How advanced were the tollan in comparion to other races?

[Wrai'uld]

Well which race that we have seen throughout SG1/SGA is most like the tollan. So, are they nearer the Asgard than the goa'uld or perhaps even similar to the wraith?

I personally just cant seem to place them, I was wondering if you guys could help...

[buckner]

tauri, just in a few hundred years

[Baal45]

I would have to say that they are several hundred year ahead of us.
We can under stand the basics of the crystal technology that the Goa'uld use as the basic structure for their ships, but with the tollans we don't understand a damn thing about their tech.

[6thMonolith]

The Asgard are way too advanced, the Tau'ri not enough, Achen still not enough, and goa'uld not there, eigther. I'd say furlings...?

[aAnubiSs]

The Tollan were very advanced in some fields (weapons and phase-technolgy) and very behind in others (hyperdrives). It would take a Tollan ships more then the rest of their lives to get there. The Goa'uld can cross the galaxy in 3 years.

[Darth Buddha]

The Tollan were very advanced in some fields (weapons and phase-technolgy) and very behind in others (hyperdrives). It would take a Tollan ships more then the rest of their lives to get there. The Goa'uld can cross the galaxy in 3 years.

Excellent!

The whole "advanced/not advanced" one dimensional model (a number line, more or less) is proven to be the wrong model yet again!

[Tain]

If i remember the episode correctly, it was stated that the Tollan are approximately 800 years ahead of us.

[aAnubiSs]

The thing is one can't just say that they are 800 years ahead of us. Their development might've increased exponentially, which would mean they could be thousands of years ahead of us, or we might have an exponential advancement and they didn't. The Industrial revolution made up for some of the Dark Ages.

[Darth Buddha]

If i remember the episode correctly, it was stated that the Tollan are appromiately 800 years ahead of us.

The thing is one can't just say that they are 800 years ahead of us. Their development might've increased exponentially, which would mean they could be thousands of years ahead of us, or we might have an exponential advancement and they didn't. The Industrial revolution made up for some of the Dark Ages.

Good point.

I suppose if the Tollan said the 800 years thing, then at least they'd have a reference.. to THEIR development.

But as I recall, it was Daniel who spitballed the absence of 800 years of the Dark Ages. Pretty weak.

Of course, humanity might have made up a couple hundred years in just two World Wars... after all, they certainly advanced technology a LOT by providing motivation.

[Panther]

The Tollan were very advanced in some fields (weapons and phase-technolgy) and very behind in others (hyperdrives). It would take a Tollan ships more then the rest of their lives to get there. The Goa'uld can cross the galaxy in 3 years.

I believe their patchy level is due to their isolationism. I mean if you don't want to give anything to anyone why go find anyone? All they did was build up a "Fortress Tollana" (those who are into strategic analysis will get the pun ) and stay inside. Of course this had the unfortunate consequence of being caught off guard when Anubis developed shields to compensate for their phase technology. Because of their insular and parochial attitudes they failed to develop intel assets, and proper threat assesment structures and thus got bent over the table, and had to take it.

As Sun Tzu said "The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected."

Too bad they left earth so early. May have benefited from his wisdom.

[Darth Buddha]

I believe their patchy level is due to their isolationism.

Excellent point.

Societies that develop in isolation are a lot more likely to develop at different rates in different areas. Consider how advanced some of the Central American astronomy was... in some ways in advance of European astronomy... and yet they weren't using the wheel (except on toys) or gunpowder.

I mean if you don't want to give anything to anyone why go find anyone?

An interesting theory... BUT, the destruction of Tollana was due to the elimination of their brother planet in their system. Could that have been many centuries ago? Maybe, but that seems a stretch.

Clearly they already HAD advanced tech when they WERE willing to share it, othewise they wouldn't have had that dreadful object lesson.

[Panther]

I meant the culture as it existed when SG-1 meant to help them. I was under the impression that they renamed all their homeworlds to "Tollana". Now IIRC that planet they shared tech with was nearby and really didn't need FTL travel, but conventional

[aAnubiSs]

Their first homeworld was called Tollan, the second one Tollana

[Darth Buddha]

I meant the culture as it existed when SG-1 meant to help them.

O.K., but if they haven't BEEN isolationist for long, then expecting that isolationism to have an effect on their development is a little strange.

I believe their patchy level is due to their isolationism. I mean if you don't want to give anything to anyone why go find anyone?

Or maybe I'm misinterpreting your theory... can you give me a clarification? I'm not trying to provoke you here, just get the straight on what you are indeed suggesting.

[Jarnin]

I've seen alot of these types of posts lately. The only way to properly measure how advanced a race is, is by measuring (or estimating) it's total energy production. This is known as the Kardashev scale.

If you follow that link, you'll see humans haven't even rated at the lowest end of the scale. Right now, human civilization is rated at 0.7 according to a calculation that Carl Sagan did.

According to the scale and my very rough estimates:

Tauri: >0.7
Tollan: <2.0 (at the time of their defeat)
Goa'uld: >2.0
Asgard: >3.0
Ancients: >5.0

Those estimates have alot of wiggle room to be sure. Also, the Tollan haven't been in the series since season 5, and other races technology has advanced since that time quite a bit.