What would a new dark age look like?

[Gotham Central]

Now that the liklihood of nuclear armageddon has diminished somewhat, what would a new "dark age" look like. How far would you expect that humanity would regress.

I've been thinking about a number of post apocalyptic visions we've seen on TV and in film. Most of the visions seem a bit more primitive than I would expect a new dark age society to appear.

I'm thinking that electricity would not disappear completey and would reemerge fairly quickly. Unless there is some mass purging of engineers, it seems that early to mid 20th century levels of technology would emerge fairly quickly.

 

[A Clockwork Lim]

Now that the liklihood of nuclear armageddon has diminished somewhat, what would a new "dark age" look like. How far would you expect that humanity would regress.

I've been thinking about a number of post apocalyptic visions we've seen on TV and in film. Most of the visions seem a bit more primitive than I would expect a new dark age society to appear.

I'm thinking that electricity would not disappear completey and would reemerge fairly quickly. Unless there is some mass purging of engineers, it seems that early to mid 20th century levels of technology would emerge fairly quickly.

It would take something truly cosmic to remove technology from the world. It's too engrained, it's too well-known, it's too accessible, and it's too recorded to completely disappear. The new top-of-the-line tech, of course, could easily be lost. But the basics? Especially electricity as a whole? It would be as likely to disappear as fire or the wheel.

 

[sojourner]

What about a scenario that wiped out most "civilized" people leaving only the remote tribes like those in the amazon/russian steppes/africa alive. It might take centuries for any advanced culture to rise again. Just due to the fact that these people seem ingrained to live a basic life and would not seek to expand and grow as the cultures that died did. I could easily see a plague scenario like this.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

A new dark age would look like...

the NBC Fall Lineup.

 

[Captain Intrepid]

Warring fortified cities, each including everything it needed for survival.

 

[RoJoHen]

A new dark age would look like...

the NBC Fall Lineup.

I sure as hell hope you're not including "Chuck" in this assessment I might be forced to hurt you.

 

[TemporalFlux]

I agree with the cosmic event; some kind of EMP that fries all electronics would set us back pretty far. Bank records would cease; communications would be cut off; cars wouldn't work; etc.

And as for modern science solving the problem? Well, you have to keep tunnel vision in mind. Much like the Twilight Zone episode, "Once Upon a Time", you have the problem of how many people would really still know how to build this stuff up from its basics. We take alot of things for granted these days.

 

[Samurai8472]

Time to gather up all the gas and ride off in my interceptor.

 

[Christopher]

"What would a new dark age look like?"

How should I know? It's too dark!

 

[Deckerd]

They were only called the Dark Ages because nobody wrote much down, so there isn't much 'light' cast on what went on then. Since this would never happen in a post Apocalyptic event (survivors would be blogging like mad), a new DA would only occur if the only survivors were illiterate. Hang on, now I think of it...

 

[AviTrek]

I would guess national/international networks would collapse. No more internet, no more phones, no more tv, and no more power. People would still use electricity, but it would be locally generated. Maybe personal wind turbines or steam power generated by chopped wood. You would have to schedule what you did with the electricity around when you have power. Maybe have some batteries to make it through non-generating times with minimal power usage.

 

[Vendikarr]

They were only called the Dark Ages because nobody wrote much down, so there isn't much 'light' cast on what went on then. Since this would never happen in a post Apocalyptic event (survivors would be blogging like mad), a new DA would only occur if the only survivors were illiterate. Hang on, now I think of it...

I fear the bloggers would all be chatting in that abbreviated language all the kids use, and no one will understand it in the future.. thus a new dark age.

 

[Lapis Exilis]

I would guess national/international networks would collapse. No more internet, no more phones, no more tv, and no more power. People would still use electricity, but it would be locally generated. Maybe personal wind turbines or steam power generated by chopped wood. You would have to schedule what you did with the electricity around when you have power. Maybe have some batteries to make it through non-generating times with minimal power usage.

That's what I was thinking. Most electricity is generated by coal burning plants, nuclear plants or hydro turbines. Anything that interrupted coal mining and transport would cause most electrical grids to go down. Nuclear plants are even easier to stop without international trade and highly skilled staff.

The Dark Ages was actually a period in which just that happened - trade broke down, isolating communities. It wasn't that no one was writing things down - lots of people were, but they weren't able to share it with anyone because travel was too difficult. Law on the scale of Empire collapsed, leaving the roadways vulnerable to marauders and reducing law to that enacted by small communities. "The hue and cry" was a medieval term that mean all members of a community had to drop whatever they were doing if they heard someone raise the hue and cry, because it meant a crime had been committed and they had to go chase the culprit.

 

[Shawnster]

That's what I was thinking. Most electricity is generated by coal burning plants, nuclear plants or hydro turbines. Anything that interrupted coal mining and transport would cause most electrical grids to go down. Nuclear plants are even easier to stop without international trade and highly skilled staff.

Trade breaks down; coal, hydro nuclear plants go dark. Some enterprising post-apocalypse Bill Gates type gets the bright idea to open an athletic studio/exercise center. He gets his engineer friend to connect all the self-powered exercise bikes and treadmills together to form electrical generators and sells his electricity. People join his gym, get exercise AND provide electricity for themselves and neighbors.

 

[Vendikarr]

The only way we would see a true 'dark age' take root would be through a drastic and sudden reduction in world population, which would remove valuable skills from the remaining population.

The thought is, how low would the population have to drop for such a situation to occur? A drop of 99% would still leave approximately 65 million people worldwide. Even at that level, I think most countries would have enough manpower to keep the infrastructure functional, if not fully intact.

To get to a level like that would take a global event, such as a global pandemic, or an extra-planetary event, like a collision.

I don't think it's something we really need to worry about. The real shame would be all that would be lost due to such an event. If we lose the ability to generate electricity, then everything stored digitally is pretty much lost until we can access it again. Hopefully once we learn how to work that technology, the technology will still function.

 

[Space Black]

Wait... are you guys telling me that it actually gets darker than the last 8 years? I figured we had been living one very dark age...

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

It would be like The Postman, isolated settlements, walled villages...some ex-copy machine salesman leading a bunch of neo-nazi cavalry.

And there'd be motorcycle gangs, fire-breathing dragons that feed on ash, zombies, killer robots, fleshy-headed mutants and Tina Turner dressed in chain mail.

Also, Tim Thomerson.

 

[Brent]

That one Babylon 5 episode where it shows us in the far future in a dark age of sorts, but with the rangers watching over us, it would be like that except without rangers watching over us.

 

[Frontier]

What would a new dark age look like?

If Sarah Palin ever gets elected president, I'm positive we'll find out first hand what a new dark age looks like.

 

[RoJoHen]

That one Babylon 5 episode where it shows us in the far future in a dark age of sorts, but with the rangers watching over us, it would be like that except without rangers watching over us.

So we would all turn into monks?