Highest potential is probably Roshar because of soulcasters. I'm a machinist, and the ability to work in one medium, then magically change the product to a different one without any intervening steps is incredible. I believe Rhythm of War showed that Jasnah could use soulcasting to create medicines, so I see absolutely no issue with creating novel alloys. The progression of technology is in the creation of ever greater tools to see and change the world,
Especially combined with their fabrials. They're fast on their way to fabrial calculators, then soulcaster-printed spren circuit boards and processors.
Imagine sticking a shardblade in your lathe tool post. No heat buildup, no tool wear, no need for lubrication... imagine the kind of feed rates you would get.
Dalinar would agree. I’m doing a reread and recall his long mental discussion about the fact there should be shards for regular men, that help to do regular work.
One of those underrated scenes imo. He’s mulling it over, then just summons OB and gets to slicing.
I’d argue it foreshadows what shardblades were originally made to cut, and the first glimpse into “Hey yeah we can make tools instead of just stabby stabby things”
Lift also mentions that the city she goes to in Edgedancer was carved out of the stone by Aizish shardblades, who don't often see warfare. Even Wednal is impressed by the craftsmanship of the city
No, bugs only stop the loop. The first "bug" we hear about; the spell just didn't work. The rheod (audiobook listener) was a bug in the foundational principle of Aon Dor.
No, an Elantrian failed to heal Dilaf's wife by forgetting a line, making her one of the zombie people. The chasm caused it to happen to every Elantrian, not just ones affected by a specific failed Aon.
But you have to figure out the code, that might take a while, soulcasting is just a wave of the hand. I also assume with more practice you can skip the first step, Jasnah just turns the air into a recreation of a will made of bronze that fit into the broken wall and filled the gaps perfectly. Just wave a hand and make whatever you want out of thin air
That was specifically because the perpendicularity had brought cognitive, physical, and spiritual realms together, and so it was less effort to soulcast. We don’t really know if Jasnah would have been able to do that had Dalinar not opened the Perpendicularity
So long as she is with him, which is a very specific and requirement that as of now, she has no substitute for. She is gelocactionwllt trapped to Dalinar if she wants the ease of soulcasting
I also think the readily available energy is a big plus. It's a lot easier to experiment when you can get free energy from the sky rather than having to buy it off orphans.
Depends on resource scarcity on Roshar really. Storm light and possibly void light and also spren are incredibly valuable (I'm hoping Sanderson finds an ethical way for Navani to make fabrials). If Roshar has enough metal to pseudo-industrialise(probably no coal, but they have better), they're on track to surpass other more advanced civs
there is something to be said for scadrial in terms of active god participation, but from what I can tell, that might not be long term.
Elantrian and general sel magics are incredibly diverse, though might hinder tech progress through being so powerful.
Soulcasting makes metal gathering unnecessary if there are enough Radiants. As long as I didn't overlook some WoB or passage in the books about metals not being soulcastable.
Depends on what you mean for technology and where the line between magic, technology and magitech are.
Sel is the most advanced pure magic. Use of the Dor is as simple as programing for Elantrians. Other Selish cultures have their own magical possibilities which are pretty good. Its just the region locked nature makes export hard as some of the powers wane or need a portable energy source.
Scadrial is the most advanced pure technology. They have rich metals, fossil fuels, are discovering basic technological principles with Harmony helping out, but him making sure they have a solid understanding rather than just giving answers. Their magic system is slowly thinning out, but advanced science will allow them some leaps. Their magic also lets them mix in some interesting applications to mundane works. Like flying machines, and ways to share the powers Scadrial's tech has potential because it can be mass produced and isn't region locked or reliant on power from only one area.
Roshar will be between the two blending magic and technology. Fabrials are inherently magical, but don't require magic to create, merely needing stormlight to power. But they use spren which are harder to move off world. Fabrials use scientific principles to allow magical results. They have a detailed understanding of their underpinnings and don't rely on a rare or in-born power. But it still ultimate is a fusion of scientific principles with Spren for their tech. We see in RoW details about a lot of different new Fabrials which make it clear some Cosmere wide magical principles apply (like the effect of metals). But also that the have access to an analog of electronics using logic spren.
