Out with a bang

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-01-09 02:48pm

Say that right now through some cosmic twist of fate, the chemical reactions that allow for combustion and gunpowder suddenly ceased to work. Cars stop, planes fall out of the sky (well execept for gliders), American soldiers in Iraq press triggers on their weapons and nothing happens.

What nation(s) would recover and adapt best to being thrust into a medieval level and standard of living? What fates are in store for the great powers now that they no longer have access to their high technology? Will certain sprawling nations like Russia and the US be dismembered by feudal like feuds within their borders?

Can militaries recover and train their men to use swords, shields, bows and arrows and what of the mighty metropolises? How do the people survive?

Are the the Third World nations now thrust to the fore since many still live in delapitated conditions and don't have to deal with the initial chaos of losing everything?

EDIT: Due to my utter incompetence when it comes to chemisrty please simply accept that modern technology stops working and we are plunged back into a medieval setting for technology.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-01-09 02:56pm

Heck, what about dumbasses like me who are living in a desert where most people are going to fry when summer hits?

Just think about the food distribution and production problems that would instantly hit if everything was switched back to medievel tech.

Lots of people starvin' like Marvin and then swarms of people would come down on the actual food producing areas causing enough damage so even fewer people would survive in the long term than if they had sucked it up and stayed calm.

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2004-01-09 03:01pm

Not to put too fine a point on it, but if the basic forces that make gunpowder combustible were to fly off the bend, building society would be the least of your problems, biologically speaking.

Perhaps if you suggested that all modern weapons went poof and knowledge of how to make them vanished and became religiously suppressed from being buit again, or something...

ANYWAY...I'm being anal...the nations that would 'recover' to its present-day configuration would be the ones that are already at a minimal level of technology, obviously. I doubt the bushmen would notice.

As for major, civilized nations, I don't see anything beyond the initial massive death and disorder being a big problem. I think people would adjust much faster than you think. Modern living philosophies would probably make people want to get BACK to the standards they expect as quickly as possible, and would work hard and press to improvise.

Third world nations likely wouldn't advance that much either, as they lack the population base and know as much as American scholars do about basic living technologies and the like. Argentina, for example, isn't going to suddenly start churning out healthier, better trained soldiers or start producing most of the world's food.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-01-09 03:02pm

I'm also thinking of that long trek home the American troops in Iraq are going to want to make when they realize that they are in the middle of millions of hostiles with no working weapons. There was a story about some greek soldiers trying to make their way out of Persia that "The Warriors" was based whose title slips my mind.

Bertie Wooster · Post by **Bertie Wooster** » 2004-01-09 03:02pm

Well, I'd think many countries like the US, Russia, Canada, China w/o car, train or plane would suddenly become too big and fragment into smaller political units.

Switzerland, England and Japan would suddenly find their geographical condition strategically advantageous because they wouldn't be as vulnerable to invasions from other countries.

Connecticut would build viking longboats and invade Long Island!

I think it would be very interesting what methods of warfare would be implimented. I imagine countries with large numbers of horses and iron ore would utilize armored horse-archers, so American state armies would resemble Byzantine Cataphractii.

Post by **haas mark** » 2004-01-09 03:02pm

-waves bye-bye to the US as anything anywhere near we know it today-

Very Postman-like scenario..

~ver

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-01-09 03:06pm

Does that mean we still have nuclear weapons?

Mayabird · Post by **Mayabird** » 2004-01-09 03:09pm

The Kernel wrote:Does that mean we still have nuclear weapons?

And so North Dakota takes over the Earth...

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-01-09 03:13pm

The Kernel wrote:Does that mean we still have nuclear weapons?

No, the real purpose of the scenario is to plunge the world back into the medieval era suddenly.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2004-01-09 03:18pm

I'm on the prepared tankers around Nantucket, heading back to 2000 BCE while you guys wait for slow death.

Cookie if you get the reference.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2004-01-09 03:23pm

Well, people like me, for instance. People who know how to use archery to kill animals for survival. People who know a thing or two about living off the land and fending for themselves. Sure, it'd be hard, but me and people like myself could have a fairly good chance of surviving.

Hate to toot my own horn, but it's a fact, us rednecks are better prepared for the worst than most people are.

StarshipTitanic · Post by **StarshipTitanic** » 2004-01-09 03:28pm

Stravo wrote:I'm also thinking of that long trek home the American troops in Iraq are going to want to make when they realize that they are in the middle of millions of hostiles with no working weapons. There was a story about some greek soldiers trying to make their way out of Persia that "The Warriors" was based whose title slips my mind.

