An Apocalyptic 'What If...'

[18-Till-I-Die]

As the title says...

A vrius, a genetically mutated breed of smallpox, escaped from a US bio-weapon research facility. Spreading swiftly, the entire world is exposed within months. The virus is unique in that it only chooses women as it's hosts, men are naturally immune. Within six months, most of teh world's female population is extinct, now for every 1,000 men there is only 1 woman. In America, the Administration decides to survive by any means nessesary and sends Armya nd National Guard divisions into the major cities to apprehend and relocate all women to underground 'redoubts' being constructed in Southern California, build deep to survive possible nuclear bombardments. What happens? How bad would it get? Would panic reduce the country to anarchy, or would people try to escape somehow or...? Would the Army's overwhelming force allow them to complete their mission, or would resistance be simply too great, and what about our forces overseas--would they mutiny and carve out their own feifdom?

[18-Till-I-Die]

Hmm...i thought i had this in Off-Topic, my mistake. If this is a problem feel free to move it.

[Erik von Nein]

You watched that crappy movie about the world's female population going sterile except for like 1%, right?

Considering how many support personel are women (and how many actual soldiers there are who are the same) I'd say coherency in the military and Nation Guard would be rather low. Other than that the world's screwed and I doubt your senario with the government actually seizing any women they can would happen. Why? The government would be in total chaos just as much as the rest of the world.

[weemadando]

Well, for starters, I'm guessing that "Don't ask, don't tell" is going to have to be overhauled.

[tharkûn]

In America, the Administration decides to survive by any means nessesary and sends Armya nd National Guard divisions into the major cities to apprehend and relocate all women to underground 'redoubts' being constructed in Southern California, build deep to survive possible nuclear bombardments.

Why? .1% of the US population would be around 300,000 people. Those are awfully large redoubts as well as reducing the number of targets should you wish to attack (not to mention clustering them in SoCal makes it easier to seige them in with persistent NBC weapons even if you can't break the bunkers.

Frankly though I have to ask who in hell is going to risk nuking the US even in this scenario? The US will still retain the ability to obliterate anyone in the world who tries.

What happens? How bad would it get?

Short term there will be massive pandemonium as women and their families try to run, bunker down, or otherwise protect themselves. Global economic collapse is immenent and all the niceties inherent to that will make this just as bad as any other uberdeadly pandemic in the modern era (with the added bonus of making demographic recovery almost impossible).

Would panic reduce the country to anarchy, or would people try to escape somehow or...?

You better damn beleive it. Worse 50% of the population will be Typhoid Mary's and many people in a "safe" place will opt to shoot on sight.

Would the Army's overwhelming force allow them to complete their mission, or would resistance be simply too great, and what about our forces overseas--would they mutiny and carve out their own feifdom?

The army is not going to be able do anything. Long before the deaths occur the medical establishment will be overwhelmed, the cities will empty, the global economy will crash, and people will commence starving (though the surviving females will be given preference for food). You simply cannot kill off 50% of the population without the world going to hell.

[Mr Bean]

Well, for starters, I'm guessing that "Don't ask, don't tell" is going to have to be overhauled.

Fool, Clones for EVERYONE!

Can't have the human race die out gets rid of some of those pesky ethics laws, esp in places like South Korea and China.

[Instant Sunrise]

Didn't anybody here play "Battle tanx" for the N64?

Its plot revolved around a scenario sort of like the one in the OP.

[18-Till-I-Die]

Didn't anybody here play "Battle tanx" for the N64?

Its plot revolved around a scenario sort of like the one in the OP.

Yeah, i was playing that game and i figured it'd be interesting to see what would 'really' happen. I left out the more...Mad Maxian parts for relaism's sake, but the plot is basically the same.

[wolveraptor]

Any and all nations would institute cloning and genetically engineer them to be mostly female. These programs would already be set into motion by the government long before the female population could be totally decimated. When it would be clear no cure was iminent, the cloning would begin.

Of course, this still wouldn't prevent the inevitable world economic crash, as the population quickly and brutally solved. The last remaining women, who would be in quarantine, would only be allowed to see men who were not carriers of the disease. Needless to say, some dumbasses would try to break the quarantine. I could see laws relating to this becoming increasingly totalitarian, with the inevitable result...

[tharkûn]

Cloning can't happen with present technology. It takes a womb to grow a human embryo and those will be in short supply. Further clones seem to have a much more difficult time lasting through pregnancy than normal individuals. You might be worried about genetic variety and thus utilize the countless number of frozen ovum, but cloning does nothing. You gain nothing from a clone that can't be had from a female embryo made via in vitro fertilization.

On the other hand major sex selection for the first half generation of new births would almost certainly be a given where the technology exists to do so.

It is also theoreticly possible for males to carry children to term by inducing an "ectopic" pregnancy in men. This would require surgical implantation, hormone injections (and if he carries a girl it will wreak havoc on his own endocrine system), caesearian delivery, and followup surgery to remove leftover tissue from the pregnancy. Currently we could attempt such a thing, but I would expect abysmal failure rates and almost as bad of paternal mortality rates.

[CaptainChewbacca]

It is also theoreticly possible for males to carry children to term by inducing an "ectopic" pregnancy in men. This would require surgical implantation, hormone injections (and if he carries a girl it will wreak havoc on his own endocrine system), caesearian delivery, and followup surgery to remove leftover tissue from the pregnancy. Currently we could attempt such a thing, but I would expect abysmal failure rates and almost as bad of paternal mortality rates.

If we're "facing extinction" they'd probably use the male prison population. Come to think, the female prison population would probably be breeding stock, since they'd be isolated pretty easily once the virus hit. But anyway, give male convicts the option of a reduced sentence if they bring a female child to term.

[Patrick Degan]

"Vith ze proper breeding techniques and a ratio of, say, ten femalez to each male, ve could get back up to ze current gross national product in tventy yearz."

[Lusankya]

"Vith ze proper breeding techniques and a ratio of, say, ten femalez to each male, ve could get back up to ze current gross national product in tventy yearz."

Unfortunately that will be the lot of the next generation, who, naturally, we will attempt to make with just such a ratio. It's perfectly in our capabilities to use IV fertilisation to choose the sex of children, and we'll probably decide that we want the world's population to get back up quickly.