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What would you do, if there was no electric power?

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  • slayerofbloodslayerofblood Member Posts: 18 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    Pretty much what I've been doing for the last ten years... Roughing it out in the desert. Sans the computer and internet. Good thing I have a huge library of Sci-Fi books and my insane ninja of a sister to help out. And weapons. I wouldn't mind my own Billy Burk, though...
    FED TAC: Ty'irren Micybos, USS Mistake Not... NX-93023.
  • lazarxlazarx Member Posts: 115 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    I look at all these "plans" and laugh darkly. Not anyone has any clue on how we'd handle a total collapse situation, the United States has never had to face anything on this magnitude, we didn't suffer the blitzreigs of World War 2, nor the effects of our bombing Dresden and Tokyo in a super saturated state that literally set both cities entirely on fire. We can entertain such thoughts of survival, because this country itself has never had to deal with that kind of outcome. The bulk of the posters who've most likely have never had to be in a life or death situation blithely assume that their firearms will see them through.

    We are creatures of society, and we're simply not equipped to deal with a sudden slide into barbarism, nor can such a society support anything near our present numbers. Like the show says, in such an event we'd probably be all among the 90 percent plus fatality rate. Those who actually survive the initial dieoff will be facing the daunting prospect of having to rebuild a primitive agricultural society and the certaintly that having stripped all of the easy fossil fuels out of the ground, that there would never be an industrial civilisation within the lifetime of humanity.
    lazarx_2855.jpg
  • mirrorchaosmirrorchaos Member Posts: 9,844 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    lazarx wrote: »
    I look at all these "plans" and laugh darkly. Not anyone has any clue on how we'd handle a total collapse situation, the United States has never had to face anything on this magnitude, we didn't suffer the blitzreigs of World War 2, nor the effects of our bombing Dresden and Tokyo in a super saturated state that literally set both cities entirely on fire. We can entertain such thoughts of survival, because this country itself has never had to deal with that kind of outcome. The bulk of the posters who've most likely have never had to be in a life or death situation blithely assume that their firearms will see them through.

    We are creatures of society, and we're simply not equipped to deal with a sudden slide into barbarism, nor can such a society support anything near our present numbers. Like the show says, in such an event we'd probably be all among the 90 percent plus fatality rate. Those who actually survive the initial dieoff will be facing the daunting prospect of having to rebuild a primitive agricultural society and the certaintly that having stripped all of the easy fossil fuels out of the ground, that there would never be an industrial civilisation within the lifetime of humanity.

    this is just as laughable, humans are not as social as you think. we are cruel barbaric creatures that can kill our own familes just out of rage of something so small if it comes to it (if you want exact proof, try honor killings). you see the TRIBBLE bricks raining down like a monsoon from our leaders about how they use the media? they spin to confuse people and in turn people confuse each other for an advantage if they can get it (look at how people clmb on the backs of others to promote themselves in a job). people can fight over the simplest things; a woman, a blanket, tins of dogfood with the labels ripped off. doesnt matter, best thing to do is isolating yourself as much as possible to draw as little attention as possible incase someone gets the idea your gloating even if you didn't, they get a sniff your house will be raided.

    also don't forget history in los angeles, 1992 is a good example. a number of people used the police situation in that brutal beating to loot, murder and attack others because of their background (ethnic violence). you can ask for much further proof if you want but if you look back over the history books including the slavery and the monsterous acts under the the TRIBBLE's, the british and that silly tea tax, oppression of india, russia attacking afghanistan, georgia and threatening the same on ukraine for its western connections. im telling you right now, if it came to it and we had no electricity, the lower the key the better and get what you only need.
    T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW.
    Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
  • breadandcircusesbreadandcircuses Member Posts: 2,355 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    hawkwing43 wrote: »
    If you watch Revolution, then you have an idea what I am talking about. But lets just say, for whatever reason we lost electric power to everything that uses it. Maybe it's something the sun did to the planet, or it's man made, but we don't have electric power.

    So............

    What would you do next? If the power was gone for 1 year?

    and.........

    What do you see happening in the world?

    This would be a global event!

    Only electric power like Revolution, or something more like S.M. Stirling's novels of The Change? If it's the latter, probably get eaten by cannibals during the Dying Times since I play too many video games, read too much, and post on forums... I'd be easier to catch since I'm out of shape, and nice and tender from a little too much in the way of inactivity.

