No , no, no. No cavemen...men living in caves, maybe....but no cavemen. When the shit hits the fan are you going to forget everything you know? Are you going to suddenly forget how to build things? How to make a gun? How to build an engine that will run on charcoal? How to build an animal trap? How to fix your car?
Oh, you don't know those things! You only now how to figure out video games and work an atm machine. Gee, there's a lot of people in Mexico and China that know how to build things, just ask Walmart. I guess you're fucked. :eyebrow:

Books, tools (hand held and non-computerized power tools), cars, locomotives, etc.

The internet was designed to find a way to deliver messages in the event of a nuclear war so it stands to reason any computers who haven't had their chips fried would be able to connect to the internet assuming they could find a working ISP. We'd have to take a step backwards, or sideways in technology until the infrastructure could be rebuilt.

You should read about John Titor, he explains technology in the future after more than 3 billion people are destroyed by WW3.

http://www.johntitor.com

X that provided the single biggest laugh of the holiday season. thank you. g :thumb:

You couldn't predict WWII in 1920 because one major factor hadn't really appeared on the scene yet -- Adolf Hitler.

I think the Civil War and the _attempt_ at an American Revolution could have been predicted. The presence of troops to crush such a revolt is pretty good evidence that it WAS predicted. The idea that it would succeed is another matter.

wolf: I don't think fulminate of mercury (and thus percussion caps and primers) are out of reach for a backyard chemist. Even smokeles powder isn't (nitric and sulfuric acids were known to the ancients, I believe -- certainly in medieval times. And the sulfuric isn't strictly necessary), though of course black powder is easier and safer to make.

The Improvised Munitions Manual and the books by people like Kurt Saxon all show how easy it can be to manufacture a lot of the basic necessities.

ah, John Titor pops up inthe cellar again. i think the fact that the Titor phenomenon is still talked about is pretty cool, whether or not it is true.

you had to mention Jon Titor.. didn't you.. damnit, I had to go and hunt down all that info again and re-read it.. *sigh* poor impulsive brain..

as to what technologies will survive.. that entirely depends on the scope and speed of the collapse.. as well as the cause. there are too many variables iinvolved and I don't really want to spend the time writing a novella in each case..

It depends...
 

There is a delightful novel by Larry Niven called Ringworld. The idea behind the book is a band of people search a ring where the internal side is built like a planet (Think the ring in the game Halo, but 1 million miles in diameter). When they begin to search the ring it takes a while before they meet the inhabitants, but eventually they come across some.

Basically what had happened is the civilisation that had been created on the ring fell when they ran out of power to control the hovering buildings and all the cities were turned to rubble as they fell, and the people resorted to barbarians living in the ruins.
The ring itself was made of metal with about 40 feet of land above it (If the numbers are wrong forgive me the point is still the same). This stopped the people from bringing civilisation back because there were no elements for them to harvest, and technology could not evolve like it had on Earth initially.
However, they did come across some floating buildings, i.e. those that had their own power, and some buildings with defence mechanisms still functioning.

The point I am trying to make is, technology will only survive as long as there is energy to power it, and when we run out of power, technology will have to evolve again.

I know this is based on a fictional book, and we have the fortune of still having things that didn't rely on power to fall back on, but you can see where I'm coming from.

And as for your question about the radio, she an only listen to it if there is still someone broadcasting something, regardless of if the radio itself is working. Chances are you'd just get some government warning over and over again.
Or Abba repeats.

Whatever happens, cockroaches will survive.

http://scienceblogs.com/clock/upload.../cockroach.jpg

I had to look up Titor. Interesting but not really practical.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor

I'm gonna prefect my fermentation and distilling skills.

Liquor's not going out of style, and it is fungible. I can drink it, I can trade it, I can use it as a disinfectant or as firestarter.

Neon.

I'm not aware of any other sort of electric lamp that a reasonable number of living people know how to manufacture on a small, local scale with simple technology: all you really need are glass tubes, relatively pure neon/argon/mercury, heat (forced air natural gas torches), and a good vacuum pump. It happens to be energy efficient, also.

The components themselves (glass tubes, transformers) strike me as fairly impervious to EMF, too, if you're worried about some sort of nuclear devastation/sunspots knocking things out -- I think you'd have a better chance of scrapping and salvaging neon than a fluorescent system, anyway.

bicycles

http://bamboobikestudio.com/products...oo-bike-frame/


This should keep BigV busy.

I am always skeptical of doomsday scenarios. Bad times are the way of history. People will just roll with the punches.

However, when I think about the future, I think about Solar powered cars, cleaner oceans, renuable energy, affordable techonogy for all, no paper books, no paper money, artificial habitats for species once on the brink of extenction, but when I think about people, I do draw a blank.:unsure: