History Main / AliensNeverInventedTheWheel

* The NBC {{sitcom}} ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' pretty much ran on this concept. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3WHR6pqPRo This]] is a particularly good example.

** The [[PuppeteerParasite Yeerks]] stole and modified {{Ray Gun}}s from more advanced species, and thus skipped over projectile weapons. When [[BigBad Visser Three]] scoffs at human guns, Visser One reminds him that a single bullet can still kill a [[BigDumbBody Hork-Bajir]] quite effectively.

* ''Literature/TheMoteInGodsEye'' has an interesting variant. Though generally on the same tech level as the human civilization (possibly even a touch more advanced in many areas), the Moties never invented this setting's version of DeflectorShields. Since the only form of FTL travel in this setting leads along specific HyperspaceLanes, and the other end of the only such lane in the Motie system is in the outer corona of a star, this has kept the Moties interdicted in their home system for millennia.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': The Asgard, who are ridiculously far ahead of humans, have to enlist the Earthlings' help to fight the Replicators, against whom Asgard beam weaponry is useless, but [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter guns work wonders]]. Thor mentions that the thought of using chemical propellants to fire a slug of blunt lead simply never occurred to them. Presumably, they hadn't used propellant weapons in several million years and didn't think of using them. There's also the fact that all Asgard are clones whose consciousnesses have been around for thousands of years. This tends to lead to some rigidness in views, although they're still damn good scientists.
** One also wonders if they never invented the railgun either, which would have done the same job without the "crude" chemical propellants.

* A literal version of this trope is Spielberg's ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds'', where the aliens are shown in the basement of a house, quizzically playing with the wheel of a bike, in an homage to the original novel (see the Literature section below). They're also touching and even ''licking'' everything. It would appear they also have no concept of germs which, like with all other versions of the book, ends up being their downfall.

* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' has the same case of an alien world which apparently didn't have glass, so a box of marbles is enough as an apology after being abused.

* ''ComicBook/BuckGodotZapGunForHire'' establishes that every single technology, artform, odd tradition, bizarre hangup, etc. of humanity was already known to the galactic community by at least one other species having invented it. Except... Popsicles. Nobody else had ever thought of freezing liquid on a stick and eating it that way. Our parties immediately became immensely popular.

* One arc in Astonishing ''ComicBook/XMen'' covers a mysterious alien warrior trying to prevent an anonymous mutant from fulfilling a prophecy to destroy his wartorn home planet. War and destruction is so central to his home culture that they don't have a word for hospital, and the concept of a place of healing is so against their culture that the one medieval level hospital on the planet is shrouded in secrecy lest the planet's elders murder its patients.
* In the Warren editions of ''ComicBook/{{Vampirella}}'', the planet Drakulon had never invented space flight and hadn't been aware there was life on other planets. This made sense in the earlier Vampirella stories were humans are the HigherTechSpecies (Drakulon was nearly medieval and Vampirella didn't know what a gun was, until astronauts shot her boyfriend), but later Warren stories retconed Drakulon into being more advanced technologically than Earth.

* ''Film/PrinceOfSpace'' features aliens invading ''because'' of this trope. The invaders from Krankor have superior spacefaring technology, but their ''fuel'' technology is inferior to Earth's; they need the new formula for rocket fuel to start a true invasion of the stars (they have only one working ship, as opposed to the fleet they could fuel with the new formula).

* A literal version of this trope is Spielberg's ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds'', where the aliens are shown in the basement of a house, quizzically playing with the wheel of a bike, in an homage to the original novel (see the Literature section below). They're also touching and even ''licking'' everything. It would appear they also have no concept of germs which, like with all other versions of the book, ends up being their downfall.
* The Transylvanians from ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'' have mastered intergalactic travel but not colour television. More egregious in the [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShowLetsDoTheTimeWarpAgain remake]] where the screen picture is otherwise perfect despite being in black and white.

