans were ahead of us at First Contact. In Enterprise they are still ahead of us. But as

someone else said once the Federation was formed everyone shared information with everyone.

As to the Romulans I seem to recall some surprise at the first encounter with them, like the Vulcans had no idea who they were? And there is no assuming they would be on the same level. (See the other proto-Vulcan race, the Mintakans.) It would have depended on resources and brain power. Perhaps there were fewer Romulans and Remans so they took longer to develop some things. Finally we handed them their butts because a) you would think hundreds of cultures developing technology that it would be further along than a single one (See the Borg) and b) we're the good guys so we have to win. :D

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Mintakan

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Borg

[Silent3]

10. Appreciating Star Trek, and a lot of other sci-fi...

...takes a fair amount of suspension of disbelief, and not just about the futuristic technology.

I have some friends who were very unhappy with the latest Star Trek movie because they didn't think it was true enough to the original series. That personally didn't bother me at all. The original Star Trek (I've started watching the newly-restored HD versions of the original series on Blu-Ray) is terribly dated in many ways now. I'm fine with sweeping some of that under the rug and looking the other way with a nod and a wink while the characters, stories lines, and imagined future technology get an update for a new generation of fans.

[rcrush]

11. Not to mention lots of other races

The Klingons talked about having war fleets for what it seems to be hundreds of years before humans joined the other species in space. The Dominion existed for 10,000 years and they were only a little more advanced than all the alpha quadrant races. They had advanced tech but everyone else was able to adapt enough to fight them.


The only really advanced race seemed to be the Borg. And for all the thousands of years they've been evolving they should have assimilated the entire galaxy by now. They should be headed to that galaxy where the giant head took over Barkleys mind and made them travel to his galaxy.