Time Magazine: This Is What World War III Will Look Like

a reply to: ColCurious

chancellorette for being "Anti-American".

Don't talk so bad about our Bananenrepublik! Being a true democrat, she actually embraces dissenting opinions but always struggles to get her unmitigated love for diversity across...

To (roughly) cite Pispers at this part:
"She always says my anti-americanism is baseless. And I stand behind her!".

a reply to: Profusion


Its never going to happen, were not talking about a conventional war, where the Generals and troops fighting overseas, were talking about the Clintons and the Bushes and their extended families and friends getting killed in the most horible way, the same goes for Putin. If he and his extended family survived, the people would eat him when he showed his face after an exchange. people dont take kindly to having their loved ones fried over any cause or argument that didn't concern them in the slightest.

a reply to: Profusion

A nuclear WW3 would last maybe 10-15 minutes max. No longer is there the luxury of the 30ish minute window from an ICBM launch til impact, SLBMs now make it 5-10 minutes to target impact.

a reply to: starwarsisreal

Love your idea, though the problem with this is the winning soldiers will become overnight celebrities and this would become so common place that their would be battles everyday and it would be like watching a game in the old roman coliseum, it would be turned into a tv show of modern times and the most watched show on earth

A couple large EMP blasts would devastate the the US population without destroying the animals, plants, soil, and water.

No electronic devices- even if you're "off-grid" your gear is cooked. No internet, obviously. No power. No modern engines (old mechanical diesel would work, if you could start it with no starter)
No communication. No running water- city water and well water are both electricity driven. City water has huge diesel fired backup generators that could run for days- but the winding in the generators are cooked, even if you could get the engines started.

Without electricity, travel, or communication, food or water things get messy quick.
There's no food coming in- and the grocery stores would be cleaned out in a day.

Emergency workers, having no mobility or supplies themselves, would disband to protect their families.

Day two, nobody has any water left.
I'd figure 15% of the US population would be dead within a month- anyone who depends on others for help is dead in the first week.
Week two, most people are out of food.
Within two weeks, every major city would be a burning war zone, with tens of thousands of hungry people trying to survive. Highways are blocked with non running vehicles, and spotted with desperate people on foot and bicycles trying to escape the city.
Suburbs would be eerie and dangerous- gangs of raiders would most likely be the only people left.

Two months in, major cities have burned to the ground, and suburbs surrounding major cities are decimated.

I'd say that by the end of month three, easily 50-75% of the population has died, and anyone left is ravaged and tired, just one bad winter away from starving themselves.

originally posted by: lordcomac
A couple large EMP blasts would devastate the the US population without destroying the animals, plants, soil, and water.

No electronic devices- even if you're "off-grid" your gear is cooked. No internet, obviously. No power. No modern engines (old mechanical diesel would work, if you could start it with no starter)
No communication. No running water- city water and well water are both electricity driven. City water has huge diesel fired backup generators that could run for days- but the winding in the generators are cooked, even if you could get the engines started.

Without electricity, travel, or communication, food or water things get messy quick.
There's no food coming in- and the grocery stores would be cleaned out in a day.

Emergency workers, having no mobility or supplies themselves, would disband to protect their families.

Day two, nobody has any water left.
I'd figure 15% of the US population would be dead within a month- anyone who depends on others for help is dead in the first week.
Week two, most people are out of food.
Within two weeks, every major city would be a burning war zone, with tens of thousands of hungry people trying to survive. Highways are blocked with non running vehicles, and spotted with desperate people on foot and bicycles trying to escape the city.
Suburbs would be eerie and dangerous- gangs of raiders would most likely be the only people left.

Two months in, major cities have burned to the ground, and suburbs surrounding major cities are decimated.

I'd say that by the end of month three, easily 50-75% of the population has died, and anyone left is ravaged and tired, just one bad winter away from starving themselves.

well isn't that a pleasant scenario to imagine. nice graphic detail.

I hope it doesn't ever come to that

a reply to: lordcomac

While I think some of your scenario would be possible and even probable but I think you discredit a large swath of the populace that could survive on hunting and fishing and also agriculture. I think your scenario would fit nicely in the large coastal cities but in the Midwest life would move on. We would adapt and find a way to survive.

Hell when I was a kid we went for over a week without power due to an large ice storm and yeah it wasn't a lot of fun it wasn't all that unbearable cooked on an open fire used the open fire for heat, melted snow for drinking water and the like.

Large urban areas such as LA, new York. And the like would fall rapidly and possi my even some of the large cities in the Midwest but it wouldn't be the complete death of us in a month or two I believe it would take much much longer if it happens at all.

There was talk a year or two ago after a chemical factory explosion that leveled part of a chinese city and left a crater about railguns orbiting on satellites that shoot down a giant kinetic rod or whatever and that it was the reason for the unusual damage caused by the explosion.

