As we know, the Dwemer were pretty technologically advanced- both scientifically and magically.



My question is- how long would it take before any of the current Tamrielic races get a scientific level of understanding on par with them?



Do you think they'll ever get past this, inventing cannons and gunpowder (Such as very primitive rifles like muskets)

Altmer already got some tech that , if you dig a bit, is incredibly interesting and on par with the Dwemer, even beyond if you consider that they are capable of Aetherial travel. Reman constructed a starship to colonize Secunda. Fifth Era or so, after Landfall, seems to be very cyberpunkish. In Ninth Era, you got mining robots on Kynareth from an Ayleidoon hegemony that can mentally link with users and even steal personality, there are also war starships and space time disrupting artillery

It would be pretty strange.

What we essentially see with the Dwemer is steam power. Which was one of the early powers which drove the industrial revolution. In broad context, had the Dwemer not disappeared, I have little doubt they would of been the strongest power in Tamriel by now. There mechanical armies go beyond even what has been achieved by human engineering. They had the technology to create a devastating war machine which probably would of seen them establish dominance across the continent by the late 1st era/early second is my thinking.

In Skyrim, we saw Nords using wind and water as energy. Which whilst pretty primitive is an important step. "Water" is one step away from "steam" - so who knows?

We kind of assume it's natural to technologically progress dramatically all the time, but it isn't. Human beings mostly don't, it's just a sequence of weird little incidental things that occured to spark the industrial revolution which then avalanched out of control. For most cultures, most species, if stuff is working then change isn't necessary and doesn't occur, not on any grand scale. This seems to be the case in TES, with cultures/races staying basically the same for centuries.

Having said that, the fact that dwemer technology is just laying around everywhere for people to find and study, makes it extremely unlikely people wouldn't reach their heights and then probably exceed them, because once you go in that direction, it seems you keep going.

Huh. I didn't even know they had gone up to ninth era! That's really interesting. Where is this found? I want to have a look for myself.

Here you have it: http://www.imperial-library.info/content/kinmune

Text by MK, this is key to understand the Thalmor along with the Textract.

EDIT: This one is the improved version http://c0da.es/ayrenn

The Altmer and certainly the Psijics are already on par with them, maybe the Dunmer too, but expressed via different ways.

You have to understand that TES takes place in an inherently magical universe where our version of science doesn't really work as you'd expect. Every serious scientist would be a magician.

Even Dwemer tech is not so much technology as it is technomancy, using engineering principles to harness what is inherently a magical phenomenon.

The cultures of other advanced races simply do not express themselves in this way. For certain technologies a certain mindset is as paramount as a working knowledge of the guiding principle. The ancient Greeks had steam engines, but to them they were just toys.

Similarly the knowledge held by the advanced races was only expressed technomantically because of the specific Dwemer culture, other races may know the same principles but use them in entirely different fashions, or not at all.

CHIMpunkish.