Society destroyed...

[goku]

i think one of the main factors would be exposure to weather.

and the illnesses that would follow.

but

assuming we would still have our houses, farmers, like me, would live fairly well.

plenty of milk and beef. :Glasses:

 

it's always good to be a farmer :naughty:

[CraigD]

but assuming we would still have our houses, farmers, like me, would live fairly well.

plenty of milk and beef. :Glasses:

 

it's always good to be a farmer :Waldo:

Whereas computer programmers, like me, (at least the ones who don’t live on farms), would be in dire shape within 100 days – nothing but a few acorns and mulberries, some songbirds and just maybe a squirrel. :Waldo:

 

The prevailing feeling among those of us living with in the Washington, DC beltway is (or, at least, in the late 1980s, was) that the most likely society-destroying event is unlikely to leave any of us to worry about survivial. :naughty:

[Tarantism]

ok craig, i see what you are saying, and it makes sense. HOWEVER the people that survived those events had a society and foundation to come back to, with docters, psychyatrists and such to help them. if 99% of society was gone, it is unlikely that we would have such things fall back on. the only chance for man would be to rally together and form new society. that would require setting aside all differences (which i think we have proven that, for the most part, we cannot do.).

[Boerseun]

I wonder...

 

It stands to reason that if 99% of people are killed through this hypothetical event, randomly, at that, the remaining 1% would be equally composed of doctors, lawyers, dentists, mechanics, and farmers as what constituted the initial population.

 

The question now is if the people who are capable of tending themselves and their remaining family members, like farmers and mechanically-minded people, will have any patience with people who cannot contribute to this new lifestyle. Imagine - you're out there looking after your animals and tending your crops, and along comes a tax lawyer. He's begging for food, 'cause his skills doesn't mean doodley squat in this new world. He can't contribute to your farm either, 'cause he knows nothing about farming. Same with most other services-oriented highly-paid individuals. They won't be able to contribute to this new society, so they'll be dependent on the goodwill of mechanically minded people able to look after themselves. The question is: will they?

 

And if they don't help support individuals who'se skills can't contribute on the short term, that'll be the end of advanced science and research as well. Scientists and researchers can't spend their time milking cows, they gotta research and teach to the next generation.

[CraigD]

… Imagine - you're out there looking after your animals and tending your crops, and along comes a tax lawyer. He's begging for food, 'cause his skills doesn't mean doodley squat in this new world. He can't contribute to your farm either, 'cause he knows nothing about farming. …

I think you’re overestimating the amount of training one needs to contribute to the sort of low-tech farm that would likely exist if fuel, machine parts, fertilizer, commercial seed, etc. were no longer available.

 

I’ve distinct memories of, at the tender young age of 6 or 7, being pressed into service on a farm (a horse stable, actually, but similar in principle). I was given a shovel and a wheelbarrow, shown a stall full of … farm material … and shown where the material was wanted. The technical details were left to me to work out, and work them out I did. I’m confident a tax lawyer could have managed as easily.

 

I’d bin at this sort of ultra-low-skilled labor for more than a month – there seemed an inexhaustible supply of it - before anyone told me about these things called work gloves, by which time I didn’t much need them. These days, after I’ve raised blisters under my gloves after such minor work as raking my woody suburban 1/4 acre, I miss those calluses!

[Tarantism]

The question now is if the people who are capable of tending themselves and their remaining family members, like farmers and mechanically-minded people, will have any patience with people who cannot contribute to this new lifestyle. Imagine - you're out there looking after your animals and tending your crops, and along comes a tax lawyer. He's begging for food, 'cause his skills doesn't mean doodley squat in this new world. He can't contribute to your farm either, 'cause he knows nothing about farming. Same with most other services-oriented highly-paid individuals. They won't be able to contribute to this new society, so they'll be dependent on the goodwill of mechanically minded people able to look after themselves. The question is: will they?

 

if 99% of society were gone, and a farmer refused to help a lawyer survive, the lawyer would probably try to kill the farmer and take his possesions. eventually the lawyer would die, due to the fact that he doesnt know how to live off the land like the farmer did, but when have humans ever thought about the "long run"

 

:confused:

[goku]

something i haven't seen yet:

what if the farmers taught the lawyers a thing or two about farming?

that's what i'd do.

