cut your finger, die from infection due to no one making antibiotics..... not so great... though the death is a releif because you have been in agony for the past 2 years from kidney stones that the local witch doctor was able to cure...
Is a return to the "dark ages" possible?
- Thread starter Fiocca
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cut your finger, die from infection due to no one making antibiotics..... not so great... though the death is a releif because you have been in agony for the past 2 years from kidney stones that the local witch doctor was able to cure...
I know roughly how a steam engine works. I wouldn't stand a chance of making one. How many people do you think would be able to make one?
Plenty, almost all mechanical engineers for one
With access to a library I could. With access to right book I could build pretty much anything so could you.
That can be said for anyone on almost any discipline today but do or can people do it? Certainly not!
I know I have the potential to learn and work on particle physics but I know I will probably rip my eyeballs out and use them as testicles out of frustration in trying to make the kind of progress that full time physicists make so easily!
Just because someone can, doesn't always mean they "can" if that makes sense
Sure, but are you going to do that when there are many more pressing matters that need sorting first? It's nice to think we'd go to a library and learn how to build steam engines - we wouldn't. We'd be fighting for the left over cans of food and burning anything that will burn. Would we be teaching our kids to read - maybe, at first. That would be lost too before long.
That can be said for anyone on almost any discipline today but do or can people do it? Certainly not!
I know I have the potential to learn and work on particle physics but I know I will probably rip my eyeballs out and use them as testicles out of frustration in trying to make progress!
Just because someone can, doesn't always mean they "can" if that makes sense
Sure you could, we are not talking about particle physics though, we are talking about practical applications like steam engines and such like.
Not everyone is capable, even when given instructions in detail. That's the whole point of the above few points posted by some of us!
This is always obvious to any IT enthusiast when dealing with people with problems ;p
RTFM just doesn't work on many modern people!
This is always obvious to any IT enthusiast when dealing with people with problems ;p
RTFM just doesn't work on many modern people!
Haha, with the right amount of motivation however I would disagree.
If you told them that unless you RTFM and do it yourself you will be dead by dawn I suspect that they would suddenly become very capable.
Soldato
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Maybe nuclear war? We may all get pwnd by each other and society has to start again? I suppose that's one way of living in the "dark ages".
Yes, but it will be the how to skin a rabbit or how to grow potatoes manual. People in less civilised parts of the planet would fair better - we'd be in big trouble. It would take generations for us to get to grips with farming and providing for ourselves properly - essentialy relearning what's previously been forgotten - and in that time the knowledge would be lost.
How many people have allotments or vegi gardens do you think, or understand how to build things, have skills in butchery, husbandry, artisanship.
You underestimate what people know, not everyone has to know everything, they never have.
But then you have to factor in the human condition. With desperation (since they would otherwise die by dawn) the results wouldn't be too favourable I'd imagine!
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Ah, we might be coming at this from a different angle. I'm talking about if civilsation has already fallen - as in nearly everyone has been wiped out by something.
I'm talking about the loss of oil and a restructuring of the way in which we live as per the OP.
I went off on one then, and I agree
There'd be some painful restructuring and maybe some back to basics living for a while - unless it kicks off a nuclear war. In that case i'll stick with my previous stance.