* In ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' there's the alien race mentioned which invented the aerosol deodorant before the wheel, so at least for some time, they'd fit this trope. In their case, it's [[RuleOfFunny amusingly]] {{justified|trope}}, since they're a species with fifty arms, so dealing with armpit stink would take fist priority for their culture.
* Has an interesting twist in ''Literature/TheConquerorsTrilogy'' by Creator/TimothyZahn. The aliens have [[spoiler:nearly]] indestructible ceramic hulls and instant FTL communication. The humans have radio communications and can track FTL ships. So, it's more like "each race has unique strengths and weaknesses."
* In ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' it is hinted that the tripod-using Aliens skipped the invention of the wheel; none were found in captured machines and most had ludicrously complicated lever systems where a few gears would have done the job just as well. There's an odd variation on the trope regarding disease - it's described that their own hygienic procedures were so successful that they've effectively forgotten what pathogens ''are'', so have no defense against them.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** The books invert this with a few throwaway mentions of slood - something which is supposedly easier to discover than fire, and only slightly more difficult to discover than water.[[note]]Unfortunately, it's not available in all universes.[[/note]]
** The precursor civilization who used golems for literally everything only ever used wheels as children's toys. They never even invented basic '''walls''', because who needs walls when you have an invincible army of golems?
** One of the early books had a {{Mayincatec}} civilization who had chariots, but the "wheels" were human porters: while they knew how to carve stone disks, they'd only tried to make them roll by ''laying them flat on the ground and pushing''. A well-meaning explorer tried to correct their mistake and ended up as a sacrificial prisoner.
** The fifty-one members of the isolated marsh tribe that Fasta Benj belongs to, from ''Literature/SmallGods'', had never encountered fire or metal before his tiny fishing boat got swept along with the Djelibeybi invasion fleet. Presumably it was a ''very'' soggy marsh.
** Magic is so ubiquitous on the Discworld in general that electricity is still no more than a curious phenomenon. The wizards still manage to accidentally invent a magical computer (Hex) and telecommunications are handled by an elaborate version of semaphore.
* ''Literature/TheTripods'':
** [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in the prequel novel ''When the Tripods Came''. The Tripods are capable of interplanetary travel but still use plain old white light to scan areas rather than infrared or radar. One character points out that technological progression is not the same between cultures and points to the Mayans, who had an advanced road system but no wheels.
** Also, in the third book of [[Literature/TheTripods the main series]] it is revealed that the aliens never developed balloons, airplanes, or any other variant of flying machine, jumping directly from the Tripods to space travel. Speculated in-book to be the result of a combination of their world's extremely strong gravity and a sort of cultural blind spot.

* In the ''Literature/EternalChampion'' story by Creator/MichaelMoorcock, where the humans' technology level is roughly Middle Ages, the elf-like non-human Eldren have invented many 20th Century modern weapons of destruction, including futuristic ray guns but have never succeeded in making a flying machine. Erekose (who, in another life, has much experience with modern technology) is surprised at this gap in their knowledge.

* The wizards from ''Literature/HarryPotter'', despite having at least one train and at least one bus, do not use electricity or anything else discovered/invented in the last couple centuries or so, even when it would be much easier than what they do (ball-point pen, anyone?). This is HandWaved by magic interfering with technology/electronics, but there are so many mechanically simple inventions that they could be using... and if an auto can be magicked enough that the electric starter isn't an issue, then clearly it's not much of an impediment.
* The Race from Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' can fly between solar systems, possess nuclear weapons, and have incredibly powerful computers, yet they have no concept of chemical weaponry, or any sort of battle-field appropriate gas masks - their closest invention, filtration suits, are for cleaning up nuclear waste. This is partly because the Race haven't fought a real war in literally tens of thousands of years, but also because their extreme social conservatism creates effective technological stasis; any sort of major innovation is exhaustively studied to make sure it doesn't create social harm (ie upset the status quo), a process that takes so long that broadcast television apparently took ''sixty years'' to be legalized after it was invented. In addition, the concept of large waterborne vessels eludes them, as Home is a largely [[SingleBiomePlanet desert world]] with no large bodies of water, so they never had any need to develop ships.
* In ''Literature/{{Everworld}},'' it's noted that the Coo-Hatch have invented a kind of super-durable steel that can cut through just about anything, but have never discovered gunpowder. [[spoiler:Until the protagonists accidentally help them do that]]. It's also worth noting that David points out their grasp of something as comparably simple as knot-tying and the use of a pulley leaves much to be desired.

