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Severing Our Lifeline: The End of Electricity and Technology

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posted on Mar, 23 2013 @ 12:48 PM
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Originally posted by CirqueDeTruth
This is abstract.

Last night my oldest daughter and I were watching "Wife Swap" on ABC.

I know, I know. Why? Well, I only have a converter box. I refuse to get cable. I'm not rotting my kids brains with nickelodeon and the cartoon network. Period.

So anyways. The two wives are from a Michigan farm nearly off the grid, and a woman from Las Vegas who lives the "good life".

At the end of the show, I ask my eldest daughter, "So which life would you prefer? The off the gird Michigan life (we live in Michigan, but in the city, complete with all technological comforts.) or would you rather have the Las Vegas life living up the night life, and lounging about during the day?

I was so proud. My daughter says, "Well, it makes more sense to know how to take care of yourself, once all the technology is stripped away. I guess I'd pick the Michigan life. Just because, I want to know how to live life with or without the technology!"

It's all about just talking to our children. Reminding them that life continues on, no matter WHAT! Even when the phones and TV are stripped away, guess what.... we live on. It's our saving grace, our ability to adapt. I don't worry so much about technology. If it can't be used for the benefit of all mankind, we will squash it voluntarily anyways. I really believe that.

Peace,
Cirque


We all assumed our kids wanted all this technology when in fact we were conditioned to think our kids wanted it. Now the kids are addicted to it but still would like to go back to a simpler life. We, as Americans, make way too many assumptions, assumptions that are dangerous to our economic future. Ask your wife or husband what they NEED for their birthday or anniversary. I was stunned to find out that the wife and I were buying each other things that we thought the other wanted. I thought my wife liked new cars but found that she liked changing vehicles often, and of course they needed to all be blue



posted on Mar, 23 2013 @ 01:04 PM
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Looking at the original posting, this reminds me a good deal of a similar idea I had, only basically replace all the occurrences of 'electricity' with 'internet'. If we lost the internet, it would affect all kinds of areas, particularly in business and communications. Yes, we can revert to the old school ways of doing things, but it wouldn't happen overnight, and the disruption would be huge. It would probably take months or even a few years to recover from permanent internet loss. It would take even longer to recover from the loss of electricity. I don't think our society would completely disintegrate (see fiction like the TV shows Revolution, or the slightly older Jericho) but I think at least in the short term span of a few weeks to months, there would be rioting and looting and other similar problems. I think we'd overcome it in the long run, though, even if the loss of electricity were somehow permanent.

Both the OPs scenario and mine remind me of the basic plotline of the Mass Effect video game. I won't say any more than that to avoid spoilers, but if you know (or look up) the backstory behind that, I think you'll see the parallels are quite obvious.



posted on Mar, 23 2013 @ 01:09 PM
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reply to post by smyleegrl
 


I think your exactly right, I like the tech stuff when it works, but everyone seems to think it will always work...I don't, it it the same with having all power tools and no hand tools...without power, they are paper weights.
There are tons of skills that the older generation has ...that are slowly dieing off with them ..with the exception of a few that actually learn or do them still...most of that will be lost...
I do believe it is time to get back to the basics and learn the old ways of doing things...that is a skill that will be very valuable in the future, if we continue down the road we are all on right now.
I am not just talking about hand tools and canning, it is also salt curing meats, tanning furs/skins, raising animals, planting gardens, tilling the soil/gardens(that is back breaking work without machinery)...there are so many things that we could be doing right now, that would make everything so much more rewarding for us in the future...if people were not always chasing after the almighty dollar...if we went back to that type of living, the powers to be would really be screwed...they wouldn't have our tax dollars to spend, and there isn't anything they could do about it.



posted on Mar, 23 2013 @ 02:26 PM
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Folks from the city will not come pouring out. Some will, a majority I don't believe would. By the time they realized it was a matter of survival it would be too late.
reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan
 


Hmm... I think a lot of people will figure out that they'll need to leave the city pretty quickly. You'll see every unattached young man heading out into the countryside to raid the farms in gangs pretty soon. The less mobile will stay and starve, but the raiders would wipe out the farmers unless they were armed to the teeth.