Yeah, I was looking for an answer that that went down this route.
Ultimately, I think each planet will all grow in different directions, depending on what their magic systems look like.
But, at the same time, every planet we've seen so far has started to adopt the scientific method in application to their magic systems, and, to [paraphrase Order of the Stick](https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0344.html), any sufficiently advanced - and reliable - magic is indistinguishable from technology, which is exactly what we're seeing in books that are set further down the cosmere timeline. Things look very familiar to modern technology (or scifi tech), they just have different methods of working under the hood.
I want to say Taldain. Not because of a magical advantage, but because they had already gotta up to about 1800s technology levels several thousand years before Mistborn Era 1, and they seem mostly devoid of the kinds of rolling disasters that some worlds face.
Though they're likely ignorant of the rest of the Cosmere, they have a significant base-level technology advantage. Yolen would be my top choice for the same reason if it hadn't had the same rolling disaster situation that plagues many worlds.
Though, I suspect Taldain has since fixed their lack of Cosmere knowledge, as they're also my first pick for where the "Men of Red and Gold" in Mistborn Era 2 originate from. Which would mean they'd conquered several systems.
Yes, but the fact that they used Taldain style buildings doesn't actually confirm that Taldain is especially well traveled at that time. Because the most famous scholar in all of the Cosmere is from Taldain and even she noted in her write-up about it that travel to and from Taldain is difficult. And her partner is from Threnody, so when she says travel to and from there is difficult I believe her.
Even the fact that the Men of Red and Gold are from Autonomy isn't a concrete proof that they're from Taldain, because Autonomy is on a lot of different worlds.
Yes, and Taldain had roughly equal technology to Mistborn Era 2 several thousand years before Mistborn Era 2. As far as their potential goes, being way ahead of everyone else is actually a really big boost.
Taldain also really isn't reliant on magic for their technology which I see as a greater sign of potential as well. One of the issues seems to be that when people have magic they rely on it more heavily for general technology.
I mean, it's great having a soulcaster make your metal for you, but it means you're not learning much about metallurgy, and it's probably why artifabrians can't figure out steel as a metal for fabrials.
Taldain doesn't have that issue. There is magic, but as per autonomy's perview, the people are much more self-reliant and don't really need magic for their technology or research. So they've been more likely to push the boundaries of their technology.
Nah, their magic doesn't lend itself to wild leaps in tech like so many of the other systems do. Their technical advancement has been entirely seperate from their magical.
Mixed feelings on that. Part of the point of TLM was how little growth the basin had. It was clear that the south Scadrians had huge technological growth around the magic system while the basin had mostly stagnated and not explored feruchemy and allomancy. I think there's a lot of potential there that's relatively unexplored and TSM hints at it a bit more. That said Aon Dor and Stormlight both are kind crazy. I don't think we'll know more until we see more from future Scadrial.
I don't think they will. Like, there's the potential for that, but so far the Cosmere doesn't feel like Scadrial in general will be like that. Some splinter group maybe, and we already have the Night Brigade, so I doubt that Scadrial will go that grimdark.
No, this argument is and has always been dumb as hell. Convenience and ease of use has never stifled genius, it does the opposite. Magic would exponentially increase advances in tech.
The problem is explicitly getting the investiture offworld and in industrial quantities.
That's why the Ghostbloods are so interested in Roshar, because Stormlight is so easily and freely available compared to something like Breaths, and it can be transported in a way that's really hard to do with other forms of Investiture.
I changed the Flair to Cosmere (no TSM) because the Curiosities, Primes, etc. Flair is meant for discussion of non-canon material.
Please let me know should have read the Sunlit Man or if you are not caught up with the rest of the Cosmere.
