Hypothetical Doomsday Scenario

[dave1949]

Modern medicine saves many lives, but at the same time it also contributes to the growing problem of overpopulation....

Well, yes and no. Doctors save and extend lives but not until someone makes the decision or "happens" to create a life. That is part of the deal we make, if we have the knowledge to heal, create life or fly to Disneyland, we seem to be unable to resist using it. Humanity's fatal weakness?

 

[MasseyWV]

Well, yes and no. Doctors save and extend lives but not until someone makes the decision or "happens" to create a life. That is part of the deal we make, if we have the knowledge to heal, create life or fly to Disneyland, we seem to be unable to resist using it. Humanity's fatal weakness?

That's why I used the word "contributes". And I agree that "making babies" is a much bigger contributor to the growing problem of overpopulation. If nothing changes, we are a doomed species, and the worse part is that we know it. Fatal weakness? Yep, that fits humanity to a tee.

 

[Alien]

I see someone suggested we would go back to typewriters. This would lead to billions more letters, postmen on horses or pushbikes and back to sailing boat days. Ah well, we have a horse.....
Hmmm, cost of horses would multiply somewhat......

 

[madmax12]

Wait a second! I just got my first tractor. Don't be pushing any stone-age buttons!!! This whole tractor thing is just way too cool...

Maybe we could just spend more time on our tractors making the world a better place, helping neighbors, etc... maybe then no one would want to push the button.

 

[LD1]

Push the button and no more TBN......Nah, I'll pass. I like TBN:thumbsup:

 

[k0ua]

Well you have the Natural way, like the 1859 solar Coronal Mass Ejection. That would do it or there is the man made way the Explosively Pumped Flux Compression Generator, here is some information..

Explosively pumped flux compression generator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Me I hope no one pushes the button, and we don't ever again in my lifetime have a large CME.

James K0UA

 

[riptides]

...
Would the world be better off without technology?

No, technology is a tool that has enabled mankind to do wonders. Your looking at only the recreational aspect of it? It is imbedded within so many things, it would be difficult to move forward without it.

 

[Blitzn]

In the 1800's you could die young or lose your wife to childbirth difficulties or lose a child to cholera. The growth of medical technology prevents that, but comes at the cost of necessary complexity. Imagine the chaos of cell phones/tv/radio without an FCC to assign frequencies. Then think of all the government related actions it takes to create, empower, enforce the creation of an FCC or modern hospital, it's endless--not that it can't always be improved upon.

I think the "button question" is asking if we have made a deal with the Devil in accepting/wanting the benefits of technology while resenting the complexity it necessarily imposes upon us. I don't think we get a do-over. If someone pushed the button, we would work like heck to put it all back together again.

I think to automatically assume we are living longer due to technology could be open to debate. My grandma is still around at 96 with no health benefits, great grandma was 94, and great great was 102. Certainly some form of social darwinism is probably at work - but would society also be healthier as a result? That's opening a can of worms I don't want to open - choosing who lives and dies - I'll leave that up to the govt healthcare panels.

 

[dave1949]

I think to automatically assume we are living longer due to technology could be open to debate. My grandma is still around at 96 with no health benefits, great grandma was 94, and great great was 102. Certainly some form of social darwinism is probably at work - but would society also be healthier as a result? That's opening a can of worms I don't want to open - choosing who lives and dies - I'll leave that up to the govt healthcare panels.

That is another can of worms indeed. Having technology and having access to that technology are two different things. Good on your Grannies!

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I'm afraid I have to agree with Patrick. With electricity we might have a chance to keep the wells pumping, the refineries turning out fuel, the vehicles running and the lifeline of food continuing, but it would probably be too little too late. The need for food and water would be immediate, and most would perish I think. Those of us with wells might figure out how to get water, and maybe we have a pond with fish, but you can't feed a country on squirrels, rabbits and other wild game. We have lost those survival skills that kept our Grandparents alive.

 

[riptides]

Interesting the "lean" of this thread to the negative.

Humans - adapt.

Even if someone pushed the button, we would adapt, survive and perhaps thrive even more. It is what we do.

 

[RoyJackson]

You would be responsible for millions if not billions of deaths. Cities would riot and burn. Starvation and disease would take care of the rest.

I think the more technologically advanced countries (the US, most of Europe) would bear the brunt of the "magic button". Africa, rural areas of South America...might not even notice the change.

Would I push the button? No...

 

[brin]

I think the more technologically advanced countries (the US, most of Europe) would bear the brunt of the "magic button". Africa, rural areas of South America...might not even notice the change.

Would I push the button? No...

I would not push the button either Roy, I will say we should have never gotten into this hi tech situation of dependency.....Look at an Airliner or many other critical pieces of equipment...they have back up systems...built in redundancies....so if the primary operation fails there are several back ups....Just imagine all the bankruptcies just because companies would lose all their accounts receivable and payable records...with no back ups...

When the tech era started...our fearless leaders should have been smart enough to maintain some back up solutions for all critical needs....They failed !

 

[k0ua]

I tend to agree with Patrick.. I think it would be he77 on earth. I don't think there are enough people that know how things work to put it back together. At least for a long long time. I do know how a lot of things work, and I also know how fragile it is now. Everything is stretched thin as it is.. electric grid, telecom grid, broadband, all of it is just barely working now..The growth in broadband backbones is exponential. Everything in Manufacturing is "just in time".. There are not warehouses full of goods, there is a streaming manufacturing process, by design. It is all very very fragile, and balanced now.
If the EOTWAWKI scenario comes it will be catastrophic. At any rate there sure would be a lot of dying involved. Not good. Jeez, things are bad enough as is.. don't be "pushing any frigging buttons"

James K0UA

 

[jinman]

Hypothetical scenarios are a cheap form of entertainment for the uninformed. They have no limits in their extremes and unrealistic demands, nor do they bear any consequences. How's this for an example? If you had all the intelligence and power in the world at your fingertips, would you make everyone call you God?

I remember in the military being asked if I could launch a nuclear strike against a city if it was in the hands of the enemy and my family was also there? If you say yes, how do they know you are being truthful. If you say no, do they then consider you a security risk?

 

[Mounted Madness]

Hypothetical scenarios are a cheap form of entertainment for the uninformed. They have no limits in their extremes and unrealistic demands, nor do they bear any consequences. How's this for an example? If you had all the intelligence and power in the world at your fingertips, would you make everyone call you God?

I remember in the military being asked if I could launch a nuclear strike against a city if it was in the hands of the enemy and my family was also there? If you say yes, how do they know you are being truthful. If you say no, do they then consider you a security risk?

Jinman...interesting and very true comment. :thumbsup:
No matter the reply, hypotheticals are just that, until reality forces the issue.

 

[MasseyWV]

Hypothetical scenarios are a cheap form of entertainment for the uninformed.

I respect your opinion, but strongly disagree. Hypothetical scenarios are a way of imagining a myriad of different possibilities. The question of "What if?" is the most powerful question ever conceived in the history of mankind. Those who don't ask questions are doomed to live out their lives in ignorance.