Section II: Temporal Regression
Civilizations suffer a temporal regression as a result of the premature discovery of time travel. While such discoveries occasionally lead to a Temporal Uplift (see Section III), more often than not the unpredictability of temporal changes means that the civilization is set back decades or even centuries.

The archtypical example of this is CE32283, a habitable planet with a Class Three civilation. Thanks to the premature discovery and use of a temporal device by a very small number of people, no more than 1-3, the civilization’s technology level was inadvertently retarded for decades as key discoveries in anti-gravity repulsor fields were never made.

This was due to the lack of funds for a key startup company, which came from the settlement for a automobile accident that the founder’s uncle was involved in. The crash, avoided through temporal meddling, wound up delaying the widespread adoption of repulsor fields for more than a century.