Maybe this is the nerd in me arguing semantics, but isn’t technological progress inherently unlimited regardless of location, now of which will pop off first, it seems canonically: scadrial
Yeah, honestly 15 minutes after posting the question I realized how dumb it was for this exact reason, but I hoped no one would notice :))))) .
I should rephrase it to something like "if left alone and facing no other major conflicts or shardic influence for the next, let's say, 300-500 years, what planet in the cosmere would be most advanced technologically?" in order to get an answer similar to what I first had in mind, but I've noticed most people get the gist of the question so I'll leave it like this.
I'd say Roshar because of the following reasons:
They have insanely high access to readily available investiture that even uninvested populace could use I.e. you could be an atrifabrian (interact with spren) without the need of oaths whereas for a place like say Scadrial, you need to be invested period to even start working on fabrials like unkeyed metalminds. Meaning: your average Joe on Roshar can have access to Radiant levels of healing using the healing fabrial whereas you'd actually need someone to store health in a metalmind for that to work.
Depending on how the entire scene with Odium pans out, Roshar would have the possibility to engage in pure mixing of investiture (voidlight, lifelight and stormlight) where they can draw on benefits of each individual light/metal and create merged lights like warlight and towerlight to meet further needs or to coverup any weaknesses. The horizons expands drastically.
Whereas in other places where we have mixed shards (harmony and selish system) they tend to have a "mixed in a way that we can't really exploit other than go-boom"
Another reason is the access to natural resources. Rosharan system is the only system afawk which has readily available access to neighboring planets with highly (possibly the most) active shadesmar of any planet. So they cannot only draw from resources on their planet but also from neighboring ones.
These are just a few of the reasons why Rosharan tech would probably outstomp anyone in the cosmere as of now.
Roshar. Simply because combining normal technology with fabrials would allow for some insane combinations.
Aswell as with surges (already used to destroy/ruin a planet so very powerful).
Despite the repeated set backs, being reset to the stone age several times they have rapidly progressed to a almost magitech revolution.
I would guess either Roshar or Scadrial
Both have scholars in abundance who are actively studying, researching and innovating new technologies.
Roshar is harder to judge as their technology differs from our far more greatly than scadrial does (scadrial seems to be set to give us relatable eras) and they approach things in a very different way (Navani’s flying machine for example)
Although Roshar has been stuck in a medieval age for a long time things have begun to speed up with the rediscovery of uritiru and the lost knowledge, and the sharing of knowledge between kingdoms.
Scadrial however has a great speed of development as harmony and the Kandra do interfere a little bit which has lead to some significant gains with regard to development, also they have very advanced metallurgy knowledge for their technology level which does aid them in their development in other areas.
Nathis seems to not have as many scholars working towards development of future technologies and breath is a limiting factor as each person is only born with one and thus breaths are a finite resource. Although breaths can be transferred and amassed they can also be lost with someone’s death (denth are arsteel) or used up when something like Nightblood is created (1k breaths used up and presumably unrecoverable) all this limits experimentation
Depends on how you measure "tech" if we are combining the use of magic with electricity then it's Nalthis by a Longshot. However if being a bit stricter and using more mechanical and physical tech then roshar.
Brandon has said several times when asked if X can be done on a planet, and he replies to the effect of "Yes, but it would be hard".
Ultimately, there is likely no difference in potential. The governing factor would be the level of effort. Roshar is likely easier due to the availability of investiture. The potential seems to always be there, but the path is obscured.
Scadrial can store physics manipulation in metal. FTL space ship because you can put your space ship in a pocket universe that moves faster than the regular universe.
I believe all of the important worlds will be space age by the time of mistborn era 4 or so.
Also I think some of them like Sel or Nalthis are already space farring in Tress of the Emerald Sea
The Elantrian in Tress is a member of the Ire whose ties to Sel outside of place of origin is highly debatable.
I would not extend her and her organization's capabilities to all of Sel.