I agree on one point. I think we'd lose a lot of the elderly and medically dependent very quickly. I keep nagging my asthmatic husband to keep a good store of meds but he doesn't listen. I know about four people who won't last more than a few months in this case. However, obesity may turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Still, I think the idea of living off the land is doomed, as every townie with decent health and with a rifle will have exactly the same idea and the stocks will be depleted in no time.



posted on Mar, 23 2013 @ 03:19 PM
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Originally posted by Ellie Sagan
I think like this a LOT. I could have easily written the same stuff you just wrote about. I don't think it's strange at all. What I do think is strange is that so many people don't believe it's even possible for us to lose our technology and power.

Things DO get lost. Inside the British museum is an ancient Egyptian electric battery. After that, we had to wait several thousand years to start using an electric world, about the mid 1800's. When you consider the number of people today who devise electrical devices, i.e. understand electricity, these people are far outnumbered by those who just use it as a convenience.



posted on Mar, 23 2013 @ 03:20 PM
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reply to post by Antigod
 

Well, as a nurse and an ex-military surgical tech, plus being an herbalist hobbyist, I think I'd just hang out my shingle and work for barter...even in the wasteland people need medical care. I'm thinkn that may help my family through, hence why I chose the job path. If you're the closest thing to the town doc that people have, they may keep an eye on you.



posted on Mar, 23 2013 @ 03:26 PM
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Originally posted by tymothymichel
reply to post by Antigod
 

Well, as a nurse and an ex-military surgical tech, plus being an herbalist hobbyist, I think I'd just hang out my shingle and work for barter...even in the wasteland people need medical care. I'm thinkn that may help my family through, hence why I chose the job path. If you're the closest thing to the town doc that people have, they may keep an eye on you.



I think medical knowledge would be one of the greatest commodities in a post-apocalyptic scenario. One of my favorite historical novels is by Diana Gabaldon, called Outlander (there's a whole series). The main character is a nurse named Claire who finds herself sent back to 1745 in Scotland. Her knowledge of herbal remedies and modern medicine is an important part of the book. If you like reading, you might really enjoy it.



posted on Mar, 23 2013 @ 05:27 PM
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I think it would be great!
but we would just repeat history.
with ALL the mistakes...

how many of us know how to make things?
how do you find and mine metals?
then refine it and make things.

how do you build a steam engine?
it would all be lost.
because we dont have books for this.

how do you make a TV?
you need to build cameras and transmitters and the TV.
could you build a glass valve?

I wounder how many times we have lost it all in the past?



posted on Mar, 23 2013 @ 06:13 PM
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reply to post by smyleegrl
 

the biggest problem with electricity is how you produce it, not that you use it.

we could sustain a much higher global population if we switched from burning fossil fuels to utilizing zero-point energy. We could recover as a nation even if the rest of the world refused to follow our lead and continued burning fuels to make electricity but they would eventually have to follow suit just because oil is running out and nothing currently in use can touch zpe.

The good thing is the fluctuations in the spacial vacuum are ubiquitous, clean and we will never run out. We could develop amazing technologies and get people working again repairing infrastructure, cleaning up the planet, improving living standards worldwide while still basically building the devices and things we find interesting and entertaining. In short we don't need to deconstruct technology for the sake of cleaning up our planet and in using this new form of energy production we can improve global living standards. although I respect the old ways with common sense ingenuity no one has to suffer and do without any longer.



posted on Mar, 23 2013 @ 06:24 PM
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Originally posted by buddha
I think it would be great!
but we would just repeat history.
with ALL the mistakes...

how many of us know how to make things?
how do you find and mine metals?
then refine it and make things.


There are people who can do that, you get me iron ore and some coal, I can make you metal good enough for general blacksmithing, but probably not steel, at least not right away. Of course, there's a lot of metal around for using, so if it's not in some funky alloy, I could probably make you some basic tools you can make with simple smithing, like adzes, froes, fire pokers, horseshoes and the like. I wish I had the time and someone to train me, smithing looks like a lot of fun.



how do you build a steam engine?
it would all be lost.
because we dont have books for this.


