Doomsday scenario No. 4859491556

[disappoint]

It's ok to play so here we go...

Imagine an interstellar cloud (content unknown) heading toward our solar system. Upon reaching Earth it changes matter ever so slightly but in a way that conductors no longer allow the flow of electrons as we depend on. In a matter of a few seconds every single device depending on the flow of electrons is stopped. Nothing works.

People miraculously are unaffected...

Don't people require the flow of electrons to live? Pretty miraculous to affect everything but people.

Light pollution would disappear! Imagine the views!!

Stargazing the new internet porn? I don't think so.

 

[dank69]

Don't people require the flow of electrons to live? Pretty miraculous to affect everything but people.



...

Being the ignoramus that I am, I was wondering the same thing. So I looked it up. Apparently no, we run on ions or some such voodoo. My eyes started glazing over after a few sentences though so...

 

[bobdole369]

So here's my generic SHTF scenario plan. Upon anything of that nature, the wife knows she is to go to the local grocery store and basically steal all the pharmacy drugs that we will need. I will be going to another store and getting all of the bottle water and canned food I can. We will rendezvous in the middle of these two stores. (not far from each other). We will then quickly evaluate the situation, if it is possible we will head toward the water (about 30 minute drive) and take out a sail boat. If this isn't going to work but we still have transportation we will take back roads up north about an hour or two. This should get us into a very unpopulated area where we can lay low for awhile.

A couple flaws in this plan:

1. Everyone else will do the same thing. You'll need to be first, and you'll need to be armed - well-armed, and willing to shoot people dead.

2. You can only carry so much bottled water and canned food. Since in this scenario electricity has stopped flowing - the watermakers on the sailboat are dead. It is far easier and more economical to steal something that will allow you to make water from seawater. So you'll need fuel and matches, and a tarp, something to fashion a burner from.

3. Your canned food will only last so long. Better to find enough fishing gear and lures/bait to enable you to live on the water.

4. Are you going to walk the 30 minute drive to the marina? With all of your bottled water and canned goods? Remember - 1 gallon per person per day for drinking. Water = 8 pounds per gallon. You should have roughly a shopping cart full of water and another full of canned foods. Doesn't really matter what it is. That will last a week, and weigh a couple hundred pounds, hopefully you and your wife will be able to push the carts through all the stopped cars and mayhem, and still be able to fire on marauders.

5. I trust that you are headed towards - the ocean. You'll need to murder the crew on the sailboat to take it over. Also you'll need a way to move the boat out of dock without power. Sails? Don't count on it in close quarters. Are you an experienced sailor? You won't be able to tack into the wind if the wind is going the wrong way in the harbor. Do you know where the channels are, and how much your stolen vessel drafts? Very important bit there.

It's very likely that the vessel will have a few hundred pounds of water and diesel on board (for the generators and the main motor to move around in the harbor). It's also very likely to have at minimum a couple handguns or a rifle hidden onboard somewhere too. Most boats will carry a complement of basic first aid and medications too (stuff like anaphylactic kits, a defib, tourniquets, emerg blankets, anti-emetic, anti-nausea, painkillers, both conventional and narcotic, etc.)

 

[bobdole369]

The terminator would no longer be a word used by scientists.

That would be because the scientists would either be cooked alive or frozen because of the now constant solar radiation. Daytime temps would exceed 300F, and nighttime would get below -100F. Our atmosphere wouldn't last very long, and quickly the earth would become mars. The oceans boil on one side and freeze on the other.

 

[IcePickFreak]

Being the ignoramus that I am, I was wondering the same thing. So I looked it up. Apparently no, we run on ions or some such voodoo. My eyes started glazing over after a few sentences though so...

From how I understand it, it's positive and negatively charged ions that will be attracted to their opposite and then flip their charge which in turn creates the electrical impulse to keep the signal moving down the line.

 

[dank69]

From how I understand it, it's positive and negatively charged ions that will be attracted to their opposite and then flip their charge which in turn creates the electrical impulse to keep the signal moving down the line.

There's your answer Ruby, we can just convert everything to run on ions. Should be easy.

 

[IronWing]

I vision magnets going on strike. Since no one seems to know how they work, maybe they'll stop working. Across America, millions of women will end up with bruised toes.

 

[JTsyo]

It's ok to play so here we go...

Imagine an interstellar cloud (content unknown) heading toward our solar system. Upon reaching Earth it changes matter ever so slightly but in a way that conductors no longer allow the flow of electrons as we depend on. In a matter of a few seconds every single device depending on the flow of electrons is stopped. Nothing works.

People miraculously are unaffected. Little do they know what's happened. Lots of ideas and theories from electromagnetic pulse warfare to coronal mass ejections of historic proportions and their resulting geomagnetically induced currents have trashed the infrastructure.

Of course it gets deeper when even the magneto ignition Troy Bilt snow thrower no longer turns over, hand crank flashlights kept in so called shelters refuse to charge or illuminate. Piezoelectric ignition cigar lighters no longer spark (but matches work). Gas appliances depending on thermocouples no longer keep their pilot lights on.

