Technological Advancement and Growth

[vineyarddawg]

I haven't seen much discussion of this (though, to be fair, I haven't waded through all 6 pages of the reaction thread yet, so I apologize if this is discussed at length there), so I thought I'd create this thread to talk about it.

 

Sazed delivers what could almost be discarded as a "throwaway line" in his little heart-to-heart with Wax. He sort of mourns the fact that his desire to make life easier for the humans after/during the Catacendre has had side effects that he didn't intend with respect to their technological advancement and growth outside of the Elendel Basin.  Or, to be more precise, their lack of those things.

 

During this little soliloquy, he specifically implies that they should have had things like radio, aviation, and advanced methods of irrigation and fertilization.  But, obviously, they have none of those things.  "Yet others, who were nearly destroyed..." (pg. 134)

 

It seems obvious to me that Sazed is referring to the mysterious inhabitants of the southern continent of Scadrial, of whom we know almost nothing at all.  Except, perhaps, now, that they might have significantly advanced technological capabilities compared to the northern continent, which is still, in a sense, "fat, dumb, and happy" sitting in the Elendel Basin... and they might be looking to grow aggressively, as they learned from their ancestors, who might have had to do so just to stay alive. 

 

So we have a mysterious shard encroaching on Harmony's power at home, and potentially a very aggressive, technologically superior culture waiting somewhere else on the planet.  (But probably not for long, if they already have aviation.)  I, for one, hear mysterious organ music playing in the background all of a sudden...

Edited October 9, 2015 by vineyarddawg

[natc]

Well, the southern guys didn't have it as easy as these guys. Clearly if they still exist, by Wayne logic, they ought to have deep experience with not dying, and would be certified badchull.

Which would present a problem. For all we know they're closer to space opera era Scadrial than "our" side, in which case we're screwed.

[WeiryWriter he/him]

Okay so we do already have another thread discussing this (which I see you posted in after starting this thread) so I'm going to lock this, for the sake of keeping the forum de-cluttered.