[quote]The UNSC's tech is outdated for being 500 years in the future. Extremely outdated. By then,[u] I would assume humanity would have things like... I've actually got nothing.[/u] What we could do by then is unthinkable. Maybe we can make stars go supernovae? [i]What do you think?[/i][/quote] This is why they were like this. If you go that far into the future we can only apply technology that is in our minds right now. In fact the USA said that because there is nothing that we could innovate we are shutting down the patent office. Guess when they said that? 1890's.

What do I think? It's fiction, is what I think. There is no need to analyse it in comparison to real life.

Keep in mind that when humanity actually does begin colonizing other planets in the Halo universe, their fleet waves the flag of the UNSC: The United Nations Space Command, which operates under the Unified Earth Government. In my opinion, 500 years might be a fairly accurate estimation of when this technology would be available to us. We have many restrictions in place to prevent us from advancing technologically at the rate at which we're capable of; war, money, society, lack of resources, etc. Only under a more unified Earth might we be able to extend our galactic borders. Even without those restrictions, developing the technology necessary to travel light-years in the amount of time that UNSC ships can would take decades upon decades upon decades of thought and experimentation.

A single Earth Government, such as exists in the Halo world would not have the scientific competition to advance as quickly as we are now. Currently, all the governments in the world are competing with each other to get to the market first, just like companies compete for products and pricing. Uniting together would stifle some of the scientific advances, especially because things like active camouflage, guns, and suits like the Mjolnir Armor are really only focused on for warfare. Look at things like the Spartan programs, which didn't come into development until the Insurrection. Humanity is best at making things when we're in a tight spot. The Shaw/Fukijawa warp drive that is used in the Halo games was likely invented once our solar system got too crowded. At that point, most of human science would focus on terraforming technology, and ways of adapting crops to new planets, rather than on massive warships and weapons. We like the idea that we are advancing technology at an exponential rate, it's what I've heard my whole life, but as a species we like to focus on something in particular. Currently, we are focused on computer tech, and integrating our physical world with the digital one. Even with the progress we've made in the last 50 years with computers, we are still quite a ways off from creating a dumb AI, and even further from a smart one, like Cortana or Black Box. Look at the computer technology present in the Halo games and novels. High Detail 3D holograms, Artifical Intelligence, HUD chips, and high-speed datapads. There isn't much more that we could accomplish with computers. Look at the medical tech. Biofoam, flash cloning and grown replacement limbs, thought controlled robotic artificial limbs. Cancer can be cleared up by a routine surgery in a few hours by this point. Look at the space tech. Ships capable of creating artificial gravity fields and supporting an oxygen-rich atmosphere, capable of travelling light years in a few days. Reliable cryosleep, impressive terraforming and orbital MAC cannons. The truth is, we have no idea when these things will be invented, or how quickly they will be implemented. It all depends on the people. The governmental and societal differences that occur in the Halo universe may veyr well have limited scientific discovery, and necessity drove humanity to invent solutions. Looking at things individually may be unimpressive, but looking at the bigger picture shows a huge leap in technology. The Covenant would still be a huge problem. Humanity is divided, the Insurrection is still going strong throughout the Human-Covenant War. Covenant tech is incredible, utilizing the inventions of the far technologically superior forerunners. The Covenant are able to create a device that can manipulate multiple magnetic fields and guide them to a target that can be tracked, cramming such tech into the size of a small gun. The power and precision needed would be incredible. Also, don't forget that they have the Huragok, who have a complete understanding of all things technological, and a memory of the incredible feats of the forerunners. The Covenant also have greater numbers, with Human planets only having a few hundred million residents on average, with a few big ones like Reach and Earth with a few billion. The Covenant consists of the Prophets, Elites, Brutes, Grunts, Hunters, Jackals, and Drones, each of which have incredible numbers in the Covenant Fleet and more still on their homeworlds and colonies that can be called in. Let's not forget their incredibly precise slip-space navigation, allowing formations to warp together, while human ships need to go alone, for fear of crashing into each other in the unpredictable slipspace. Energy shielding is also a huge bonus for them. Humanity doesn't get energy shielding until reverse engineering it for the Mjolnir armor. Point is, tech moves slower than you'd think, and the Covenant got a few thousand years head start, and were travelling space while we built pyramids.

Doesn't war tend to slow certain fields of science? There were probably plenty of wars that will take place between now and then. We may spend most of our research on weapons instead of the other technologies the UNSC had.

It's just set too far into the future. The point of the story in the first place was to have Humanity outmatched technology wise by the Covenant. That wouldn't work if Humanity was too advanced.

Just because all of those things are in development, does not mean they'll actually come to fruition, they might even prove to be unfeasible or impossible. Remember that some scientists in the 60s' thought we'd be living on the moon by now ? It's not just a case of advancing knowledge, resources are required as well. If it turns out that a warp drive takes an insane amount of resources that we simply don't have (which it is...For now.), then it can't be developed. Also, if for example, a plasma weapon took a lot of rare resources and time to manufacture, of course you would go with the much more convenient option of using abundant resources like metal for ammunition, guns, etc. I'm all for optimism about the advancement of knowledge and technology, but 500 years of advances can't possibly be predicted. Some day, 480 years from now, a group of scientists will find the server this thread sits in and laugh, just as they will with every other prediction made by scientists of this era.

If we can discover how to make wormholes or something similar, then we would be much more advanced than the UNSC.

I made a thread about this on waypoint. The weapons technology isn't very far from what we have now. Can't link the thread because waypoint sucks donkey doodles and I don't know how to find threads I've made.

You're right. Let's redo they Halo series.