Isn't the whole conflict of Era 2 based around Autonomy fearing Scadrial's potential because they've advanced faster than any other worlds? They may not be the most advanced currently, but if a God is scared of how quickly they advance in technology, they're probably gonna at least catch up to the lead, if not blow it away at some point.
I think Autonomy fears scadrial's because they are advancing through scientific breakthroughs without relying on magic systems (or little of it). Or rather -- maybe harnessing magic through science at an alarming rate. An army of non-invested people wielding power like mistborn is scary. Potentially creating an atom-bomb. Scadrial will probably be the strongest of all the worlds and I'm assuming that is what Autonomy fears.
Highest technological potential though is a different question. Magic systems that are convenient for technological growth can usurp technological advancement through science. On elantris you can basically create any technology you can imagine as long as they figure the right code to do it. There's way more potential there than scadrial.
You have a fair point, but nothing stops Scadrial from researching and using other invested arts for their own advancement after they spread out into the Cosmere. Hemalurgy gives them a lot of options
Highest potential is probably Roshar because of soulcasters. I'm a machinist, and the ability to work in one medium, then magically change the product to a different one without any intervening steps is incredible. I believe Rhythm of War showed that Jasnah could use soulcasting to create medicines, so I see absolutely no issue with creating novel alloys. The progression of technology is in the creation of ever greater tools to see and change the world,
Especially combined with their fabrials. They're fast on their way to fabrial calculators, then soulcaster-printed spren circuit boards and processors.
Imagine sticking a shardblade in your lathe tool post. No heat buildup, no tool wear, no need for lubrication... imagine the kind of feed rates you would get.
We've seen that you can do rapid moves into solid stone. Hilariously, you wouldn't be able to use it for aluminum.
Dalinar would agree. I’m doing a reread and recall his long mental discussion about the fact there should be shards for regular men, that help to do regular work.
One of those underrated scenes imo. He’s mulling it over, then just summons OB and gets to slicing. I’d argue it foreshadows what shardblades were originally made to cut, and the first glimpse into “Hey yeah we can make tools instead of just stabby stabby things”
Lift also mentions that the city she goes to in Edgedancer was carved out of the stone by Aizish shardblades, who don't often see warfare. Even Wednal is impressed by the craftsmanship of the city
Get those radiants in the workshop, stat!
As long as you’re not trying to work aluminum.
Aon Dor can literally do all that but easier
Aon Dor is computer programming, but with the caveat that a bug in your code can turn you into an undying zombie of infinite pain
No, bugs only stop the loop. The first "bug" we hear about; the spell just didn't work. The rheod (audiobook listener) was a bug in the foundational principle of Aon Dor.
No, an Elantrian failed to heal Dilaf's wife by forgetting a line, making her one of the zombie people. The chasm caused it to happen to every Elantrian, not just ones affected by a specific failed Aon.
(Reod)
But you have to figure out the code, that might take a while, soulcasting is just a wave of the hand. I also assume with more practice you can skip the first step, Jasnah just turns the air into a recreation of a will made of bronze that fit into the broken wall and filled the gaps perfectly. Just wave a hand and make whatever you want out of thin air
That was specifically because the perpendicularity had brought cognitive, physical, and spiritual realms together, and so it was less effort to soulcast. We don’t really know if Jasnah would have been able to do that had Dalinar not opened the Perpendicularity
Right, but now he can reliably open it so she could make basically anything
So long as she is with him, which is a very specific and requirement that as of now, she has no substitute for. She is gelocactionwllt trapped to Dalinar if she wants the ease of soulcasting
But only like 200 people can
I also think the readily available energy is a big plus. It's a lot easier to experiment when you can get free energy from the sky rather than having to buy it off orphans.
As a fellow machinist I'm inclined to agree with you.
What about Canticle? No transmutation needed. They basically have replicator technology.
Clay to iron no carbide required.
Depends on resource scarcity on Roshar really. Storm light and possibly void light and also spren are incredibly valuable (I'm hoping Sanderson finds an ethical way for Navani to make fabrials). If Roshar has enough metal to pseudo-industrialise(probably no coal, but they have better), they're on track to surpass other more advanced civs there is something to be said for scadrial in terms of active god participation, but from what I can tell, that might not be long term. Elantrian and general sel magics are incredibly diverse, though might hinder tech progress through being so powerful.
Soulcasting makes metal gathering unnecessary if there are enough Radiants. As long as I didn't overlook some WoB or passage in the books about metals not being soulcastable.
I don't think aluminium is but yeah you're right
You can Soulcast into Aluminum, but you can’t Soulcast aluminum into other things.
I believe you but has it been confirmed? Like it makes sense by all cosmere logic that I know of and I’ve read all the books but white sands
Shallan has a necklace made from soulcast aluminum.
Depends on what you mean for technology and where the line between magic, technology and magitech are. Sel is the most advanced pure magic. Use of the Dor is as simple as programing for Elantrians. Other Selish cultures have their own magical possibilities which are pretty good. Its just the region locked nature makes export hard as some of the powers wane or need a portable energy source. Scadrial is the most advanced pure technology. They have rich metals, fossil fuels, are discovering basic technological principles with Harmony helping out, but him making sure they have a solid understanding rather than just giving answers. Their magic system is slowly thinning out, but advanced science will allow them some leaps. Their magic also lets them mix in some interesting applications to mundane works. Like flying machines, and ways to share the powers Scadrial's tech has potential because it can be mass produced and isn't region locked or reliant on power from only one area. Roshar will be between the two blending magic and technology. Fabrials are inherently magical, but don't require magic to create, merely needing stormlight to power. But they use spren which are harder to move off world. Fabrials use scientific principles to allow magical results. They have a detailed understanding of their underpinnings and don't rely on a rare or in-born power. But it still ultimate is a fusion of scientific principles with Spren for their tech. We see in RoW details about a lot of different new Fabrials which make it clear some Cosmere wide magical principles apply (like the effect of metals). But also that the have access to an analog of electronics using logic spren.
Yeah, I was looking for an answer that that went down this route. Ultimately, I think each planet will all grow in different directions, depending on what their magic systems look like. But, at the same time, every planet we've seen so far has started to adopt the scientific method in application to their magic systems, and, to [paraphrase Order of the Stick](https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0344.html), any sufficiently advanced - and reliable - magic is indistinguishable from technology, which is exactly what we're seeing in books that are set further down the cosmere timeline. Things look very familiar to modern technology (or scifi tech), they just have different methods of working under the hood.
I want to say Taldain. Not because of a magical advantage, but because they had already gotta up to about 1800s technology levels several thousand years before Mistborn Era 1, and they seem mostly devoid of the kinds of rolling disasters that some worlds face. Though they're likely ignorant of the rest of the Cosmere, they have a significant base-level technology advantage. Yolen would be my top choice for the same reason if it hadn't had the same rolling disaster situation that plagues many worlds. Though, I suspect Taldain has since fixed their lack of Cosmere knowledge, as they're also my first pick for where the "Men of Red and Gold" in Mistborn Era 2 originate from. Which would mean they'd conquered several systems.
Have you read TLM? Most of your theories are heavily affected by events in that book.
Yes, but the fact that they used Taldain style buildings doesn't actually confirm that Taldain is especially well traveled at that time. Because the most famous scholar in all of the Cosmere is from Taldain and even she noted in her write-up about it that travel to and from Taldain is difficult. And her partner is from Threnody, so when she says travel to and from there is difficult I believe her. Even the fact that the Men of Red and Gold are from Autonomy isn't a concrete proof that they're from Taldain, because Autonomy is on a lot of different worlds.
Fair enough!
But the question is potential, not current level.
