if all of the world's technological/mechanical knowledge base were wiped out...

[busydude]

Given that farming is actually technology... we would all more or less die from starvation as all crops would be gone.

LOL.. imagine the fields which used Monsanto seeds. D:

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

On a related note : If you could go back in time and tell people of all the potential things that could be discovered, and assuming they didn't kill you for being a witch or heretic, how much faster could it all be discovered?

Say, if you could go back to classical Athens or sometime in the Roman Republic.

 

[SandEagle]

this thread dumb

 

[mmntech]

If all modern technology were wiped out, society would collapse. The lack of industrialized agriculture alone would cause massive famines and wipe out a sizable chunk of the population.

 

[Zeze]

this thread dumb

Even I gotta agree with our resident noob SandEagle.

So, no more Burberry scarves either?

 

[JTsyo]

Billions would die. Without central control things would just fall into local control. Cities can't support their population without massive food imports. Any area around the city would be swamped with refugees.
Sci-fi book that has this scenario. In the book gun powder stops working too. The first book was good but the rest of the series was meh.

 

[Kadarin]

Actually, this is probably how it will really play out over the next 30 years or so:

http://www.amazon.com/Soft-Apocalyps...sr=1-1-catcorr

 

[Rifter]

200-300 years.

 

[slag]

We would be proper screwed. If this includes power plants, utility providers (water/sewage), ect then we are back in the stone age. Manufactuering is the least of our problems. Getting fresh water, rid of waste, and providing heat/cooling in a day and age that is almost no longer set up for manual methods of that we be seriously up a creek.

Sounds like Mexico.

 

[Oyeve]

I would go fishing more.

 

[rudder]

most water systems are still reliant at least in part on gravity to feed the neighborhoods, so water would still be available for a time. the hardest part would be fitting wells with wind turbines to bring new water to the systems. im sure there are plenty of people in that industry with the knowledge to make water shortage not such a catastrophe. i would be one of those guys working on getting water to the neighborhoods here.

How soon before all the flushed turds start contaminating the water supply? There will be no one to supply the chemicals to purify waste water. All the dumbasses around will still see that their toilets flush and dump away.

 

[SandEagle]

would you be ok with muslim nations assisting in rebuilding the US?

oh.

¦
v

 

[mrblotto]

Just because:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed6Yr81jZ6g

 

[videogames101]

A long time, but we do have plenty of knowledge in our heads. I mean, we'd still have knowledge of higher mathematics and sciences, which would make reinventing some of this shit a whole lot easier. The difficult part would be reorganizing society, not reinventing technologies.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

My internet is down. Has it started?

 

[edro]

This is the dumbest mental exercise thread I've seen in quite awhile...

I think its awesome, so shut up!

 

[SphinxnihpS]

I think its awesome, so shut up!

I think I'm awesome, so no.

 

[hanoverphist]

How soon before all the flushed turds start contaminating the water supply? There will be no one to supply the chemicals to purify waste water. All the dumbasses around will still see that their toilets flush and dump away.

well, fitting wells with wind power could also work with fitting wastewater lift station pumps. the wastewater process is for the most part a natural process, it has been done all over the globe without power. even modern day plants have basic hardware that is being run remotely by sophisticated systems, but have the old manual controls still available. once the electricity portion is solved, its just a matter of switching things at the right time.

and there would still be meltdowns in areas where stupid people do stupid things, that just human nature. i didnt say it would be a perfect situation, but i think it could be handled well over time.

 

[guyver01]

well, fitting wells with wind power could also work

what wind power?
what well?

remember? ALL technology is gone.. as is the ability to recreate it.

imagine some type of global disaster struck the earth and wiped out every piece of machinery, documentation (physical and electronic), fabrication/manufacturing plants... all instances wiped out so that we couldn't even reverse engineer anything.

 

[guyver01]

How soon before all the flushed turds start contaminating the water supply?

who's flushing? toilets are gone.
they're technology, remember?

 

[Patranus]

Here is a similar question.
Even with the current knowledge bases, how long would it take for someone to build a microchip without any current tools.

By that I mean starting from scratch knowing what how to get from A-B but not having the tools to do so.

 

[sourceninja]

How soon before all the flushed turds start contaminating the water supply? There will be no one to supply the chemicals to purify waste water. All the dumbasses around will still see that their toilets flush and dump away.

My poop goes into a tank in my backyard, the liquid goes into a field and slowly does whatever the liquid does until its back to clean water.

It's how a septic system works http://www.herchem.com/septic/septicwork.html

 

[JTsyo]

Here is a similar question.
Even with the current knowledge bases, how long would it take for someone to build a microchip without any current tools.

By that I mean starting from scratch knowing what how to get from A-B but not having the tools to do so.

they won't. Since it would be circular. You wouldn't be able to produce anything that requires computer to make, which include computers. What people currently know is how to make things with current technology, you would need to find people that know the old school stuff. So start with vacuum tubes and build up. Though I don't know what you would need to build a vacuum tube.