Quote Originally Posted by sandmote View Post
Another issue with the "limited new ideas per lifetime," is that a longer lived race means the old guard lives longer when everyone else switches to newer techniques. So you'd have a lot more old coots who used to be at the top of their field but no longer hold sway because everyone else has updated their thinking but they don't have the anima to make new discoveries in their own field. They're stuck in a rut unable to move forward, which would kind of kneecap advancement in research and development.
Feature, not bug. Long lived races end up advancing one funeral at a time like everyone else. They just have more dead time.

Of course the ideal situation (and this is a sub goal) is for there to be a mix of races. The short lived ones ideate, while the longer lived ones refine based on experience. Since refinement is "cheaper" (since it's small changes to an existing idea), so the old races can still do it.

In a way, this is how real life R&D works. Except by age, not by lifespan. Young people are great at coming up with ideas. And then the older people can refine based on their own experience.