It's the End of the World!
Oct. 14th, 2007 09:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mdehnersI was rereading Strieber & Kunetka’s ‘War Day’. I remember when it 1st came out back in the mid “80’s” that a number of my Conservative friends were Offended by the book’s premise that America would become a 3rd World country after only 7 targets destroyed by nuclear weapons. Personally, I thought it was a bit Optimistic about the conditions 5 yrs post….
If you haven’t read the book, it’s about two reporters who go around what used to be the USA 5 yrs after the Soviets bombed 7 targets in a limited nuclear war. What’s fascinating is that the science is still accurate and the effects would be the same…actually worse.
One of the major things, Radiation contamination aside for the collapse was the damage caused by EMP. Things are a bit different now. Back then, not everything had a computer chip in it and things still ground to a halt. What recovery they had was because there were still machines around that don’t have them…something we don’t now outside of a collector’s. Not to mention that there is little backup for files. The death of every computer outside of a major military installation or physics lab would mean the END. In the book we are helped by the Japanese(remember back when folks thought they would become a superpower;>?) and the Brits. The world economy was thrown into a Depression. Today it would END. Why? Because without Materialistic Americans to buy everyone’s crap and to Feed them, the center does not hold.
Anyone who’s lived in a disaster zone, esp. in the last decade KNOWS. When the comm towers go offline, the Grid goes down, the Gas runs out, things go bad quickly. Even just psychologically, esp with young folks. Most of that which their Lives are built end up as paperweights and they don’t have the skills to entertain themselves without them. I used to think MZB’s Darkover books picking on the poor techy Terrans was a bit over the top till I saw a bunch of folks waiting for an elevator to be fixed instead of walking up 3 flights of stairs….
The world is a very fragile place, both Ecologically and Technologically. Think both about your Actions and what Actions you may need if Stupidity remains at it’s present level…
Troth,
Pat
Remember, the lesser of two evils is still evil.-Solomon Short
If you haven’t read the book, it’s about two reporters who go around what used to be the USA 5 yrs after the Soviets bombed 7 targets in a limited nuclear war. What’s fascinating is that the science is still accurate and the effects would be the same…actually worse.
One of the major things, Radiation contamination aside for the collapse was the damage caused by EMP. Things are a bit different now. Back then, not everything had a computer chip in it and things still ground to a halt. What recovery they had was because there were still machines around that don’t have them…something we don’t now outside of a collector’s. Not to mention that there is little backup for files. The death of every computer outside of a major military installation or physics lab would mean the END. In the book we are helped by the Japanese(remember back when folks thought they would become a superpower;>?) and the Brits. The world economy was thrown into a Depression. Today it would END. Why? Because without Materialistic Americans to buy everyone’s crap and to Feed them, the center does not hold.
Anyone who’s lived in a disaster zone, esp. in the last decade KNOWS. When the comm towers go offline, the Grid goes down, the Gas runs out, things go bad quickly. Even just psychologically, esp with young folks. Most of that which their Lives are built end up as paperweights and they don’t have the skills to entertain themselves without them. I used to think MZB’s Darkover books picking on the poor techy Terrans was a bit over the top till I saw a bunch of folks waiting for an elevator to be fixed instead of walking up 3 flights of stairs….
The world is a very fragile place, both Ecologically and Technologically. Think both about your Actions and what Actions you may need if Stupidity remains at it’s present level…
Troth,
Pat
Remember, the lesser of two evils is still evil.-Solomon Short
