What if Every single human being on earths memory was erased

ryder · 14 Dec 2011 at 23:13

Every single human being on earths memory was erased, all media, files and documents destroyed, banks & currency reset to zero, and we had to re-form humanity as a whole? (also with this crazy scenario, assume ALL inventions are removed: No cars, Ipads, Lightbulbs, Absolutely nothing)
*NB: Buildings remain, but are empty.

What language would form?
What animals / foods would we eat first? (foxes? badgers?)
Would intelligence levels be less limited due to freedom of the mind?
Would racism still exist? or even be worse?
Would people make up new religions?

Would anything at all like the same laws come into place?

Just how conditioned are we by the history of the world?

cheechm · 14 Dec 2011 at 23:14

No possible answer.

cm1179 · 14 Dec 2011 at 23:15

survival of the fittest

Hyburnate · 14 Dec 2011 at 23:16

Urmm. I'd create a language.

ryder · 14 Dec 2011 at 23:18

So would the youth murder the old and weak?

JayMax · 14 Dec 2011 at 23:24

It would be a shagfest, count me in

Mat · 14 Dec 2011 at 23:26

Animal instincts would kick in, millions would die in a short amount of time and society would slowly rebuild itself via similar means I imagine.

Electronic Dave · 14 Dec 2011 at 23:35

Someone, somewhere would suddenly remember they left the iron on...oh wait

Are clothes an invention? Yes, so that means we'd all be naked....NOOOOOOO!

muon · 14 Dec 2011 at 23:39

Hyburnate said:
Urmm. I'd create a language.

Exactly, people are still inherently smart. Will just need to create a language. Any linguistics experts on here to say how long it will take?

JayMax · 14 Dec 2011 at 23:42

anyon said:
Exactly, people are still inherently smart. Will just need to create a language.

How many million years would this take though?

gropingmantis · 14 Dec 2011 at 23:45

Mat said:
Animal instincts would kick in, millions would die in a short amount of time and society would slowly rebuild itself via similar means I imagine.

The truth. Go back to the start...as in the proper start, living in caves slowly developing languages. See you all on OcUK forums in about 100,000 years.

I assumed that when you said "all memory erased" you mean everything, fresh install, like being born into an adult body and having to learn coordination etc from scratch.

dodgem · 14 Dec 2011 at 23:46

Electronic Dave said:
Someone, somewhere would suddenly remember they left the iron on...oh wait

Are clothes an invention? Yes, so that means we'd all be naked....NOOOOOOO!

Not good... that is not good!

Hopefully though people would slim down fast due to the lack of processed foods and nakedness would not be horrific but actually very sexy. Then we could begin the shagfest!

I presume though that loads of people would die very quickly (within a couple of months) due to a serious lack of food compared to the population, particularly in the UK.

Skillmister · 14 Dec 2011 at 23:46

'Murder' would be acceptable
'Rape' would be the norm

Cool lets go(notserious)

muon · 14 Dec 2011 at 23:49

gropingmantis said:
The truth. Go back to the start...as in the proper start, living in caves slowly developing languages. See you all on OcUK forums in about 100,000 years.

I assumed that when you said "all memory erased" you mean everything, fresh install, like being born into an adult body and having to learn coordination etc from scratch.

Are our brains the same as those from 100,000 years ago?

I'm pretty sure I've seen babies accidentally invent the wheel

, I'm sure there must be experiments out their testing intelligence.

gropingmantis · 14 Dec 2011 at 23:55

anyon said:
Are our brains the same as those from 100,000 years ago?

I'm pretty sure I've seen babies accidentally invent the wheel , I'm sure there must be experiments out their testing intelligence.

Are you sure that is not a result of what they see around them? If you were a baby and there were no wheels/fire/cars etc around would you be able to invent one?

Linkex · 15 Dec 2011 at 00:18

If you think about it, what separates us from the animals is that we think in words, not pictures. It's this that grants foresight, planning, and most importantly understanding. Without the tool of language, our cognitive ability would be seriously impaired to somewhere between current man and the ape.

Really the only question would be, which would happen first, would we invent a language within the first couple if generations, or would we degenerate into cavemen and have to evolve language all over again?

opstrat · 15 Dec 2011 at 00:19

we would probibly be confused and violence would kick in.

PermaBanned · 15 Dec 2011 at 00:22

I think religions would be created. I mean, all these perfectly sculpted buildings and seemingly magical pieces of technology that we can't even begin to wonder what they do can't just have evolved by chance, can they

.Lethal · 15 Dec 2011 at 00:26

ryder said:
Every single human being on earths memory was erased, all media, files and documents destroyed, banks & currency reset to zero, and we had to re-form humanity as a whole? (also with this crazy scenario, assume ALL inventions are removed: No cars, Ipads, Lightbulbs, Absolutely nothing)
*NB: Buildings remain, but are empty.

What language would form?
What animals / foods would we eat first? (foxes? badgers?)
Would intelligence levels be less limited due to freedom of the mind?
Would racism still exist? or even be worse?
Would people make up new religions?
Would anything at all like the same laws come into place?

Just how conditioned are we by the history of the world?

What do YOU think?

Gackt · 15 Dec 2011 at 00:28

Chaos.