# people of middle earth are a bit slow



## cab345 (Mar 24, 2003)

I mean, the ages that expire withouth technological improvements....

From the first fall of sauron by isildur, more than 2 millenia's past. So what i'm saying, shouldn't the elves be in the nano age by now?

tell me what you think


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## Melko Belcha (Mar 24, 2003)

> _Originally posted by cab345 _
> *I mean, the ages that expire withouth technological improvements....
> 
> From the first fall of sauron by isildur, more than 2 millenia's past. So what i'm saying, shouldn't the elves be in the nano age by now?
> ...


First Elves are more intouch with the Earth and animals then Men are. The Men of Westernesse learned from the Elves. The Elves would value the companionship of a horse more than having a car, they were not into developing things to destroy the world, but to preserve it, like the Three Elven Rings.
In The Silmarillion Iluvatar said the Elves, 


> ...shall be the fairest of all earthly creatures, and they shall have and shall conceive and bring forth more beauty than all my Children; and they shall have the greater bliss in this world.


But of Men he says,


> ...but they should have a virtue to shape their life, amid the powers and chances of the world, beyond the Music of the Ainur, which is as fate to all things else;.......
> But Iluvatar knew that Men, being set amid the turmoils of the powers of the world, would stray often, and would not use their gifts in harmony; and he said: 'These too in their time shall find that all that they do redounds at the end only to the glory of my work.'


Elves are bound to the world, so hold more love for it and would spend more time learning of the Earth then working with sciences and technology. Men are able to create things not in accord with the original Music. They are able to build things not even the Valar would think of, and that id thought why they dwell in the world for only a short space. Elves were naturaly good, while Men have a choice.


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## BlackCaptain (Mar 25, 2003)

Woah... shot down... and I think that Men could have done so... oh well...


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## reem (Mar 29, 2003)

i think i read somehwere (perhaps in the Sil., not sure) that mechanised gadgets and automationa and such inventions were considered as 'evil magic' and were only used by the dark lord...while the elves stuck to plain old swords and the like. rather old fashioned, if you ask me
reem


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## BlackCaptain (Mar 29, 2003)

Then we must live in a black, black world...


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## ChunkyLover53 (Mar 29, 2003)

Yeah, I really think Tolkien emphasized the fact that inventions were evil by what he wrote about Saruman, Sauron, and the like. The things they used didn't just spout smoke for no reason, they used inventions to "improve" their living and therefore caused the environment to be polluted. Then the Ents are on the opposite side of the spectrum, while the goodies are near that side. Industry vs. Nature...in a way.

I bet they created things we'll never be able to create...like silmarils for one.


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## reem (Mar 31, 2003)

yah, now that i think of it, maybe tolkien was hinting about the evil of weaponry and all the wierd gadgets the world's been comming up with these last few decade?!
you have to admit, most of the stuff wehave nowadays do more harm than good. perhaps this is a hint of the visionary in tolkien
reem


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## elffriend (Apr 6, 2003)

I think another reason for there not being lots of technology in middle earth, other than the fact that it was considered "evil Magic", was because Tolkien disliked industrialisation, so he was trying to create a world in which it only existed on a small scale.


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## Celebthôl (Apr 6, 2003)

*Re: Re: people of middle earth are a bit slow*



> _Originally posted by Melko Belcha _
> * They are able to build things not even the Valar would think of, *



that is the best gift in my opinion


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## Eledhwen (Apr 24, 2003)

> _Originally posted by reem _
> *i think i read somehwere (perhaps in the Sil., not sure) that mechanised gadgets and automationa and such inventions were considered as 'evil magic' and were only used by the dark lord...while the elves stuck to plain old swords and the like. rather old fashioned, if you ask me
> reem *



Letters of JRR Tolkien _letter 186: _If there is any contemporary reference in my story at all it is to what seems to me the most widespread assumption of our time: that if a thing can be done, it must be done. This seems to be wholly false. The greatest examples of the action of the spirit and of reason are in abnegation (rejection of a thing desired)......... I am not a 'democrat' only because 'humility' and equality are spiritual principles corrupted by the attempt to mechanise and formalize them, with the result that we get not universal smallness and humility, but universal greatness and pride, till some Orc gets hold of a ring of power - and then we get and are getting slavery."


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## Zale (Apr 24, 2003)

You've all overlooked something. We have been around for far more than two millenia more or less as we are now, and _we_ haven't reached the nanotechnology age yet either.
I think civilisation immediately after creation is quite some feat...


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## Eledhwen (Apr 25, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Zale _
> *You've all overlooked something. We have been around for far more than two millenia more or less as we are now, and we haven't reached the nanotechnology age yet either.
> I think civilisation immediately after creation is quite some feat... *


We _were_ more or less the same up until about 250 years ago. The industrial revolution started a technological ball rolling that has brought us to the sorry state we are in now. Tolkien hated mass produced electric street lamps, motor cars vrooming through the centre of Oxford (he had to move house once because of the pollution), and other 'improvements'. I happen to agree with him. From my home, I can only see the greater stars at night because of the light pollution. I have to go out of town just to see the Milky Way. Life has got so fast now that we sit in irritation waiting the few seconds it takes for the computer to boot up. We take the car to a shop that would be no more than a ten minute walk away. We work miles away from home and waste even more time trying to get there quickly. What saddoes! I think we lost the plot somewhere.


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## Idril (Apr 25, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Eledhwen _
> * From my home, I can only see the greater stars at night because of the light pollution. I have to go out of town just to see the Milky Way. Life has got so fast now that we sit in irritation waiting the few seconds it takes for the computer to boot up. We take the car to a shop that would be no more than a ten minute walk away. We work miles away from home and waste even more time trying to get there quickly. What saddoes! I think we lost the plot somewhere. *



I agree wholeheartedly Eledhew


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## Zale (Apr 25, 2003)

I couldn't agree more; I live in the country (Flyford Flavel... Ever heard of it?) and I walk everywhere I can. But my point was that there was a fair delay between civilisation and technology (see from start of ancient Greeks through to the Steam Age).
As far as losing the plot goes, if we don't pick it up again pretty soon, the Earth (& us too) are pretty much screwed.


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