Oh, sure there are, they're just not on the net Lots of old books exist on how to make basics. Raiding a library is something you'd want to do early, most people wouldn't consider it. Animal husbandry books, smithing books, lots of stuff is worth having. I recommend you get "Camping and Woodcraft" by Kephart if you're interested in post-SHTF survival, it is a guide to food, fire, shelter and water in a 1910 non-electric world. From making tools to building a cabin with an axe.



how do you make a TV?
you need to build cameras and transmitters and the TV.
could you build a glass valve?


In a post crash, TV is your last worry. I could make you a radio. And yes, you can make a radio tube, I did that as a kid to see if I could pull it off. That'll be harder but not impossible as filament light bulbs go away.



posted on Mar, 23 2013 @ 06:30 PM
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reply to post by buddha
 


Actually I can build pretty much anything. I also have books that tell how to build pretty much anything, including smelting. Plenty of people have that knowledge. There are plenty of books that contain that knowledge. I however would be hesitant to build certtain things that could put us right back where we started.



posted on Mar, 23 2013 @ 06:40 PM
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I just get upset when people come up and say massive amounts of the population would die off.


This is more possible than people may think:

Those with medical conditions without medicines, those with pace makers etc without a means of immediate resupply do not have the likely hood of surviving.

Power colder climates most people have given up their wood buring stoves for warmth. Hotter climates older people and those with medical conditions have a lower chance of surviving without air conditioning.

Without the power to make fuel, and other things i can see mass starvation setting in, hell all anyone has to do is look at storms,people freaking out and go in to a buying frenzy where that "3 day of supply" at stores is gone.

Power today is used for cooking, and pretty much everything else true this nation and the world has created a dependency based society because that is what they wanted.

That technological progress is directly responsible for the population boom we all know, without it?

"massive amounts" of people dying off is a very real possibility, but no one knows what the future will truly bring.

Could go either way all that depends of how that electricty and technology suddenly dissappears.

Heatlhy folks have nothing to worry about but considering the aging populations of this country and other countries around the world?

Very real possibllity..
edit on 23-3-2013 by neo96 because: (no reason given)



posted on Mar, 23 2013 @ 06:55 PM
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reply to post by neo96
 


And also, what I saw during Katrina, is that pdq the city will be out of drinkable water. If they hadn't brought in bottled water, it would have been worse than it was.

You get people crapping in ditches and people drinking ditchwater downstream, pretty fast you're going to get dysentery, and it's going to just kill off swaths of people.



posted on Mar, 23 2013 @ 08:05 PM
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Technology
Its not technology that is the problem, it is the way we have been developing it, how we apply it, and who it serves.

For instance, engineered obsolescence, we design products with limited life, and limited function to ensure consumers have to reacquire goods. 50 years ago a product lasted close to a lifetime that is why so many people seek antiques. Today a product barely last 2-4 years before it is either breaking down or not supported.

We apply technology very poorly, we use it for all sorts of unnecessary luxuries, and toss it when a need is fulfilled, we also make things to bring a false sense of happiness or completeness, and once acquired the void is made clear and the item is often discarded.

And as far as who technology serves, it is often times not the user, but the creator in order to reap more profit, or organizations to mine data, or marketing to sell more goods.

Life
I feel that each community should be self sufficient in the generating of its goods required to support life, such as Food, Shelter, Clothing, and Energy, and any surplus goods or luxuries are exchanged between communities.

No individual or group should have leverage over any other when it comes to the requirements to sustain life, and no group should be allowed to take those resources or means to sustain life.

Mutual collaboration for common beneficial gains.