* The Tran from Creator/AlanDeanFoster's [[Literature/HumanxCommonwealth Icerigger trilogy]] justifiably never invented the wheel, because they're natives of an ice-covered world where it's easier to move things on skate-blades and skis.
* In ''Literature/DragonsEgg'', the technological turning point in Cheela civilization was the invention of the sleigh, as opposed to the wheel. Justified in that the Cheela homeworld has such extreme gravity -- it's a freaking ''neutron star'' after all -- that no axle could be lifted off the ground and remain intact.
* In Creator/LarryNiven's ''Literature/{{Ringworld}}'' novels:
** Natives sometimes find it tricky to draw the line between intelligent and non-intelligent hominids, as different species' earliest technological advancements don't always correspond. For example, some aquatic species use flaked stone tools but have never discovered fire.
** The Pak, a hyperintelligent race noted for its ability to construct things like Ringworld, never invented perfume. This has ''catastrophic'' consequences for their species, as being able to apply the odor of one's offspring to non-relatives might have averted millions of years of genocidal warfare among bloodlines.
* ''Literature/LittleFuzzy'': The legal standard for establishing sentience is the ability to build a fire and to use language. Complications ensue when humans encounter the Fuzzies, who have fur, live in a temperate environment, and prefer their food raw (thus eliminating the need for fire). They also don't appear to speak [[spoiler: until it is discovered later that they do have a complex language, but their vocalizations are beyond the range of human hearing]]. However, the Fuzzies do have other signs of intelligent culture--toolmaking, ritual burial of the dead, hunting/gathering behavior--so much of the plot hinges upon whether the Federation's legal standard for sentience should include the Fuzzies.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' inverts this, as everyone in the known galaxy has never seen a book before, but the Chiss use them, thinking them more durable [[SingleBiomePlanet in Csilla's climate]] than electronic records. [[WordOfGod According to George Lucas]], the entire galaxy reached the electronic age so long ago that [=eReaders=] and datapads have been around for millenia, completely eliminating the need of paper (no paper was allowed to be visible on screen in the movies for any reason) for so long that the concept of the codex book was lost.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': In a display of SchizoTech typical of the setting, one short story, "Warped Stars" by Ian Watson, has a planet which, for local religious reasons, equates the wheel with the blasphemy of scientific progress, and uses it solely for executing suspected witches and heretics. The world's main industry is raising grox[[note]]two-tonne (or larger) carnivorous dinosaur-type beasts, which, even when lobotomized to make them docile have the unfortunate habit of absentmindedly trampling and/or eating unwary herders. And there are always one or two per herd deliberately left unlobotomized[[/note]], which are impractical to drive any distance, so they're slaughtered in small towns and the meat frozen and transported to the major cities by AntiGravity trucks.
* ''Literature/{{Orthogonal}}'' justifies this trope with electronics. The trilogy takes place in an alternate universe with its own set of physics. Because of the way physics work, basic electronics are not completely impossible to construct, but it is highly unlikely that the characters (or any members of their race) would ever discover the principles behind it without a lot of luck or help. Despite this, their other scientific accomplishments include traveling through time in a rocket-powered GenerationShip, fundamentally altering the mechanism behind their own BizarreAlienReproduction, and discovering a way to safely interact with {{Antimatter}}. [[spoiler: Between the second and third books, though, they do invent "photonics", which serves pretty much the same function as electronics, except that it works by using photons instead of electrons]].
* ''Literature/TheWitling'' {{Justifie|d}}s this trope with numerous basic innovations, as having PsychicPowers meant such things never needed to be invented. Notably, very few buildings have ''doors'', because the Azhiri just teleport everywhere, including in and out of buildings. They also lack basic plumbing, and actually don't seem to have invented the wheel--because of their reliance on water for transport, they travel long distances using "road boats" via artificial transit lakes. No one seems to carry weapons, either--who needs them, when you can just scramble your enemies' brains at a distance?
