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I suppose this doesn't technically have to be applied to sci-fi projects but in this case I'm referring to alien civilizations. It's often said that necessity is the mother of invention and in other cases warfare/competition can often be motivators for technology advancing rapidly. I think a good example would be the space race between the US and USSR that eventually lead to the first humans on the moon in 1969.
But what would be other reasons for a civilization to become stagnant in it's technological development? And what fields would most likely reach their end faster than others? Like would areas like software engineering and genetic engineering continue to evolve while other areas like energy production and agricultural practices just stop because they can't really be improved any further/at the same rate as other fields?
Look at the device you're perceiving this message on.
Its form factor hasn't changed in 12-20 years.
Consider the escalator. It became stagnant within a generation of being invented.
Sometimes things simply fulfill their role to the best possible extent.
There's a limit to computation speed and information density. To efficiency and power. To pretty much everything.
Though to bring this back around a bit and dig into your question somewhat more: Until we find a theory of everything material science is going to keep going. We're still finding new steels even.
Conversely atmospheric aviation is probably one day just going to end as a field of research because we've done everything that needed doing.
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