Why did the ancients use "stasis" pods - spoilers for AURORA

[SmallTimePerson]

Cost benefit. Stasis pods a very cheap and very simple in comparison to the kind of technology you were talking about. Second, stasis pods weren't designed for tens of thousands of years of use. They aren't a long term thing, they just happen to have been used that way in Aurora because the war didn't end in favour of the Ancients.

your right. But... the ancients used statis pods for keeping them alive over short periods of time. If they had long term stuff why havent we seen it yet.

[Dylan Deltoran]

@ Pamplemousse of France: Well, I'm sure that ancient crystals can store all sorts of information for long periods of time (hence the database and who knows what else at Atlantis)...but never have we seen goa'uld crystals storing energy patterns of things going through the rings or the gate...I think its just the kind of information that is stored...and its not possible to constantly keep the patterns, even on crystals...but to be honest, I don't really know much of the physics behind it all...

[CZA]

I'd say storing the location and nature of every single particle (leptons, baryons and all) in a person's body would need a VERY SPECIALIZED system. I don't think the goa'uld crystals could handle that kind of information.

[Three PhDs]

I've always wondered whether it's actually necessary to record the full state (or even subatomic state) of particles for human body transportation. Surely the type of atom/molecule and its position would be enough? Well, in the case of the brain you'd want to know activity too, but I wouldn't imagine you'd need to know a huge amount about the rest of the body.

[CZA]

I've always wondered whether it's actually necessary to record the full state (or even subatomic state) of particles for human body transportation. Surely the type of atom/molecule and its position would be enough? Well, in the case of the brain you'd want to know activity too, but I wouldn't imagine you'd need to know a huge amount about the rest of the body.

Er... Are you sure? While the body would probably repair itself if there's small bits missing, it'd still be a phonomenal amount of data.

[Pamplemousse of France]

@ Pamplemousse of France: Well, I'm sure that ancient crystals can store all sorts of information for long periods of time (hence the database and who knows what else at Atlantis)...but never have we seen goa'uld crystals storing energy patterns of things going through the rings or the gate...I think its just the kind of information that is stored...and its not possible to constantly keep the patterns, even on crystals...but to be honest, I don't really know much of the physics behind it all...

Yes, I think you're right. Or, about the Goa'uld, it can also be the problem of the size. Maybe their cristals are equivalent to our 3"1/2 discs, and the Ancient cristals are our compact discs.

[Dylan Deltoran]

Well, either way, its pretty clear to us now that our floppy disks and cds degrade over time...and some types of data degrade easier than others...

[pleed]

if you look at digital media on our world, it has a 15 year turn around, Pen and paper has been around for yonks and will continue to be around.
I look at the stasis pods the same way, stasis is like pen and paper, they know it's going to work later on, whereas computer storage may become redundant very quick.

[Three PhDs]

I agree with Giantevilhead...in most Science-Fiction series', the pattern of the matter being held in a device such as a transporter or stargate would degrade significantly over time...although in Star Trek it took 80 years or more...but still...ancients were in their pods for 10,000...

Holding information in a computer is a lot more complex than merely slowing down aging in this context.

Er... Are you sure? While the body would probably repair itself if there's small bits missing, it'd still be a phonomenal amount of data.

I'm not talking about bits missing, merely the effects of recording "Carbon atom, location X" rather than the atom, the location, the movement, the temperature, the state, position of each electron (if that were even possible) and so on. Certain things can always be taken as defaults (that blood is flowing through the body, that the body is at 37 degrees celsius...)

[immhotep]

Well, either way, its pretty clear to us now that our floppy disks and cds degrade over time...and some types of data degrade easier than others...

crystels dont degrade information over time..see omni

[SmallTimePerson]

if you look at digital media on our world, it has a 15 year turn around, Pen and paper has been around for yonks and will continue to be around.
I look at the stasis pods the same way, stasis is like pen and paper, they know it's going to work later on, whereas computer storage may become redundant very quick.

pen and paper technology has changed

[Three PhDs]

pen and paper technology has changed

There is barely any difference between ink on 3000 year old papyrus and biro pen on A4.

[pleed]

of course, but old pen and old paper still works with new pen and new paper, whereas old digital media storage, that was the norm, is not easily available these days.

If the Aurora went out in 1985, they would all be stored on 5'4 inch disks, and if we found them today we would only have 3'5 inch disks or DVD roms to read them, it would be quite difficult to get hands on the correct equipment to read them correctly.

[Dutch_Razor]

Museum?

But indeed I think it's alot information to store and it would require much energy, and as said before, the pods were used in cases where there wasn't much energy available.

[JanusAncient]

Stasis pods seem to be the safest way to store both body and mind. The Stargate stores energy, when coverted from matter on a subatomic level, theorized by Lt. Colonel Carter. Wraith beaming technology is designed for limited storage, with limited energy. Having the consciousness separate from the body, as see in "Lifeboat," caused problems, whent he ship crashed, and energy had been depleted, a quick and simple means had to be found for storing those minds, that had not already been lost. A stasis requires less energy, less maintenace, and were probably as difficult to damage as the ships hull.