While browsing through some old TerraKor folders, I found an email exchange between brother ArKay and a gentleman from France. It discussed a subject that is not found elsewhere on the site. It is reproduced in full below. The italicized segment is the initial email.

Reply to: Technology and Korendor, 8 Sept 2010

Kalo, brother. I am ArKay. Bob has forwarded your email for our comments. My responses will be at the end of the copy of your message.

Your questions are intriguing. The fact is that the large majority of worlds have developed technology of some form, first for their own survival, then for their comfort, and then, as they advance in wisdom and civilization, for addressing their thirst for knowing new things.

Are there worlds that developed solely on a spiritual basis? Yes, there are, although they are very uncommon. Typically, such worlds are of two basic categories (many are of both types to some degree):

• They have nearly ideal conditions for life, and there are no significant physical hazards or environmental considerations that mandate creating protective or shielding mechanisms.

• Their planets are poor in the minerals and metals that are required for technological advancements, and thus have no way to develop meaningful technology.

Given that they had no critical need to develop technology, they were free to pursue the spiritual aspects of existence. There are very advanced worlds with beings far beyond our spiritual level. Some are purely spiritual in nature (a rough parallel would be the Organians in the original Star Trek series).

However, spiritual development does not equate to an understanding of the universe and of nature. Their spiritual state can be breathtaking, but their ignorance of the physical aspects of creation is profound.

Because they never developed science, they cannot grasp even the most basic scientific concepts, such as the atomic structure of matter. Their understanding of the nature of their parent stars and the lights in their night skies is essentially non-existent. Usually, they accept that they exist and they make no actual study of them

This is by no means a negative comment, since they have never had a need for nor an interest in such things.

Common to them is an agrarian way of life based on sustenance rather than abundance. Often such worlds have isolated "tribes" that have little or no contact with each other, since the technologies of long-distance communication and transportation do not exist. Communication is primarily oral or telepathic. The process of written communication involves manual transcription using whatever suitable materials are at hand. You might compare it to the writing methods used in your ancient history.

Records of visits to some of the worlds have revealed that the greatest treasures that have been given to the inhabitants is writing paper, pens and ink. Such is the simplicity of life there.

Although structured languages are present in most cases, they are usually dissimilar and not widely known or taught. Reading and writing are confined to the elite members of their cultures. Knowledge and information are taught and shared orally or telepathically. Laboriously preserving them in written form is only for the most important matters.

The rest of their way of life is equally primitive. It is a truth that a world that does not advance scientifically and technologically does not advance at all, its spiritual development notwithstanding.

Your people know that throughout your history, scientific advancement without concomitant spiritual growth can result in great evils. However, we have seen that spirituality without science can suppress and sometimes crush the life out of a civilization. The ideal situation is a simultaneous growth in spirituality and science, with the former serving as the controlling force for the latter. We of Korendor have learned that truth by trial and error in our history.

Can the human mind indeed completely replace technology? No. For all the wonderful things that a highy advanced brain can accomplish, it cannot do those things that make the difference between a world without science and a world with it.

Telepathy is innate in Korendians, but we rely on technology for communication beyond the limited ability of telepathy.

Telekinesis can be mastered by Korendians, but for anything beyond simple, low-mass, short-range movement, only technology will suffice.

It is said that some extremely advanced beings can "beam" their minds and in a few cases their spiritual "bodies". However, there is no known example of a being transporting himself over interplanetary, let alone interstellar distances. No world where the only advancement has been in spirituality has become a space-traveling culture.

The Alliance knows of such worlds, but in agreement with the Confederation, we engage in very limited contact with them. We do not wish to pose to them quandaries that they simply cannot resolve. Visitors from lights in the sky and the technological wonders that they bring are beyond their understanding.

As for the rest of creation, on worlds where the mineral and metal resources are present, and where environmental conditions (e.g., extremes of heat and cold) drive development, science and technology are inevitable. Once the inhabitants of the worlds discover that they can build things to protect themselves from the elements, they are no longer at its mercy and have the time to think about other things than survival.

One thing that is common to all human minds is that its greatest efforts are devoted to making life easier. For example, digging up the soil to plant crops by hand is backbreaking work. However, if a huge, strong, dumb and harmless animal can be harnessed to pull a device that digs the soil quickly while the human just guides it, life gets easier.

In the 21st century Earth, this quest continues. From the comfort of the sofa or the recliner, a little box with buttons controls all the entertainment electronics without getting up to do it by hand. Life gets easier.

Science and technology have made possible the development of simpler, better and easier ways to do things. That is true on Earth, on Korendor, and throughout the known universe.

One thing is certain: to learn things beyond the five human senses requires technology to expand the senses. Our eyes are wonderfully designed by God, but they cannot see infrared or ultraviolet or very small things or very distant things. Science and technology have augmented our sense of sight to make seeing such things commonplace.

Our sense of hearing is remarkable, but science and technology have made it possible to hear things beyond our physical ability to hear, such as ultrasonic or very faint sound.

On and on the examples can go. The point being made is that far from being an impediment to human advancement, science and technology have made it possible. Within the Alliance, the most spiritually mature worlds are the most scientifically and technologically advanced.

We know that the Infinite One has in His unfathomable wisdom given man the minds to seek answers to the mysteries of creation and the skills to create ways to study and understand them. In advancing our science and technology and applying them to the study of creation, we have been endlessly blessed with an ever-deepening appreciation of His power, creativeness, and love.

Our spiritual growth has been enhanced by our science. We would have it no other way.

I trust that this will be useful to you, brother Tom. Va i amas eso luce.