The Advanced Ancient Civilization Trope In Sci-fi, Explained

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There are those who believe that civilization runs in cycles and that everything old will soon become new again. There are also those who believe that human progress is linear, and sapient beings inherently become smarter each day than they were the day before. Others suggest that perhaps the highest moment of human achievement occurred before what we consider history.

For generations, writers have pitched the idea that a far-off alien species or early humanity hid countless technological advancements from modern eyes. Unfortunately, not every science fiction concept has a perfect background and some are steeped in distasteful elements of the era they were written in.

Overused Sci-Fi Tropes That Should Be Retired

Ancient advanced civilizations are fairly common in science fiction stories. Modern scientists discover evidence of technology far beyond current capabilities and track it back to some prehistoric era. It's common to all mediums, from video games to TV, to film, but it has its origins in literature. This concept is heavily tied in with the «ancient aliens» phenomenon, which, in turn, is heavily tied in with deeply unpleasant colonialist stereotypes. Modern ancient aliens conspiracy theorists chalk any achievement or evidence of a civilization that wasn't built by white people up to aliens. Unfortunately, sci-fi writers have been doing much of the same for generations.

The first known example of a story with this subject appears to be Apoikis by Kurd Lasswitz. That story pitched the idea of an advanced city-state off the coast of Greece which never suffered through the Dark Ages. This mostly served as speculative history, a «what if» story about the power and weakness of human ingenuity. The real first salvo in the