A diesel engine that's completely mechanical should run but if it gets cold you're SOL because the glow plugs won't work.

I think it would get cold pretty fast.

Imagine having to re-engineer just about everything from scratch. Yeah you think losing the power grid to a severe solar storm is bad (and it is) but this takes the cake. Luckily it's just fiction. (but you never know, right? )

Throw in gun powder not working and you get Dies the Fire.

It's not just cold, cities die. We would be talking billions dead. We wouldn't have the means to get the food to the population. Those that live on farms near cities would be screwed to as refuges stream out. Only those away from large population centers would have a chance.

For those that survive, we could probably get by on 1800s life. You might still be able to get some tech with mechanical power transmission and storage. Maybe mechanical computers for basic things and optics for information transmission. Not sure what would create an optic/mech bridge though.

 

[yllus]

There's a really terrific sci-fi series called The Greatwinter Trilogy which has a plot similar to this. It's one of the most inventive and original series I've ever read.

In Sean McMullen's glittering, dynamic, and exotic world two millennia from now, there is no more electricity, wind engines are leading-edge technology, librarians fight duels to settle disputes, steam power is banned by every major religion, and a mysterious siren "Call" lures people to their death. Nevertheless, the brilliant and ruthless Zarvora intends to start a war in space against inconceivably ancient nuclear battle stations.

 

[69Mach1]

This was more or less the plot of an old SF short story I was reading a few months ago. The main difference being that it was a device that caused the disruption of electrical power and diesel engines would still work. It was interesting, but I think at that point that most of civilization will break down and all but a very few won't live through it. We have way too high of population density to go back to horse and buggy days.

 

[rivan]

Everyone knows that ATOT is run on cogs and gears.

I heard it was powered by the blood of innocents.

 

[MattRobertson]

Throw in gun powder not working and you get Dies the Fire.

Bingo. But there was more to it than gunpowder not working. Basically explosive effects all were slowed down, so gunpowder worked in a sense... it just fizzled. In a related bit of bad news, steam boilers would not build up pressure. So forget about steam engines.

Its an awesome first three books that more or less can be considered concluded in a way if you stop there. Just don't get sucked into the ones after. The Amazon reviews can spell out why.

That series will give you a real good idea of what your priorities ought to be: Lots of seed, plowshares, implements and a horse/wagon to get miles and miles away from any population center.

When the food runs out in a few weeks, the only thing edible near millions of people will be on two legs.

 

[bobdole369]

We saw in New Orleans - a precursor of what can happen. And that happened in just a few days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretna,_Louisiana#Hurricane_Katrina_controversy

 

[Perknose]

Problem is psychology is not a part of this difficult scenario. Simple stockpiling and defenses may get you by for a few months. Looking forward the future isn't clear nor bright. This leads to anxiety, depression and ultimately turning to empty, mindless specters.

Even the best training in survival and will to survive will wear thin. Everyone is different and no one can last a normal lifetime.

This is the classic, "the living will envy the dead" scenario, or as we also know it, Cleveland.

 

[Perknose]

You're right. As long as I have my wife though, I'll be happy. I have no problem with living off the land, hanging out, making camp, fishing, hunting and staying off the grid.

Until your appendix bursts.

 

[TecHNooB]

if feynman could post a reply to this, it would be epic.

 

[SandEagle]

for some reason, your post invoked a childhood story in my mind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Monsters_Are_Due_on_Maple_Street

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

What happens if a big asteroid hits Earth? Judging from realistic simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad.

 

[Perknose]

What happens if a big asteroid hits Earth? Judging from realistic simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad.

I admit it, I lol'ed.

 

[Gothgar]

So, no ATOT? D:

Oh gods

 

[Markbnj]

If electrons stopped flowing through conductors, would humans continue to function? Seems to me there are some electrical impulses involved in the operating of our own biochemical systems.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

I don't like electrons; they've always had a negative influence on society

I think I lost an electron.
Are you sure ?
Yeah, I'm positive.

 

[DrPizza]

Thankfully, I live next to a lot of Amish farmers. I'd be fine. Most of you would starve to death, since 99% of agriculture in the U.S. would come to a halt.

 

[dank69]

Thankfully, I live next to a lot of Amish farmers. I'd be fine. Most of you would starve to death, since 99% of agriculture in the U.S. would come to a halt.

Yeah those guys are delicious. No preservatives.

 

[OlafSicky]

Back to steam engines!

It would definitely put a bit dent in our society, and cause major problems with utilities, food production, and most of, communication. It would launch the country (and most of the "developed" world) into a major depression / period of turmoil, but I think overall most people would be ok. Highly populated areas like major cities would be the worst, as crime and shortages would skyrocket, while rural areas would probably band together with their neighbors and go back to the "old ways" of growing their own food, cutting their own wood, etc.

And this is all one example of why, even though I live in CT, which is fairly densely populated overall, I'm glad I live in a rural area with 6.5 acres of our own, and many, many acres of forested area behind us.

Your are making a foolish assumption that all these desperate people in cities would stay there. I have news for you the first thing that would happen is they would organize and head to farms to search for food. They would just kill you and take what they want.