[Tarantism]

something i haven't seen yet:

what if the farmers taught the lawyers a thing or two about farming?

that's what i'd do.

now thats the way to look on the brightside!

[WildRose1010]

One other thing you must take into account is humanity's will to survive and dominate. We fear death, and anything near it. Our primal instincts would come out in the beginning, but they would once again become refined. Humans just cannot help but become "better" than that which is around them.

[Tarantism]

One other thing you must take into account is humanity's will to survive and dominate. We fear death, and anything near it. Our primal instincts would come out in the beginning, but they would once again become refined. Humans just cannot help but become "better" than that which is around them.

i think that wheather or not humans become "better thant that which is around them" really depends on social norms and the situation around them. in the given situation, the survival of humanity would depend on wheather or not we could control our instincts and fears and work to build a new society. otherwise, we would all become scavengers and it would not be pretty.

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Bring it on I'm ready!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can weld, I can forge, I have the skills necesary to make metal (not the finances though sadly), I've made pottery from local earth, I've cut and shaped stone into axes and arrowheads (obsidian works best super sharp edges), I've made my own bow and can make reasonably accurate arrows, I've built my own generator (it's not pretty but it works reasonably well makes about 5 amps at 6v takes a lot of pedaling though.) I've even made rather unique powered vehicles from whatever scrap I could lay my hands on as for fuel my experiences with making boilers and steam engines could easily fill my needs until I could focus on other energy supplies. plus I've just got to say this FARMING RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

[Tarantism]

Bring it on I'm ready!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can weld, I can forge, I have the skills necesary to make metal (not the finances though sadly), I've made pottery from local earth, I've cut and shaped stone into axes and arrowheads (obsidian works best super sharp edges), I've made my own bow and can make reasonably accurate arrows, I've built my own generator (it's not pretty but it works reasonably well makes about 5 amps at 6v takes a lot of pedaling though.) I've even made rather unique powered vehicles from whatever scrap I could lay my hands on as for fuel my experiences with making boilers and steam engines could easily fill my needs until I could focus on other energy supplies. plus I've just got to say this FARMING RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

 

alright, in the event that 99% of society is destroyed, i am going to need your name, adress and phone number :)

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Has ATLAS SHRUGGED yet?

(don't understand the reference? go to your local library and check this book out. It's on of my faves!:) )

[TheBigDog]

DFINITLYDISTRUBD, are you saying that we would be in Galt's Gulch before the trouble hit? This is a fascinating thread. But I cannot help but feel that the Amish are laughing at us. Would someone have to break the news to them if this happened?

 

Boerseun, since you stated this so well, let me take you to a premise I had played with for a book several years ago. A scientist discovers an asteroid that is going pile into the earth and leave virtually no probability of surviving. There was no way of stopping this from happening. He decided not to tell anyone that it was happening - in fact he did his best to prevent anyone else from discovering it lest they set off a worldwide panic. Instead he decided to create methods of letting small population pockets survive. This was done with three groups protected from the event in different manners, each with enough supplies to outlast the devastation.

 

The fun I had with this was determining what supplies each would need - beyond food, water and clean air - to establish new society after the event. There are obvious needs to have men and women capable of reproduction, but what about races? Would there be a need for some sort of specifically diverse genetic representation? How about recording what had been? What kind of library would they need to understand earth's history, and the sum of mankind's gained knowledge? Or would we choose instead to emit certain facts in the hope that it would prevent their repeating, such as religion? If you wanted to have no religion in the new world, would that mean that only atheists would be allowed to be group members? And the Calendar, would we need to keep the same one with the same holidays, or make a new one that might be more logical? Would we keep the seven day week? How about language? Would we select a single language, or maintain several languages?

 

The idea was to set this into motion and then let the characters debate the different notions and see how their societies evolved over time after the initial decisions were made. And ultimately see what happened when they, generations later, regained contact with each other.

 

Some day I will pick this up again and see where it leads me.

 

Bill

[Boerseun]

Sounds like it could be an excellent read, web. Right up my alley!

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

A country boy can survive....Hank Jr.

[bpjg2fat]

alright, in the event that 99% of society is destroyed, i am going to need your name, adress and phone number :rolleyes:

 

 

If society is destroyed, mostlikely wouldn't the telephone polls and satelites be destroyed as well? why telephone number? :)