the type of knowledge that was passed down before the written word was not exactly what would recreate modern society. that was stuff like "things are growing where we poop, maybe it's seeds from the fruit that we eat turning into new fruit"
Ontopic Mission to Uranus
- Thread starter Domon
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the type of knowledge that was passed down before the written word was not exactly what would recreate modern society. that was stuff like "things are growing where we poop, maybe it's seeds from the fruit that we eat turning into new fruit"
Power plants are complex things. @gee doesn't know how to run one. It takes hundreds of knowledgeable people to run something like that. You can't run a power plant simply because you've been born in the 20th century...
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Mr. Argumentor
I fab shitboxes and shitbox accessories.
We'd know how to maintain the things that did all that, or we'd be able to figure out with a minimal amount of loss. And even then we'd be able to maintain maybe one or two of the things that did that.
I could describe an engine, I could tell you everything it needed to run. I could even get into what different alloys would work best for certain parts.
But I couldn't make a new engine from the ground up without a lot of trial and error, and even then I wouldn't be able to tell you how long the engine would last or what specs it needed for it's oiling or seals or whatnot.
That's what would be lost, the foundation of all of our industry. Sure we have a great enough knowledge base to keep one or two aspects of that industry running, but not all of it.
Mr. Argumentor
I fab shitboxes and shitbox accessories.
Power plants are complex things. @gee doesn't know how to run one. It takes hundreds of knowledgeable people to run something like that. You can't run a power plant simply because you've been born in the 20th century...
I may be making it sound too simple, or maybe I have more confidence in humanity than I thought, but survivors are going to remember what life was like before "the bomb" or whatever tragedy and they are going to work to get back to that. They wouldn't be going into the unknown. They'd be starting off with a decent knowledge base and using it to get back to what is known.
Mean Mr. Mustard
Always shouts out something obscene
knowledge isnt just people. Its written word. A single copy of wikipedia probably containst mostly enough knowledge to get us back to 90%
nukes
I Eat Buttholes Raw
Mr. Argumentor
I fab shitboxes and shitbox accessories.
Who has a single copy of wikipedia, though?
I know you've probably downloaded it every six months, but most normal people don't have anything saved from it. Getting access to these things would be one of the keys. In the event of a complete societal meltdown, whoever can raid a university is going to be best prepared to rebuild. However raiding a university and stealing thousands of textbooks is not necessarily the best use of your time in a societal breakdown
Nukes, you should read a book regardless. When is the last time you read a book?
Is it gonna tell me what to do when turbine gauge 126 shows that its at 120? How about when the light for the injection mold shear factor turns yellow? Wikipedia is not going to help anyone run a power plant.
And who's gonna frack for gas?
And who's going to know how to ship it?
And who's going to know how to get it into the plant?
And who's...
nukes
I Eat Buttholes Raw
the needs are vastly different for 10k people left alive. You dont need the huge scale production.
Jehannum
Puts the "pro" in procrastination
You can't run a power plant efficiently without exhaustive knowledge.Power plants are complex things. @gee doesn't know how to run one. It takes hundreds of knowledgeable people to run something like that. You can't run a power plant simply because you've been born in the 20th century...
You can probably run one badly with the collective knowledge of UF, though.
And really, if there's only 10000 people left, how well does the power plant really need to run?
Magnet and coil does. Guitar pickups or microphone and a speaker work off the same principle, just the reverse of each other. One turns motion into juice, the other turns juice into motion.