    I need to go exercise now :P
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    iconians wrote: »
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  • bitemepwebitemepwe Member Posts: 6,760 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    Play outside more, refire the forge (and hope its still sound), work on my blacksmithing and blade skills, continue to grow my garden (and save the seeds), build that gravity operating water filter I been meaning to build, Call my buddy Kenny the gun collector, try to coax bats into living in a nearby cave, definately sell my beer and wine for a higher price and begin honing my archery skills again.
    Leonard Nimoy, Spock.....:(

    R.I.P
  • lonnehartlonnehart Member Posts: 846 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    bitemepwe wrote: »
    Play outside more, refire the forge (and hope its still sound), work on my blacksmithing and blade skills, continue to grow my garden (and save the seeds), build that gravity operating water filter I been meaning to build, Call my buddy Kenny the gun collector, try to coax bats into living in a nearby cave, definately sell my beer and wine for a higher price and begin honing my archery skills again.

    Hmm.. maybe I'll look into brewing beer. NOT for myself (I don't drink alcohol), but I figure if the world's power were to disappear we would be operating on a Barter system. So I trade beer for things I want (not food as I'd be growing it for myself). :)
    *sings* "I like Gammera! He's so neat!!! He is full of turtle meat!!!"

    "Hah! You are doomed! You're only armed with that pathetic excuse for a musical instrument!!!" *the Savage Beast moments before Lonnehart the Bard used music to soothe him... then beat him to death with his Fat Lute*
  • rakija879rakija879 Member Posts: 646 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    I would go to the church, and pray for the electricity to come back :cool:
  • bitemepwebitemepwe Member Posts: 6,760 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    lonnehart wrote: »
    Hmm.. maybe I'll look into brewing beer. NOT for myself (I don't drink alcohol), but I figure if the world's power were to disappear we would be operating on a Barter system. So I trade beer for things I want (not food as I'd be growing it for myself). :)

    Kick it up a notch and try liquor as well. Pure grain alcohol is also a valuable medical supply.
    Leonard Nimoy, Spock.....:(

    R.I.P
  • fmgtorres1979fmgtorres1979 Member Posts: 1,327 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    Well, since I haven't prepared at all for catastrophic scenarios, I guess I'd have to steal, prey on people who did :P
  • idronaidrona Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    I would start breeding hamsters, a lot of hamsters.. :P
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  • jonsillsjonsills Member Posts: 10,478 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    Raid the library. There are a lot of books I'd need, about the history of medicine, and engineering, and...

    Armed with this knowledge, I'd first figure out how to make us secure in our home (note that this might involve relocating our home to the deep forest somewhere; wouldn't be the first time I've had to live out there without electricity), then work on how to either synthesize or make insulin for my wife, who would probably not make it through six months without.

    I'm fortunate enough to live in a part of the US where nature is still fairly generous - lots of edible berries and animals, and you can brew a tea from the needles of fir trees to supplement with vitamin C.
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  • lilchibiclarililchibiclari Member Posts: 1,193 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    What kind of "loss of electric power" are we talking about here? If it's a matter of our electric power infrastructure being wrecked and needing to be rebuilt from scratch (e.g. mega solar flare burns out all unshielded circuits), that's one thing, but if we're talking about "nature has changed so that electrical technology just won't function any more even if you built new ones from scratch", then you basically have the situation from S.M. Stirling's tales of The Change.
  • daan2006daan2006 Member Posts: 5,346 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    this world be a crazy zone not only man made pills that keep some ppl in check or sane would stop sorry but that show not a true representation of what the world be like imo every day would be a fight for your life from looter crazy's and other trying to just keep them selfs alive or their familys this world literally the Wild West all over again if not even worse
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    swimwear off risa not fixed
    system Lord Baal is dead
    macronius wrote: »
    This! Their ability to outdo their own failures is quite impressive. If only this power could be harnessed for good.
  • saihung423saihung423 Member Posts: 548 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    No electricity for at least one year eh?



    First, it would take about a month for real rioting and anarchy to begin to settle in.

    During the first month I would concentrate on gathering supplies and making contact with friends and family to determine if we can come up with a group plan.

    I have faith it would happen. So, I'd move forward with the key people I think our group would need.

