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

Interesting.  I've always seen porn as creating sexual frustration, not alleviating it.  

Quote from: VellorianCommunication 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?

Hell, if I knew how to do it I might have tried it by now!:D

Quote from: Elliot WilenYes, 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.

Oil is only used to generate roughly 2-3% of the electricity in the US.

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

Thus my mentioning nuke subs and 300 million people to draw an infantry army from.  The nuke powered aircraft carriers would become enormous troop carriers I guess.

Also "a few years" is more than a little over the top.  Where they are a priority they'll move faster. Plus artilery, even if it is oxen/human/etc. pulled will remain in the picture. Oh, and Calvary units will get back some horses.

I didn't even get into ethanol and bio-diesel.  Small ethanol batch plants aren't that tough to set up at all, and right now here in Canada we are starting to see a lot more of them done up in a co-gen sort of way with cattle feedlots.


P.S.  I see the most devestating part of removing any common substance in a magically fast and complete manner is people going "WTF, how did that happen and is it going to happen again, and what is it going to happen with next?"

I don't think there's a lot of areas in the world that would deal very well if all the finished metals like steel suddenly (or even gradually) went away.  Metallurgy's one of those things we take pretty seriously for granted.  It's foundational.

Quote from: TonyLBI don't think there's a lot of areas in the world that would deal very well if all the finished metals like steel suddenly (or even gradually) went away.  Metallurgy's one of those things we take pretty seriously for granted.  It's foundational.

Now THAT would be a tough one to handle, if you could blanket cover all metal.  Even just iron alone would put a serious kink in things for a while....plus there would be the whole massive subsidance and loss of gravity as a huge portion of the earth's core disappeared.

It'd be a real nasty question whether society could get enough out of the collapsing infrastructure to develop and produce some workable non-metal alternatives (plastics, ceramics ... heck, people are talking about making high-rises out of cellulose, so I have no idea what's possible any more) before the collapse reached the point of knocking everything back to the bronze age.

I suspect that finding something that you could make machine tools and factories out of would be the real trick, but that's just my intuition.

Like Maddman, I'd have to go with petrol

In theory we could find alternatives, but our civilization would not survive it's loss.  Our society runs on oil.  Food is transported to our towns and cities using it

It's a shame Tim probably won't have the time to post to this thread, because he'd be able to tell us exactly what would happen to our cities when the food runs out - in some detail

Continuity of Government would probably survive in the States, the Major Incident Plan might hold in the UK, the Swiss probably come out on top and parts of the developing world would hardly notice, but for the developed world it would be TEOTWAWKI as we say in the trade

Quote from: AosBoobs.

I chuckled, but then I thought about it seriously for a moment. What if mankind were to all become infertile all at once?

Quote from: el diablo roboticoI chuckled, but then I thought about it seriously for a moment. What if mankind were to all become infertile all at once?

Including Sean Connery?

Quote from: Elliot WilenYes, 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.

Yes, the real impact that the loss of all petroleum resources and reserves would have would be dependent on what sort of alternative infrastructure is already in place.  In all likelihood, the immediate disruption would offset any alternative resources available in most places.  Think of it like walking up a down-escalator.  If you can walk faster than the escalator is moving, you'll eventually make your way to the top; but if you're walking slower than the escalator moves, eventually you'll be carried all the way to the bottom.

!i!

Here is my answer:

Dies the Fire
by S. M. Stirling

"What is the foundation of our civilization? asks Stirling (Conquistador) in this rousing tale of the aftermath of an uncanny event, "the Change," that renders electronics and explosives (including firearms) inoperative. As American society disintegrates, without either a government able to maintain order or an economy capable of sustaining a large population, most of the world dies off from a combination of famine, plague, brigandage and just plain bad luck. The survivors are those who adapt most quickly, either by making it to the country and growing their own crops—or by taking those crops from others by force. Chief among the latter is a former professor of medieval history with visions of empire, who sends bicycling hordes of street thugs into the countryside. Those opposing him include an ex-Marine bush pilot, who teams up with a Texas horse wrangler and a teenage Tolkien fanatic to create something very much like the Riders of Rohan. Ultimately, Stirling shows that while our technology influences the means by which we live, it is the myths we believe in that determine how we live. The novel's dual themes—myth and technology—should appeal to both fantasy and hard SF readers as well as to techno-thriller fans."

This is a great series.

-RangerJim

Quote from: RangerJimHere is my answer:

Dies the Fire
by S. M. Stirling

This is a great series.

-RangerJim

it is a good series, but the pagan stuff gets on my last nerve with all the "earth mother" blah-blah'ing.  still think it would be a fine d20 setting.

someone mentioned it up-thread, but a worldwide EMP would be pretty nasty.  sure, it wouldn't destroy civilization outright, but it'd certainly cull the herd.  entire careers gone, rioting (and more than likely outright murder) at banking/loan/credit companies, transportation of food/medicine/etc gone...all adds up to a pretty tough future.


-k

Quote from: mattormegAntibiotics.

That's a huge one.  Anesthetics is another major innovation that makes surgery possible.  Imagine if all surgery had to be done without pain killers or being able to knock a person out.

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.

Agreed on oil. I doubt you can walk into room in the western world without being surrounded by products of the petrochemical industry one way or another. Communications and food distribution are just 2 more vital features of society that would collapse without oil.

I got a whole game project centering on what would happen if you blotted out the sun.

It's a big mess.