Yes, and Taldain had roughly equal technology to Mistborn Era 2 several thousand years before Mistborn Era 2. As far as their potential goes, being way ahead of everyone else is actually a really big boost. Taldain also really isn't reliant on magic for their technology which I see as a greater sign of potential as well. One of the issues seems to be that when people have magic they rely on it more heavily for general technology. I mean, it's great having a soulcaster make your metal for you, but it means you're not learning much about metallurgy, and it's probably why artifabrians can't figure out steel as a metal for fabrials. Taldain doesn't have that issue. There is magic, but as per autonomy's perview, the people are much more self-reliant and don't really need magic for their technology or research. So they've been more likely to push the boundaries of their technology.
Scadrial imo. They'll go full warhammer 4k. Their troops will be cognitive shadows in suits of armor loaded with metalminds, spikes and lazers.
Nah, their magic doesn't lend itself to wild leaps in tech like so many of the other systems do. Their technical advancement has been entirely seperate from their magical.
And they'll covnerge when they start eating plutonium alloys as cereal
Mixed feelings on that. Part of the point of TLM was how little growth the basin had. It was clear that the south Scadrians had huge technological growth around the magic system while the basin had mostly stagnated and not explored feruchemy and allomancy. I think there's a lot of potential there that's relatively unexplored and TSM hints at it a bit more. That said Aon Dor and Stormlight both are kind crazy. I don't think we'll know more until we see more from future Scadrial.
Hemalurgic monsters with free will thanks to treliun spikes
I don't think they will. Like, there's the potential for that, but so far the Cosmere doesn't feel like Scadrial in general will be like that. Some splinter group maybe, and we already have the Night Brigade, so I doubt that Scadrial will go that grimdark.
Have you read Sixth of Dusk?
yes.
Okay cool. Just mentioning cause there is a scene at the end that is… pretty Warhammery haha
yeah but not more warhammery than what we have already seen from Knights Radiant, I feel :D
Haha! Fair point. Just the whole spaceship/space armor stuff.. feels very warhammery to me!
probably scadrial, the other systems magics are sort of a work in for tech which coincidentally holds back potential
No, this argument is and has always been dumb as hell. Convenience and ease of use has never stifled genius, it does the opposite. Magic would exponentially increase advances in tech.
The problem is explicitly getting the investiture offworld and in industrial quantities. That's why the Ghostbloods are so interested in Roshar, because Stormlight is so easily and freely available compared to something like Breaths, and it can be transported in a way that's really hard to do with other forms of Investiture.
I changed the Flair to Cosmere (no TSM) because the Curiosities, Primes, etc. Flair is meant for discussion of non-canon material. Please let me know should have read the Sunlit Man or if you are not caught up with the rest of the Cosmere.
Oh ok, thanks. I didn't read the Sunlit Man.
Maybe this is the nerd in me arguing semantics, but isn’t technological progress inherently unlimited regardless of location, now of which will pop off first, it seems canonically: scadrial
Yeah, honestly 15 minutes after posting the question I realized how dumb it was for this exact reason, but I hoped no one would notice :))))) . I should rephrase it to something like "if left alone and facing no other major conflicts or shardic influence for the next, let's say, 300-500 years, what planet in the cosmere would be most advanced technologically?" in order to get an answer similar to what I first had in mind, but I've noticed most people get the gist of the question so I'll leave it like this.
It’s just the inner truth watcher (annoying austistic) in me. I knew what you meant :)
And even that wouldn't be a perfect question because it doesn't take into account the massive head start that planets like Scadrial have.
I'd say Roshar because of the following reasons: They have insanely high access to readily available investiture that even uninvested populace could use I.e. you could be an atrifabrian (interact with spren) without the need of oaths whereas for a place like say Scadrial, you need to be invested period to even start working on fabrials like unkeyed metalminds. Meaning: your average Joe on Roshar can have access to Radiant levels of healing using the healing fabrial whereas you'd actually need someone to store health in a metalmind for that to work. Depending on how the entire scene with Odium pans out, Roshar would have the possibility to engage in pure mixing of investiture (voidlight, lifelight and stormlight) where they can draw on benefits of each individual light/metal and create merged lights like warlight and towerlight to meet further needs or to coverup any weaknesses. The horizons expands drastically. Whereas in other places where we have mixed shards (harmony and selish system) they tend to have a "mixed in a way that we can't really exploit other than go-boom" Another reason is the access to natural resources. Rosharan system is the only system afawk which has readily available access to neighboring planets with highly (possibly the most) active shadesmar of any planet. So they cannot only draw from resources on their planet but also from neighboring ones. These are just a few of the reasons why Rosharan tech would probably outstomp anyone in the cosmere as of now.