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

From en.wikiquote.org...

originally posted by: crimsongod21
a reply to: lordcomac

While I think some of your scenario would be possible and even probable but I think you discredit a large swath of the populace that could survive on hunting and fishing and also agriculture. I think your scenario would fit nicely in the large coastal cities but in the Midwest life would move on. We would adapt and find a way to survive.

Hell when I was a kid we went for over a week without power due to an large ice storm and yeah it wasn't a lot of fun it wasn't all that unbearable cooked on an open fire used the open fire for heat, melted snow for drinking water and the like.

Large urban areas such as LA, new York. And the like would fall rapidly and possi my even some of the large cities in the Midwest but it wouldn't be the complete death of us in a month or two I believe it would take much much longer if it happens at all.

The problem is that you have millions suddenly thinking they can survive that way.

Even though many would be inept, it would still take an unbelievable toll on the wildlife. It would decimate it enough that pretty soon the hunting/fishing crowd would starve.

Basically, you would need to have a community that could stock enough supplies and seeds and animal stock in to survive that first year and they would also have to be organized and disciplined enough to withstand the temptations of their seed stock and any would be starving challengers who come looking to eat said seed stock.

After that first year and if you can make it to that first harvest/slaughter, then things get easier. But until then, it will be a constant struggle against both your own temptation and outside challengers.

There will be no nuclear war. The aliens won’t allow it.

You think that’s funny!?

But seriously, the aliens have put in too much time and effort and are too well embedded into the planet to tolerate nuclear war ruining their plans.

They have already proven they can not only launch but can shut down nukes anytime they want. If someone gets itchy fingers they might decide to launch them all and destroy them at altitude and have some plan to clean up the mess.

Sure some loony might set off a small tactical nuke, but rest assured, no major nuclear launches will ever be allowed to wreak havoc on this planet.

Now they might anal probe you, wipe your mind or remove a few hours from your life, but hey, that could happen the next time you go to the movies.

originally posted by: lordcomac
A couple large EMP blasts would devastate the the US population without destroying the animals, plants, soil, and water.

No electronic devices- even if you're "off-grid" your gear is cooked. No internet, obviously. No power. No modern engines (old mechanical diesel would work, if you could start it with no starter)
No communication. No running water- city water and well water are both electricity driven. City water has huge diesel fired backup generators that could run for days- but the winding in the generators are cooked, even if you could get the engines started.

Without electricity, travel, or communication, food or water things get messy quick.
There's no food coming in- and the grocery stores would be cleaned out in a day.

Emergency workers, having no mobility or supplies themselves, would disband to protect their families.

Day two, nobody has any water left.
I'd figure 15% of the US population would be dead within a month- anyone who depends on others for help is dead in the first week.
Week two, most people are out of food.
Within two weeks, every major city would be a burning war zone, with tens of thousands of hungry people trying to survive. Highways are blocked with non running vehicles, and spotted with desperate people on foot and bicycles trying to escape the city.
Suburbs would be eerie and dangerous- gangs of raiders would most likely be the only people left.

Two months in, major cities have burned to the ground, and suburbs surrounding major cities are decimated.

I'd say that by the end of month three, easily 50-75% of the population has died, and anyone left is ravaged and tired, just one bad winter away from starving themselves.

Unless you have a metal building.

DP

originally posted by: Konduit
a reply to: Jason88

They say that the technology available to the pubic is at least 10 years behind what is actually out there. Hell, MI6 was using Ipads in the 90's. Not saying real, sentient AI exists... but if we have commercially available smart cars, smart drones, smart programs and smart everything, imagine what we don't know about.

While I don't disagree that public technology is years behind what's secretly available, I do strongly believe we're nowhere near the creation of AI. Discovering it would be tantamount to finding intelligent alien life. And while nearly every tech firm is touting their newest artificial intelligence software, it's all marketing BS. All of it.

I think in today's landscape of marketing hype where the term is tossed around freely that it's wise to remind folks that actual AI does not exist.

I'm confident 'they' don't have it because they could never control it...

originally posted by: crimsongod21
My guess is that nuclear options are no longer the go to for mass devastation. Weaponry has surpassed the need to make a large swath of land uninhabitable. Be it emp weaponry, space lasers or who knows what else in sure by now we have figured out the next game changer.

antimatter, but it's much smaller and more precise than a nuke.

originally posted by: crimsongod21
My guess is that nuclear options are no longer the go to for mass devastation. Weaponry has surpassed the need to make a large swath of land uninhabitable. Be it emp weaponry, space lasers or who knows what else in sure by now we have figured out the next game changer.

antimatter, but it's much smaller and more precise than a nuke.