    People with farming experience both agricultural and with domestic farm animals, someone with medical knowledge and experience, a person who is well educated in tech (you have to plan for it to return or to repair it), educators, and as many well dispositioned military folks as possible. Along with all children associated with those people.

    From the moment the group is settled make up wise, then it is a matter of finding ground and securing it. Preferably in a closed valley to give us better defensive options, something in the Appalachian valley maybe.

    The key to selecting a location would be defensive location, proximity to potable water and a river (transportation), and close to flat ground for farming.

    The group should not consist of more than 50 mouths to feed, and have no less than 30 able bodied adults to work farming.

    1st year would be about getting people cross trained and prepping for the next years planting.

    Homes should be kept fairly close together and the community should be walled with mapped traps.

    The community should be governed as a clan with initially a leader who listens and makes decisions solely. Then as the community grows, a council should be formed to listen to people and take concerns to the chosen leader.


    ....I may have thought this through a bit...my expectations might be a bit low in regards to people..
  • mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    I would become a spellcaster.
    Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
  • ashkrik23ashkrik23 Member Posts: 10,809 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    I'd go live at Rancho Catstarsto.

    :D

    \)

    This, Catstar, do you accept gold-pressed latinum as rent payment?
    King of Lions rawr! Protect the wildlife of the world. Check out my foundry series Perfection and Scars of the Pride. arcgames.com/en/forums#/discussion/1138650/ashkrik23s-foundry-missions
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  • jonsillsjonsills Member Posts: 10,478 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    daan2006 wrote: »
    this world be a crazy zone not only man made pills that keep some ppl in check or sane would stop sorry but that show not a true representation of what the world be like imo every day would be a fight for your life from looter crazy's and other trying to just keep them selfs alive or their familys this world literally the Wild West all over again if not even worse
    Much worse, for a while - the "Wild West" wasn't really all that wild.

    I stopped trying to watch Revolution seriously when I realized they had absolutely no interest in exploring what might actually happen in the scenario they presented (so I didn't have to get really peeved about the magic nanites); I gave up on watching it at all when I realized that the lead character's mother was never going to have to face the fact that she released the magic nanites, killing billions of people, just so her little boy could be a little bit healthier.
    Lorna-Wing-sig.png
  • saihung423saihung423 Member Posts: 548 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    If this type of scenario is something you enjoy reading about, may I suggest a good series (though I haven't finished it...everyone says the last book sucks) SM Stirling's series that begins with The Island in the Sea of Time.

    It is a series that I read right before Revolution came out, and was why I started watching that show.

    It is both alternate history and a story in and of itself.

    Excellent series...I believe I was on book ten when I stopped reading.
  • confedinblueconfedinblue Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    hawkwing43 wrote: »
    If you watch Revolution, then you have an idea what I am talking about. But lets just say, for whatever reason we lost electric power to everything that uses it. Maybe it's something the sun did to the planet, or it's man made, but we don't have electric power.

    So............

    What would you do next? If the power was gone for 1 year?

    and.........

    What do you see happening in the world?

    This would be a global event!

    ROFTLOL:

    This
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • cptjhuntercptjhunter Member Posts: 2,288 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    Well, my Grandparents taught me the skills to farm, and hunt. I also do a lot of fishing.

    Uncle Sam gave me the skills to protect my assets.

    With no more internet TRIBBLE, I bet the box of skin mags in the garage would become a high demand form of currency.:P
  • saihung423saihung423 Member Posts: 548 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    My gods! I NEVER considered the TRIBBLE aspect of this scenario!


    And to think I almost threw out the playboys my old roommate left.


    A mountain of gold!
  • upper4dscoutupper4dscout Member Posts: 220 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    hawkwing43 wrote: »
    If you watch Revolution, then you have an idea what I am talking about. But lets just say, for whatever reason we lost electric power to everything that uses it. Maybe it's something the sun did to the planet, or it's man made, but we don't have electric power.

    So............

    What would you do next? If the power was gone for 1 year?

    and.........

    What do you see happening in the world?

    This would be a global event!

    Good News! The Huge CME has been called off.

    The lights will stay on.

    It looks like they built the VIP Bunker at Denver International Airport for nothing.

    Jesse Ventura went out there. Odd murals on the wall.