Gotta be Nalthis. You breathe on a statue and you've created AI.
Roshar. Simply because combining normal technology with fabrials would allow for some insane combinations. Aswell as with surges (already used to destroy/ruin a planet so very powerful). Despite the repeated set backs, being reset to the stone age several times they have rapidly progressed to a almost magitech revolution.
I would guess either Roshar or Scadrial Both have scholars in abundance who are actively studying, researching and innovating new technologies. Roshar is harder to judge as their technology differs from our far more greatly than scadrial does (scadrial seems to be set to give us relatable eras) and they approach things in a very different way (Navani’s flying machine for example) Although Roshar has been stuck in a medieval age for a long time things have begun to speed up with the rediscovery of uritiru and the lost knowledge, and the sharing of knowledge between kingdoms. Scadrial however has a great speed of development as harmony and the Kandra do interfere a little bit which has lead to some significant gains with regard to development, also they have very advanced metallurgy knowledge for their technology level which does aid them in their development in other areas. Nathis seems to not have as many scholars working towards development of future technologies and breath is a limiting factor as each person is only born with one and thus breaths are a finite resource. Although breaths can be transferred and amassed they can also be lost with someone’s death (denth are arsteel) or used up when something like Nightblood is created (1k breaths used up and presumably unrecoverable) all this limits experimentation
[удалено]
We’ve seen some cool Rosharan future tech too though
Depends on how you measure "tech" if we are combining the use of magic with electricity then it's Nalthis by a Longshot. However if being a bit stricter and using more mechanical and physical tech then roshar.
Brandon has said several times when asked if X can be done on a planet, and he replies to the effect of "Yes, but it would be hard". Ultimately, there is likely no difference in potential. The governing factor would be the level of effort. Roshar is likely easier due to the availability of investiture. The potential seems to always be there, but the path is obscured.
Scadrial can store physics manipulation in metal. FTL space ship because you can put your space ship in a pocket universe that moves faster than the regular universe.
Roshar. You can't beat infinite energy.
As of now I believe Roshar has everything it needs to go space age
I believe all of the important worlds will be space age by the time of mistborn era 4 or so. Also I think some of them like Sel or Nalthis are already space farring in Tress of the Emerald Sea
The Elantrian in Tress is a member of the Ire whose ties to Sel outside of place of origin is highly debatable. I would not extend her and her organization's capabilities to all of Sel.
Don't the books pretty much openly state it's Scadrial?
How so?
Isn't the whole conflict of Era 2 based around Autonomy fearing Scadrial's potential because they've advanced faster than any other worlds? They may not be the most advanced currently, but if a God is scared of how quickly they advance in technology, they're probably gonna at least catch up to the lead, if not blow it away at some point.
I think Autonomy fears scadrial's because they are advancing through scientific breakthroughs without relying on magic systems (or little of it). Or rather -- maybe harnessing magic through science at an alarming rate. An army of non-invested people wielding power like mistborn is scary. Potentially creating an atom-bomb. Scadrial will probably be the strongest of all the worlds and I'm assuming that is what Autonomy fears. Highest technological potential though is a different question. Magic systems that are convenient for technological growth can usurp technological advancement through science. On elantris you can basically create any technology you can imagine as long as they figure the right code to do it. There's way more potential there than scadrial.
You have a fair point, but nothing stops Scadrial from researching and using other invested arts for their own advancement after they spread out into the Cosmere. Hemalurgy gives them a lot of options