This is the way the world ends... - by Thirith
Thirith on 2/12/2015 at 07:16
Silly flight of fancy time: tonight I had a fairly elaborate dream - more of a pilot episode than the usual stream-of-consciousness silliness - in which mankind lost the ability to generate electricity. My dream was rather vague on the specifics, but basically it seemed like, at least for the next few months, and possibly forever, there was no man-made electricity. No power plants, no generators, no batteries. No electrical appliances. (And until now I didn't think of Deus Ex a single time...)
Which made me wonder: what do you think would happen in such a scenario? How would it change the world?
More generally, though: have you ever imagined any interesting apocalypses or dystopias? What were they?
henke on 2/12/2015 at 08:18
That's an interesting scenario. It gets pretty cold in the winters here and most people rely on electricity for heat. My dad still uses a wood furnace though, and we own a good chunk of forest land, so we'd stay warm, and probably be able to trade wood for food. Yeah we'd be ok.
demagogue on 2/12/2015 at 08:51
I wrote a short story once -- well it doesn't fit this scenario exactly, but it's apocalyptic in this kind of way -- where all of humanity died by some mysterious virus except for one small village in Papua New Guinea still living traditionally and completely isolated from the modern world.
Then like 500+ years later descendants of that tribe begin repopulating the earth and there is a movement to try to understand human technology and all the structure of modern life -- power grids and health care, transportation and communication, manufacturing and supply chains, etc. -- to see what they can recover and get operating again, from books they find in what they first have to decipher since it's an alien language to them.
I like the idea that suddenly we're the bewildering aliens on our own planet with awe inspiring technology that our heroes are struggling to comprehend.
heywood on 2/12/2015 at 11:32
Quote Posted by Thirith
Silly flight of fancy time: tonight I had a fairly elaborate dream - more of a pilot episode than the usual stream-of-consciousness silliness - in which mankind lost the ability to generate electricity. My dream was rather vague on the specifics, but basically it seemed like, at least for the next few months, and possibly forever, there was no man-made electricity. No power plants, no generators, no batteries. No electrical appliances. (And until now I didn't think of
Deus Ex a single time...)
Which made me wonder: what do you think would happen in such a scenario? How would it change the world?
More generally, though: have you ever imagined any interesting apocalypses or dystopias? What were they?
The hypothetical loss of electricity kicked off James Burke's famous series
Connections:
(
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xnwpsp_veetle-connections-s01e01-the-trigger-effect_tech) http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xnwpsp_veetle-connections-s01e01-the-trigger-effect_tech
Thirith on 2/12/2015 at 12:22
Cool, thanks! I'll check that out when I find a moment. It could definitely be an interesting scenario - and I imagine that'd be the case even more than when Burke did Connections.
faetal on 2/12/2015 at 19:23
The industrial revolution allowed for our rapid expansion by allowing a humongous amount of work to be done by fossil fuel combustion and electricity. Without the impetus of industrialisation, humanity will likely start to shrink by way of mass starvation and probably widespread resource wars. Once it hits an equilibrium, we'd likely end up in something like "pre-industrial era PLUS" since, we'd get to keep all of our accrued wisdom to move forward with.
rachel on 2/12/2015 at 20:47
Funny timing, I just watched (
https://vimeo.com/18781528) Threads, a terrifying account of nuclear war in 1984. Bleak doesn't even begin to describe it, don't click that link if you're feeling down.
Dem, I'd love to read that short-story of yours, that's a really interesting idea.
catbarf on 2/12/2015 at 20:59
Quote Posted by Thirith
Silly flight of fancy time: tonight I had a fairly elaborate dream - more of a pilot episode than the usual stream-of-consciousness silliness - in which mankind lost the ability to generate electricity. My dream was rather vague on the specifics, but basically it seemed like, at least for the next few months, and possibly forever, there was no man-made electricity. No power plants, no generators, no batteries. No electrical appliances. (And until now I didn't think of
Deus Ex a single time...)
Isn't that the premise to the TV show Revolution?
Quote:
The series is set in a post-apocalyptic near-future, in the year 2027. Fifteen years earlier, in the year 2012, a worldwide event known as "The Blackout" caused all electricity on Earth, ranging from computers and electronics to car and jet engines, to be disabled permanently. As a result, trains and cars stopped where they were, ships went dead in the water, and aircraft plummeted from the sky and crashed. In the years after the Blackout, people adapted to this new world without electricity. Because government and public order collapsed, several areas are ruled by militias and their generals.
If you want to see something really scary, watch 'American Blackout' on Youtube. It's a found-footage style faux-documentary about an attack shutting down the US energy infrastructure, and shows how quickly Western civilization breaks down without power.
Yakoob on 3/12/2015 at 20:17
This is an interesting scenario... I'll need to think about it a little before getting back here. Useful links / references posted, will check those out too, thanks guys!
Quote Posted by henke
That's an interesting scenario. It gets pretty cold in the winters here and most people rely on electricity for heat. My dad still uses a wood furnace though, and we own a good chunk of forest land, so we'd stay warm, and probably be able to trade wood for food. Yeah we'd be ok.
And in some places (like Arizona or India) it's crucial for cooling too. May not kill you like the cold, but definitely destroy your will to live mid-day :p
Quote Posted by faetal
Without the impetus of industrialisation, humanity will likely start to shrink by way of mass starvation and probably widespread resource wars. Once it hits an equilibrium, we'd likely end up in something like "pre-industrial era PLUS" since, we'd get to keep all of our accrued wisdom to move forward with.
I could see that happening, I mean the world's already very imbalanced and we do consume resources faster than they can be renewed. Though in my opinion it won't be the lack of resources per-se, like food, but rather terrible mis-distribution and waste. People are starving in the world who absolutely don't need to be, we do have enough food for everyone but capitalism and logistics hamper that.
Interestingly, I'm reading
Space Merchant right now, where in not-too-distant dystyopian future corporations managed to outpace resource fatigue by inventing replacement along the way (i.e. no meat = soy burgers, cultivated chlorella, synthetic materials, etc.)
