this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2023
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I was having this conversation with my daughter and thought it was an interesting topic.

If an EMP or solar flare took out everything electronic in the whole world (permanently), how long do you think it would take for you to die, given your current location and circumstances.

I believe my daughter thinks we would live a lot longer than I do, but she is thinking about how long she can live without the internet while I am thinking the world will quickly descend into anarchy.

With no traditional forms of transport, so supplies would dry up, limited resources, health etc, law and order would be a challenge as things become more desperate.

I think I would live for about 3 months. I would try to get the family somewhere safe and remote and come back later, but I think most people would have the same idea.

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[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You are thinking like a fisherman, and not a throng of panicky, starving masses.

I bet most the fish wont even be cooked before being consumed.

Nor will care be given for any toxins dumped into the water to try and scoop every living organism out of it in the starved panic.

[–] tallwookie@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

oof, raw fish? most fish have parasites (which is why sushi/sashimi has to be frozen or chilled to a certain temperature). no, you're right of course but those folks wont last long enough for it to matter.

and if, just spitballing here but lets say 75% of the population succumbs to this hypothetical disaster, then the remaining population will have significantly lower impact on the environment, giving it a chance to recover. if anything, it'd be a net gain as there's a lot of intentional dumping of toxins right now.

[–] SoylentBlake@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Assuming an intentional EMP sent America back to the stone age, then America would respond in kind to China, N.Korea, Iran, Pakistan and Russia. England, continental Europe, Turkey, India, Israel, Japan, S. Korea would all have been hit with the same at the same time. If somehow we all just traded queens and stopped there, or if a prolonged solar storm hit the planet repeatedly accomplishing the same, I really think your optimistic limiting global losses to 75%

After the first northern winter I would assume 90-95% of humanity is gone. Those that can hunt are the most likely to survive. Seafood increases your odds of survival by orders of magnitude, as it requires some skill, but much less caloric investment before reward. By and large we've lost the ability to farm without fertilizers and pesticides, many will try but one early freeze will kill off dependant communities. Climate change making weather less predictable def does not work in our favor.

After the first winter I wouldn't be afraid of strangers. Another person is far too valuable, when you remember that there are lots of things outside that will happily kill us. We only have strength when we're in numbers.

[–] tallwookie@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

oh I agree, if a military attack/emp were to occur we'd use our mutually assisted destruction weapon systems (military hardened bases, not susceptible to emp) & wipe them out. it'd be the literal end of the world over there.

yes, it was very optimistic. 5 to 10 percent of the current population of America (the rest of the world wouldnt matter at that point) is still 15 to 30 million people. even spread out there's still a good chance to develop small kingdoms, and those would specialize as they always do. trade routes would organically develop over time. it's true that we do get a lot of things from overseas but the North American continent has loads of untapped resources, it's just cheaper to get them from somewhere else in the world right now (take coal for example over in west virginia - they'd specialize in coal extraction, processing, chemistry, industrialization).

personally, I think the climate would stabilize fairly soon after such a catastrophe, probably within just a few generations - and if not, so what? no one is going to be living in cities that are underwater anyway.