one of my favorite series, by SM Stirling, posits that on March 17, 1998, at 6:15 PST, the modern world ended.
Electricity, the gas laws, gunpowder-- all that disappeared. so, no working IC/steam engines, no modern industry, no guns.
in the resulting worldwide collapse over the next few months, 95-99% of humanity dies, from the chaos, hunger, and disease. many people are paralyzed in place, believing against all hope that the lights would turn back on. other people try to organize the survivors, which either succeeds or fails depending on their circumstances (you're toast if you're in Manhattan, no matter what you do; on the opposite side, if you live in Iowa, it's very hard to up and die).
the few survivors band together, with access to the dead cities, some remembrance of 20th century technology, and history.
in the US, pretty much all of the Eastern Seaboard/California collapses. Portland and parts of Oregon barely survive, along with parts of Idaho, Nebraska, and Iowa, although not in forms we would recognize today.
so, the question is-- where were you on Mar 17, 1998, and what would you have done once you found out about the Change (through the falling airplanes, your guns not working, etc)?
Electricity, the gas laws, gunpowder-- all that disappeared. so, no working IC/steam engines, no modern industry, no guns.
in the resulting worldwide collapse over the next few months, 95-99% of humanity dies, from the chaos, hunger, and disease. many people are paralyzed in place, believing against all hope that the lights would turn back on. other people try to organize the survivors, which either succeeds or fails depending on their circumstances (you're toast if you're in Manhattan, no matter what you do; on the opposite side, if you live in Iowa, it's very hard to up and die).
the few survivors band together, with access to the dead cities, some remembrance of 20th century technology, and history.
in the US, pretty much all of the Eastern Seaboard/California collapses. Portland and parts of Oregon barely survive, along with parts of Idaho, Nebraska, and Iowa, although not in forms we would recognize today.
so, the question is-- where were you on Mar 17, 1998, and what would you have done once you found out about the Change (through the falling airplanes, your guns not working, etc)?
Comment