* In Creator/DavidBrin's ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'' series most species were [[UpliftedAnimal uplifted]] straight from the Stone Age (or, more commonly, being highly intelligent pre-sophont animals) to anti-gravity. So things like paper and less advanced forms of flight are largely unknown to them. They also got extremely advanced calculators so early that Terrans are pretty much the only ones with math beyond arithmetic.
* ''Creator/PennAndTeller's Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends'' includes a short story about aliens who put HumanityOnTrial for being redundant; they are able to find nothing that is uniquely human and are preparing to exterminate us to free up our planet for colonization by a race with more biological and/or cultural distinctiveness. The protagonist saves humanity by showing the alien ambassador a simple magic trick involving "invisible thread," [[RefugeInAudacity an invention duplicated nowhere else in the universe]]. Whether the aliens are actually taken in or whether it is the use of sleight-of-hand to deceive for the purposes of entertainment that they consider unique enough to be worth preserving is left to the reader's imagination.
** Their (preceding) cable TV special (named "Invisible thread") has the aliens explain. They knew it was a trick, but said no other species would pretend there was something like that.
* Nonhuman species in ''Literature/TheJenkinsverse'' never invented the gun: black powder weaponry is too heavy and recoils too hard for aliens to use effectively: They were never able to develop a version that could fire accurately which wouldn't also harm the weapon's operator. For this reason, only humans have invented ballistic weaponry, firearms and effective defenses against firearms.
* In ''Literature/AlienInASmallTown,'' the Jan are a [[SiliconBasedLife silicon-based]] race from a planet with very little atmospheric oxygen. They're amazed at how early in our prehistory humans discovered fire.
* In ''Literature/WingsOfFire'', the [=NightWings=] are the most advanced dragon tribe, who know about genetics, germ theory, and desalinization, and can even create [[spoiler:armor capable of carrying lava]], but they've apparently never invented glass.
* In the world of Kelanna, the setting of ''Literature/TheReader2016'', written language was never invented. The idea of reading words is totally alien to all but a few people, and the only way history survives is through oral tradition.
* In ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'' setting, the [[InsectoidAliens Insects]], the [[StarfishAliens Logrians]], the [[FishPeople Delphons]], and the [[HumanAliens Harammins]] are millions of years old and have built things like a DysonSphere, an advanced portable computer the size of a jewel that can store the entire consciousness of a living being, a gigantic super-powerful computer composed of billions of the previous-mentioned jewels, a way to make stars go nova, advanced genetic engineering, and the ability to send an entire star system into [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hypersphere]]. There are two major technological advantages that humanity (a relative newcomer to the galactic stage) has over them: [[FasterThanLightTravel the hyperdrive]] and cybernetics. The first is a little odd, since all those races knew about the existence of hypersphere, but were forced to build a PortalNetwork using stationary gates that first needed to be hauled at sublight to the destination. It took a single human scientist a few years to come up with the hypersphere theory and the drive after observing the phenomenon once. The latter is at least partly justified for the Insects, who possess a huge supply of mindless drones, so the idea to build mechanical devices never came to them. Their only AI is a bluky photonic computer that was created to run their Dyson Sphere. Meanwhile, humans can mass-produce AI modules in factories. The aliens also have nothing that even compares to humanity's MiniMecha, HumongousMecha, or MechaMooks. One novel has the protagonist find an abandoned human military base, whose machinery is being studied by the Insects in an effort to learn how to make their own, but they simply don't have the centuries of scientific and technological basis for all that equipment in order to do it quickly.