Xenophon. He was a Greek mercenary for a losing Persian satrap (governor). He and his force fought its way through the Persian Empire and made it back to Greece.

CDiehl · Post by **CDiehl** » 2004-01-09 03:43pm

It would not be medieval. We'd recover faster than medieval people, because they depended more on fire than we do now. We use a lot of electrical items, and could develop new ones to replace what we lost. Some power plants would have to switch from coal to something else. In time, we could invent alternate versions of equipment that now use combustion. Until then, we would be stuck with medieval weapons and vehicles until new technology can be developed and distributed. It would be tough for a while, and there would be starvation and disease, but eventually we'd rebuild into something analogous to what we have now.

Death from the Sea · Post by **Death from the Sea** » 2004-01-09 03:49pm

Stravo wrote: snip*the chemical reactions that allow for combustion *snip
The Kernel wrote:Does that mean we still have nuclear weapons?
No, the real purpose of the scenario is to plunge the world back into the medieval era suddenly.

but if you remove fire, doesn't that put us back to the stone age? with out fire you are unable to process ore

Zoink · Post by **Zoink** » 2004-01-09 03:55pm

Canada, with its abundance of hydroelectricity and uranium, becomes the world leader, either that or it becomes 'liberated' by Bush to become the 51st state.

SyntaxVorlon · Post by **SyntaxVorlon** » 2004-01-09 04:09pm

France and Scandanavia become the powerhouses of Europe when they're major nukes and geothermo plants become the major power producers.
Solar power plants in the southwest in use now are used to power factories to make many many more solar power arrays.
Computers become massively expensive because the power drain they cause would likely bankrupt any corporation in days. So their use is severly constricted. AOL Timewarner, Microsoft, Cisco, Sun, Apple, etc would loss billions in the first week.
But there would eventually be enough noncombustion sources of power to bring us back to some level of tech. Comprable or higher than we were.
A great deal of our infrastructure would probably break down.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-01-09 04:17pm

SirNitram wrote:I'm on the prepared tankers around Nantucket, heading back to 2000 BCE while you guys wait for slow death.

Cookie if you get the reference.

/cackles.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-01-09 05:03pm

if the chemical process of combustion ceased to function mitochondria in all living cells would cease to function and all living things would die in seconds.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-01-09 05:07pm

Col. Crackpot wrote:if the chemical process of combustion ceased to function mitochondria in all living cells would cease to function and all living things would die in seconds.

Read my edited scenario, another reason why history majors should not be writing science based scenarios.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-01-09 05:11pm

Stravo wrote:
Col. Crackpot wrote:if the chemical process of combustion ceased to function mitochondria in all living cells would cease to function and all living things would die in seconds.
Read my edited scenario, another reason why history majors should not be writing science based scenarios.

well if you spent more time writing starcrossed and the twilight war you wouldn't have to make these silly posts.

Anarchist Bunny · Post by **Anarchist Bunny** » 2004-01-09 06:07pm

I have a feeling Texas would break off from the union and do well for itself, but there may be a bias there. There will be a severe phase of mass depression knowing that we will never fire a gun again.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2004-01-09 06:53pm

Organizations like the SCA(Society for Creative Anachronism) with pre-established lines of succession, and rulership, would rise up and take over the word, because they are the only ones thatknow how to use swords, bows, and other weapons.

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2004-01-09 06:59pm

Just look at the power outages last year. Most things we rely on depent on power of some sort.

CDiehl · Post by **CDiehl** » 2004-01-09 11:33pm

Well, in a situation where all post-medieval tech fails, trade and government would shrink, having no modern communications, refrigeration and transport. Basically, we'd have countless small, self-governing, regions trading mostly with their immediate neighbors. People possessing non-modern skills would become rich and powerful, and not just the obvious skill of fighting with old-style weapons. A weaver or potter could be very successful teaching others for money and/or employing them in a business. Communities would probably come under the leadership of local strongmen who may or may not attack their neighbors. In time, bridges, roads and skyscrapers would fall apart in many areas. Some groups might have the will and resources to maintain them, but most won't. People might attempt to build factories and mass-produce items using medieval technology.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2004-01-10 01:21am

There would be a die back of huge proprotions. There is not enough food to feed us all if we have to rely on mid-evil agricutlure.

My part of California is pretty productive but not with the 6 million or so people living in the greater Bay Area. It only rains 4-5 months of the year so even fresh water is a big problem. Everyone would crowd around the delta and resivors.