How could a civilization stay at a medieval tech level for millions of years?
My world has a medieval level civilization that has remained unchanged for millions of years.
They look and act a lot like humans; they have language, culture, government, literature, and basic tech.
But, their civilization has remained essentially the same for millions of years. No new tech, no major changes in people's way of life. Culture does change, and so does language. Countries still go to war, governments change, still though their civilization is pretty much the same as it was over a million years ago.
How could this be? Is there any physical or cultural traits that could result in this?
Edit: thank you everyone for the interesting responses. I wish I had time to reply to all of them! I am starting to put together a pretty interesting back story for my stagnant civilization.
I think I have everything I need for now though I will probably be coming back soon with some more specific questions about my world. I will be leaving this question open for a few more days before I accept an answer to encourage more discussion.
Thanks again everyone.
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1 answer
Safehold and Stargate both tried this. Neither worked out, but then, the point of both stories was people trying to overcome the "tech hurdle".
In both instances, you have some sort of strict proscription against technological advance, preferably with something to back it up. Safehold uses a super-advanced network of satellites that drop KEWs on anything that looks like advanced tech. Stargate uses aliens with advanced technology. Safehold was working out a bit better (SG1 was full of civilizations trying to rebel against the Goa'uld) until the protagonist shows up to upset the apple cart, because the religious leaders were supposedly benevolent. In both instances, the religion is bolstered by real, visibly people claiming to be god-like, with the tech to back it up.
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