How could you utterly destroy civilization as we know it by turning one element of civilization to dust?  Not food or water or air.  I'm talking about something that our civilization has created that could be destroyed, rendered useless and never to be remade again.

What one thing would it be?

And nothing "intangible" like love or compassion or anything touchy-feely, I mean a substance, a thing.  

Imagine if you had a device that could render this one thing completely useless, never to be remade again.  

What would it be?

And how would it's elimination alter our civilization?

How would we circumvent its destruction and rise from the "dust" of its removal?

Oil.  If every drop of petroleum turned to dust our civilization would collapse.  Most people think of fuel, but there's far more than that.  No more plastics for one, most of our medicines, most of our rubbers, and fertilizers.  That last is the real killer - we cannot feed ourselves without petroleum-based fertilizers.

I think water would be the only thing more catastrophic.

Antibiotics.

Minor infections would rage out of control. Surgery would be nearly impossible. Bacteria would run rampant.

Telephone service (including internet). Jobs lost. Communication and information crippled. Yeah. Shit would happen.

Explosives. We'd be hitting each other with sharp bit of metal again for starters. Many major acts of landscaping and engineering would become very labor intensive again. Things could turn out all ancient Egypt on us in a heartbeat.

Petroleum is a good one.  Can it be circumvented through the use of other fuel sources and ceramics?

Antibiotics is just freakin' scary.  Would you effectively remove all natural forms of antibiotics, too?  Such as the antiobiotic effects of things like garlic and aloe?  Can this one be circumvented at all?  Or do you wind up with a society where those who have serious medical issues are ostracized from society?

Communication services is interesting.  How do you see it being "destoyed"?  Elimination of semi-conductors?  A nano-virus that thrives on electrical signals "feeding" on it?

Explosives as in gunpowder?  Say gunpowder stops working, or never worked to begin with?  This would force us to turn to things like pneumatics and gauss weapons to create the same effects.  Isn't it possible to force plutonium to critical mass through the use of lasers?

Quote from: MaddmanOil.  If every drop of petroleum turned to dust our civilization would collapse.  Most people think of fuel, but there's far more than that.  No more plastics for one, most of our medicines, most of our rubbers, and fertilizers.  That last is the real killer - we cannot feed ourselves without petroleum-based fertilizers.

I think water would be the only thing more catastrophic.

Er, you must be thinking of the whole hydrocabon range. Because the bulk of [non-potash] fertilizers and plastics (polyethelene) are sourced from natural gas, and as the Germans proved in WWII you can run a car on coal. Incidentally there is enough coal in the western NA ranges to run NA for centuries (after they finish sucking the methane out of them).

Hell, even a sizable portion of electricity is nuclear.

Sure there would be turmoil during an adjustment period, and standard of living would take a hit for many. But thanks to 300 million people, nuke subs, and a lot of tech savy people the US is likely to even stay on top.

I was thinking no explosives in general. No TNT, Cordite, or Semtex; it was like we never figured out black powder and every development afterward was never found. Fission could certainly be an alternative, there are still radiation issues, and AFAICT, even with laser triggering of a reaction, you're still gonna get a pretty large, and unfocused explosion.

Boobs.

Yes, oil is replaceable. There are huge world coal reserves. But if all the oil disappeared overnight, the disruption would be enormous and immediate. Most of our transportation systems would shut down, meaning very little capacity to get food to cities. The more power a country produces using coal or non-fossil fuels (nuclear, solar, wind, geothermal, etc.), the more of its industrial base could continue working and speed the transition to non-petroleum-based transport.

Also, for at least a few years, militaries around the world would be reduced to infantry armies and a few nuclear-powered ships.

Quote from: AosBoobs.

I'll second that.


how about electronics? electromagnetic pulse?

Quote from: AosBoobs.

You've obviously never been to France.

Braking fluid?

I don't know if it would destroy civilization, but since it's so ubiquitous, we'd certainly miss salt, and not just for nutrition reasons.

Quote from: JamesVI don't know if it would destroy civilization, but since it's so ubiquitous, we'd certainly miss salt, and not just for nutrition reasons.

Salt, for this discussion, would be essentially "food/water/air."  Humanity cannot survive without continuous ingestion of salt.  Period.

Quote from: beejazzTelephone service (including internet). Jobs lost. Communication and information crippled. Yeah. Shit would happen.

The worst thing is all the people missing out on their internet porn - that many sexually frustrated people would create major havoc.  (See Aos' entry)