* ZigZagged in ''Literature/GrandCentralArena''. At one point in the first book when outlining the history of the [[{{TheSingularity}} post-singularity species]] the Blessed to Serve (and, by extension, the Liberated), [[{{Literature/SkylarkSeries}} Mark DuQuesne]] says that the [[{{AIIsACrapshoot}} Minds]] "went all Literature/{{Frankenstein}}" on them, meaning they TurnedAgainstTheirMasters. Orphan, the sole-remaining member of the Liberated, says that "Frankenstein" didn't translate, showing that his people don't have an equivalent to that story nor any that were inspired by it, prompting the humans to give him a synopsis. After a few more minutes, [[{{TheSmartGuy}} Dr. Simon Sandrisson]], another human, notes that the future Blessed likely did have an equivalent to ''Frankenstein'' at one point in their history, but the Minds purged it after taking over.

* The people of [[JungleJapes Boggob]] from ''VideoGame/{{Meteos}}'' are in their stone age during [[ApocalypseHow the Meteos attacks]], but after surviving the onslaught, they built a space ship out of the resulting ore just like every other playable alien race in the game.
* In ''Videogame/EndlessLegend'', the Vaulters, a faction of humanity on [[LostColony Auriga]] that remembers its origins in space, develops manned space travel before [[FantasyGunControl they develop firearms]]; they make do with {{Automatic Crossbow}}s, salvaged PoweredArmor and HumongousMecha.

* It's hard to know just how much the Elvhenan of ''Franchise/DragonAge'' invented, as their civilization was destroyed and most of their technology adopted by their conquerers. But a questline late in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' highlights the fact that the elves built grand cities in every distant corner of the globe, but ''no roads;'' instead, they had a network of magical doors to take them go everywhere they wanted to go.
* The monsters of ''VideoGame/{{Evolve}}'', despite matching or outstripping humans in intelligence, never invented ''anything''. While this may seem like a weakness, this is because their sheer physical power, arsenal of deadly abilities, low-level biological forcefield, and natural FTL capabilities made any technological innovation pointless. This point is backed up by how they picked a fight with humans, despite the massive technological gap, and still haven't needed anything to make up for the disadvantage. In fact, they're actually ''winning''.
* ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth'': Scientific and cultural advances affect only the type of unit they're attached to: Building upgrades increase the building's range, HP or resource gathering rates, while units types are upgraded individually when a new epoch is researched. It's entirely possible (if stupid) to explore the stars with a culture that has yet to discover a standard-issue handgun more powerful than an arquebus, aircraft that don't use propellers, or ''sandals'', and the ability to manufacture entirely automated battle robots despite never looking into this "scientific method" business. Averted in scenarios that don't start at the very first epoch, which start with all previous upgrades automatically researched.

* In the backstory of ''Franchise/MassEffect'', it turns out that the Citadel has an equivalent of the Washington Naval Treaty that restricts the number of dreadnaughts that a given species can field at a time. Humanity's response to said restriction? Introduce the concept of [[{{TheBattlestar}} carriers]] to the rest of the Milky Way, [[{{LoopholeAbuse}} safe in the knowledge that they're not covered by the restriction]]. Eventually, other species (such as the [[{{SpaceRomans}} turians]]) commission carriers of their own.
* One ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' update explains that the rocket launcher and the second-story building were invented in the 18th century in the same year by the same man. Tragically, stairs would not be invented until the mid-1800s and only came into wide use in the 1920s, meaning that for some time, the only way to get above the first floor was RocketJumping.
* ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'': The world of Argent D'Nur is highly advanced with LaserBlade and plasma weaponry, interstellar travel, and mechas. However, they never developed gunpowder-based firearms, as when Doomguy arrived there, they were confused by his guns, calling them "of arcane origin". This is because the Argenta were a medieval civilization that was uplifted by a group of {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s, and so went straight from the Iron Age to an spacefaring empire with no intermediate steps.
* This trope can be invoked by the player in ''VideoGame/DoodleGod'' -- for example, you can invent steam engines and airplanes before knowing how to create bread or clothing.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': A ''WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror'' episode has Kang and Kodos coming to Earth to share their alien technology, which includes the most advanced video game they'd ever created: Pong.
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperHeroSquadShow,'' Skrulls never figured out how to make string cheese.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Interactions with Peridot imply that wheels were never invented on Homeworld or became so obsolete as to be forgotten.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Earth is known has the home of the Pizza Bagel. Apparently other civilizations have done Pizza and Bagels, but never thought to combine them.
** Earth ''itself'' lost the concept of the wheel at some point after civilization collapsed and was rebuilt. They managed to get to [[FlyingCar the hovercar]] before they needed it.

* The native dimension of Lorne from ''Series/{{Angel}}'' never invented music, and he's the only native who ever learned to sing. They ''do'' have dance, which looks rather dumb with no audible accompaniment.

-->-- ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''

* In ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' there's the alien race mentioned which invented the deodorant spray before the wheel, so at least for some time, they'd fit this trope. In their case, it's [[RuleOfFunny amusingly]] justified, since they're a species with ''fifty freaking arms.''

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': PlayedForLaughs in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E11FearHer "Fear Her"]], where the Doctor once pointed out the fact that humans are the only species in the universe that has invented edible ball bearings.