The Fix
Sorry to say in this current state of society there is no easy fix, however on the current path things may unravel quickly and so those who have a clear vision of what could be, need to be prepared to pick up the pieces and help shape the new world.



posted on Mar, 24 2013 @ 01:03 AM
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Originally posted by smyleegrl



How did our forefathers survive before the invention of electricity? How did our parents (and some of us) survive before cell phones and Google?
reply to post by seabag
 


The difference is they grew up learning the skills necessary to survive. For example, my great-grandfather built his own buildings and home, knew how to hunt and run a farm. Whereas I have never had to build anything, have never hunted or foraged for food, etc. those basic survival skills the older generation knew....are lost to many of us.


That's right and they lived in a system that was set up to live like this. This was a product of countless generations of acquired knowledge. that was practiced daily, utilized, depended on, and basic to their daily lives While written archives are great for reference it provides little in the way of practical experience. And really the infrastructure for this type existence is very limited and population numbers would quickly overwhelm it.

This question of electricity is probably the most important facing humans. For first and second world regions and increasingly third and fourth world regions. life is dependent on electricity. I don't think there will truly be a prolonged period with out electricity. That is total absence of electricity. The basic infrastructure is there and generation will still be there although very local and spotty. Problem is that our population requires generation be at peak to sustain it's numbers I hope there would not be a prolonged time with the total absence of electricity. That,I believe, would have horrific consequences



posted on Mar, 24 2013 @ 04:27 AM
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I would love to live a life without electricity but my wife and other family members aren't up for the challenge.



posted on Mar, 24 2013 @ 06:15 AM
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India, Mexico, the Navajo reservation come to mind as far as electric power. Not all of the world has the luxuries of electricity. While not without, there are many areas where there simply are no utilities. Your Appalachian relatives are not too far from where I live. Here in North Carolina in Ansen Co. a lot of homes didn't have indoor plumbing untill the late 50's and early 60's. I live in a hundred year old house, which I'd put up against any modern cookie cutter home built in the last decade, in terms of strength, durability and character, and it had no bathroom until the early 60's in this particular home. There's a well just outside the back door about twenty foot from the house. And of course there was an outhouse, bit it has long since disappeared, in fact I don't even know its previous location, though it must have been not far from the back door, and I'm guessing it must have been attached to one of the barns. There is a pond here, about two acres in size, stocked with fish of several varieties. Fruit trees abound, along with ample forest for fire wood. Game is still abundant here, and there are about 25 acres of prime farmable ground. I have all the stuff now days, power, phone and internet, along with culinary city water. I will be growing crops this year, watermellons and your usual farmers market type stuff along with a few chickens and a couple steers for beef, maybe a couple goats as well for meat. I'm content as hell...! I'v got a later model Jeep and a Van conversion were it to all go south, I could always, and have in the past sleep and live out of the van comfortably.

It's just that people have become too accustomed to all the convieniences of city life in America. They don't really need all they have, but rather desire it. Well that's their choice, only it may not be sustainable forever.



posted on Mar, 24 2013 @ 06:21 AM
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I'll ad that artificial places like Southern California and Nevada, mainly Los Vegas might disappear were the Colorado river to run dry for some reason. There are many artificial cities that had in the past only been arid wasteland



posted on Mar, 24 2013 @ 07:52 AM
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Well, as a nurse and an ex-military surgical tech, plus being an herbalist hobbyist, I think I'd just hang out my shingle and work for barter...even in the wasteland people need medical care. I'm thinkn that may help my family through, hence why I chose the job path. If you're the closest thing to the town doc that people have, they may keep an eye on you.
reply to post by tymothymichel
 


No argument here.



posted on Mar, 24 2013 @ 08:24 AM
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Light Emitting Diode
Solar Cells
Resisters
Wind Generators
Steam Generators
Hydrogen Generators
Hand Generators
Hydro Generators
Deep Cycle Batteries
Power inverters
Microwave Ovens

With all this mildly advanced Technology, no one should be without some type of electricity and lighting,
even to be able to shield it from EMPs

The only reason anyone would be without, is they aren't using their heads and making survival a priority.

If all one did was to buy solar yard lighting and hung them like medieval torches from the sides of their houses, and placed wall fixtures inside for them, they would never be without.

Its just too silly in this day and age to think of heading in reverse to the dark ages

edit on 24-3-2013 by SPECULUM because: (no reason given)




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