    BTW, the USA now has 3 Grids:

    - East Coast Grid

    - West Coast Grid

    - Texas Grid
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where

    we started and know the place for the first time. T.S. Eliot
  • lilchibiclarililchibiclari Member Posts: 1,193 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    saihung423 wrote: »
    If this type of scenario is something you enjoy reading about, may I suggest a good series (though I haven't finished it...everyone says the last book sucks) SM Stirling's series that begins with The Island in the Sea of Time.

    In "Island in the Sea of Time" and its two sequels, we have the "what if the infrastructure disappeared" version, where the people of Nantucket find themselves having to rebuild industrial civilization--they get up to pre-WWI-equivalent tech (plus a few surviving computers and such) by the last time that we see them about fifteen years after the Event.

    Stirling's book, "Dies The Fire" and its sequels, on the other hand, show the "what if the laws of electricity change so that electronics are impossible" version. In that series, 80% of mankind dies off over the first decade, and those who are left mostly have to revert to a pre-electric technology level. Explosives also no longer work (pressurized gas no longer expands at the speed of sound, but instead much slower, so no more firearms, rockets, jet engines, explosives, or high-power low-displacement piston engines--you might get one or two horsepower per liter).
  • vhiranikosvhiranikos Member Posts: 208 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    In that series, 80% of mankind dies off over the first decade,

    I guess they'd have to magic it up, because realistically people adapt and overcome, (yes even those darned kids ordering pizza with their iphones could learn to survive.) and google says one quarter of the world's population doesn't even have electricity in the first place.
  • daan2006daan2006 Member Posts: 5,346 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    vhiranikos wrote: »
    I guess they'd have to magic it up, because realistically people adapt and overcome, (yes even those darned kids ordering pizza with their iphones could learn to survive.) and google says one quarter of the world's population doesn't even have electricity in the first place.

    so you think kim k would survive also lmao just typing that :D
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    swimwear off risa not fixed
    system Lord Baal is dead
    macronius wrote: »
    This! Their ability to outdo their own failures is quite impressive. If only this power could be harnessed for good.
  • mightybobcncmightybobcnc Member Posts: 3,354 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    Goat herder.

    Joined January 2009
    Finger wrote:
    Nitpicking is a time-honored tradition of science fiction. Asking your readers not to worry about the "little things" is like asking a dog not to sniff at people's crotches. If there's something that appears to violate natural laws, then you can expect someone's going to point it out. That's just the way things are.
  • daan2006daan2006 Member Posts: 5,346 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    oh here some more thing that would add to the worlds population dieing out some dont know if its been posted yet but cures for common things would come back flue is one of them that i can think of but i know their is more that would come back than that
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    swimwear off risa not fixed
    system Lord Baal is dead
    macronius wrote: »
    This! Their ability to outdo their own failures is quite impressive. If only this power could be harnessed for good.
  • lilchibiclarililchibiclari Member Posts: 1,193 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    vhiranikos wrote: »
    I guess they'd have to magic it up, because realistically people adapt and overcome, (yes even those darned kids ordering pizza with their iphones could learn to survive.) and google says one quarter of the world's population doesn't even have electricity in the first place.

    People may adapt and overcome, but with no farm machinery, no motorized transportation, and no refrigeration, food production and distribution for seven billion people is not going to happen. Half of the non-grain crops are going to rot before they can get into the big cities. Also, with no electricity (and very little delivery of petroleum due to the aforementioned lack of motor transport), that means that the only heat you're going to get in winter (or for cooking) will probably be a wood or coal fire. Good luck if you live in an apartment block that has no fireplaces--and some people WILL refuse to abandon their homes and live away from the illusion of civilization.
  • hfmuddhfmudd Member Posts: 881 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    I've known for years that I am one of what Scrooge called "the surplus population." I am a civilized man, with no particular skills for pre-industrial survival; if civilization goes, I go with it.

    Therefore, for some time I've had the plan (I'm good at making plans for utterly absurd and fantastic situations, the real world rather less so) to try to obtain a bottle of prescription sleeping pills from one of the local pharmacies before they're all completely looted; go up into the hills, away from most people; write out an explanatory note and seal it in a plastic bag, to protect it against the elements until someone might find it; and then, lie down and let modern chemistry do me one last service.
    Join Date: January 2011
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