* ''Literature/{{Expedition}}'' and the subsequent TV adaptation ''AlienPlanet'' features a biological version. The planet Darwin IV is home to many weird and wonderful species of animal [[spoiler:and at least one race with human (albeit caveman) level intelligence]]. None of whom have ever evolved jawbones or ''eyes''. The two primary senses used by most vertebrates are usually [[BizarreAlienSenses sonar and infrared heat vision]]. It's speculated that the planet's atmosphere was extremely foggy at the time such sensory mechanisms arose, making visible light an inferior mode of detection.

* In ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Covenant]] have a long-standing religious ban against creating sapient [=AIs=], meaning that when they go up against humanity's own [=AIs=], the only [=AIs=] they have that can even put up a fight are those stolen from humans, as Cortana discovered when she cannibalized one.

* ''ComicBook/AlbedoErmaFelnaEDF'' is really bizarre in this aspect, considering the story is set between levels 3 and 4 of the SlidingScale/MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Despite the anthropomorphics having jet engine technology and also jet-propulsed planes and ships, there's no ''fighter jet'' technology and no military seafaring outside civilian grounds, even if some planets does have seas. In the case of the former, this is for a myriad of in and out-universe reasons, mostly to avoid jet fighters from [[SpotlightStealingSquad stealing the spotlight from the characters]].

* ''ComicBook/AlbedoErmaFelnaEDF'' is really bizarre in this aspect, considering the story is set between levels 3 and 4 of the MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Despite the anthropomorphics having jet engine technology and also jet-propulsed planes and ships, there's no ''fighter jet'' technology and no military seafaring outside civilian grounds, even if some planets does have seas. In the case of the former, this is for a myriad of in and out-universe reasons, mostly to avoid jet fighters from [[SpotlightStealingSquad stealing the spotlight from the characters]].

* A literal version of this trope is Spielberg's ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds'', where the aliens are shown in the basement of a house, quizzically playing with the wheel of a bike, in an homage to the original novel (see the Literature section below). They're also touching and even ''licking'' everything. It would appear they also have no concept of germs which ends up being their downfall.

-->'''Pajuna:''' "I guess San Lorenzo really ''was'' lost."

* The backstory to Creator/HarryTurtledove's short story "Herbig-Haro", later expanded on in the prequel "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Not_Taken_%28short_story%29 The Road Not Taken]]", uses this trope as its basic premise. Antigravity and FTL technology are ridiculously simple to discover, but the technology cannot be applied to other forms of science so it doesn't lend itself to further innovation. This means that when a race discovers antigrav, they tend to freeze themselves at whatever technological level they were at at the time. In "The Road Not Taken", the most dominant interstellar power attacks Earth, but since their tech stalled out around the Age of Exploration, with little better than black-powder muskets in the way of weaponry, they get [[CurbStompBattle steamrolled]] by the early 21st century humans. The story ends with their surviving leaders horrified at the idea that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone they've handed the key to space travel to such an advanced race]].

* ZigZagged in ''Literature/GrandCentralArena''. At one point in the first book when outlining the history of the [[{{TheSingularity}} post-singularity species]] the Blessed to Serve (and, by extension, the Liberated), [[{{Literature/SkylarkSeries}} Mark DuQuesne]] says that the Minds "went all Literature/{{Frankenstein}}" on them, meaning they TurnedAgainstTheirMasters. Orphan, the sole-remaining member of the Liberated, says that "Frankenstein" didn't translate, showing that his people don't have an equivalent to that story nor any that were inspired by it, prompting the humans to give him a synopsis. After a few more minutes, [[{{TheSmartGuy}} Dr. Simon Sandrisson]], another human, notes that the future Blessed likely did have an equivalent to ''Frankenstein'' at one point in their history, but the Minds purged it after taking over.

* ZigZagged in ''Literature/GrandCentralArena''. In the first book. At one point when outlining the history of the [[{{TheSingularity}} post-singularity species]] the Blessed to Serve (and, by extension, the Liberated), [[{{Literature/SkylarkSeries}} Mark DuQuesne]] says that the Minds "went all Literature/{{Frankenstein}}" on them, meaning they TurnedAgainstTheirMasters. Orphan, the sole-remaining member of the Liberated, says that "Frankenstein" didn't translate, showing that his people don't have an equivalent to that story nor any that were inspired by it, prompting the humans to give him a synopsis. After a few more minutes, [[{{TheSmartGuy}} Dr. Simon Sandrisson]], another human, notes that the future Blessed likely did have an equivalent to ''Frankenstein'' at one point in their history, but the Minds purged it after taking over.

* ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'': The world of Argent D'Nur is highly advanced with LaserBlade and plasma weaponry, interstellar travel, and mechas. However, they never developed gunpowder-based firearms, as when Doomguy arrived there, they were confused by his guns, calling them "of arcane origin". This is because the Argenta were a medieval civilization that was uplifted by a group of SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, and so went straight from the Iron Age to an spacefaring empire with no intermediate steps.

* UsefulNotes/PreColumbianCivilizations only used wheels for children's toys. This makes more sense when you realize that at the time, the Americas didn't have any domesticated animals suitable for pulling wheeled carts. The only beast of burden native to the Americas is the llama of the Andes Mountains. The Inca Empire used llamas, but as pack animals (which carry goods on their backs) as opposed to draft animals (which pull goods in carts). Llamas can scale stairs and steep slopes well enough on their own, and wheels would just slow them down in such an environment. Additionally, wheels good enough for human pulled carts require a lot of effort to get to move, so improving the wheels to get good results takes a lot of effort. That being said, the original industrial use for wheels in the Old World--the potter's wheel--would have been useful to both the Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations (they were masters of pottery, and the wheel just makes the process faster and more efficient) and doesn't have these limitations, but they never developed it, either.

* UsefulNotes/PreColumbianCivilizations only used wheels for children's toys. This makes more sense when you realize that at the time, the Americas didn't have any domesticated animals suitable for pulling wheeled carts. The only beast of burden native to the Americas is the llama of the Andes Mountains. The Inca Empire used llamas, but as pack animals (which carry goods on their backs) as opposed to draft animals (which pull goods in carts). Llamas can scale stairs and steep slopes well enough on their own, and wheels would just slow them down in such an environment. Additionally, wheels good enough for human pulled carts require a lot of effort to get to move, so improving the wheels to get good results takes a lot of effort.

** Only the Central American civilizations developed writing, starting with the Toltecs and continuing on with the Maya and other successor civilizations (which may or may not include the Aztecs depending on who you ask and what your definition of "writing" is).[[note]]Whether the Aztec "script" was an unusually systematic system of mnemonic pictograms or a true nascent logographic/logosyllabic script is very hard to tell based on the surviving material. Basically, the Spanish showed up almost ''exactly'' at the point the Aztec system was developed enough to arguably be writing. It's possible if not like that the issue would be much more clear-cut had the Spanish come a century or two sooner or later.[[/note]] The Inca did develop a system for keeping numeric records in the form of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quipu knotted strings]], while others used [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wampum colored beads]] as a mnemonic device, but most never had a written language until well after European colonization.

** Only the Central American civilizations developed writing, starting with the Toltecs and continuing on with the Maya and Aztecs and other successor civilizations. The Inca did develop a system for keeping numeric records in the form of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quipu knotted strings]], while others used [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wampum colored beads]] as a mnemonic device, but most never had a written language until well after European colonization.

* The backstory to Creator/HarryTurtledove's short story "Herbig-Haro", later expanded on in the prequel "The Road Not Taken", uses this trope as its basic premise. Antigravity and FTL technology are ridiculously simple to discover, but the technology cannot be applied to other forms of science so it doesn't lend itself to further innovation. This means that when a race discovers antigrav, they tend to freeze themselves at whatever technological level they were at at the time. In "The Road Not Taken", the most dominant interstellar power attacks Earth, but since their tech stalled out around the Age of Exploration they get [[CurbStompBattle steamrolled]] by the early 21st century humans. The story ends with their surviving leaders horrified at the idea that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone they've handed the key to space travel to such an advanced race]].

* In Creator/DavidBrin's ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'' series most species were uplifted straight from the stone age to anti-gravity. So things like paper and less advanced forms of flight are largely unknown to them. They also got extremely advanced calculators so early that Terrans are pretty much the only ones with math beyond arithmetic.