Will tech really die?

[Skean Dhude]

This looks interesting.

There are several questions in one here and I am looking at a total TEOTWAWKI scenario that disrupts our society for some time and causes massive depopulation. Anything less is just a hiccup and recovery will happen and we will soon be back where we are now.

My view is that tech as we know it will die. We will have technology for some time, perhaps even our lifetime but eventually it will all fail. We will be able to create electricity but we will be unable to recreate items like laptops, GPS units, digital cameras. We could create TVs, radios but bulky items and not the solid state stuff we have now. Materials will simply not be available and beyond our skillsets.

However we will be able to generate and transform electricity, build motor vehicles and aircraft. Anything we could do circa 1960 we should be able to do now but I fear that we will lose the capability to go beyond that and restore what we have now. We have simply used up all the resources and our population will be such that we will be unable to rebuild because we will not have the skills or the numbers to allow people to concentrate on pure research. Everyone will have to live.

For me. I'm storing as many books as I can on electronics post solid state and integrated circuits and basic electronic stuff, an oscilloscope, meters, resistors, capacitors, transistors, etc. the basic building blocks for electronics as well as some basic training in electronics that you can buy in places like Maplin. Old hat now and the realm of the geek but they will be valuable tools if anything happens.

[Straight Shooter]

That,s the point DEV ...I have loads of stuff put away, as S13 points out Knowing how to make wood gas to run a Generator are things we need to know how to do.....even so there may well come a time when things will not work and will not be fixable The point BP makes is equally relevant....plan for the worst ....hope for the best but somewhere in between all concepts can and should be realized ..and most definitely will.

[MaryN]

Very interesting, Scythe, and you have made me think a bit. I don't think "tech" will die out - you can't unlearn what you already know - but I do think it will be more difficult to use it. It depends how hard everything (or only something) falls. It would be difficult to restaff factories to make ipads and whatnot. People would probably be reluctant to join in with such projects particularly if there was a lot of uncertainty. What would they gain?

I think the thing that would be the big showstopper would be the number of people involved. Even if "tech" could be put back into operation, there would be millions (?) of people with no clue as to how to do anything remotely useable. Do you think they would willingly stand by while preppers got on with it? They would wait, steal, ruin........ What they couldn't fix for themselves they would extract from others. I doubt if there would be much discipline in the world - you think people would wait patiently for things to be made to fill their needs? They would steal; gangs would form..... well, anarchy would ensue.

And I'm usually an optimist.

[T-oddity]

Interesting thread, regardless of collapse being quick or slow knowledge will persist for some considerable time, peoples priorities will change to meeting their most basic needs so things like smart phones and I pads will become things of the past.
We humans can be a very ingenious lot when we need to be, necessity being the mother of all invention, it is surprising what we can come up with, I have a little experience of this being an ex Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineer who spent a little time as part of a reclamation unit and have carried out battle field repair, that is putting vehicles and a equipment back into use that would otherwise be written off when parts are unavailable using on the whole basic hand tools and a fair smattering of knowledge and experience.
Knowledge and experience is the key, and if you don't have it yourself there is a good chance that some one in your local community has, particularly older folk, weather its to do with food production, animal husbandry or electronics there is a lot of knowledge kicking around out there and it is a recourse just like anything else.

[bigpaul]

that's all assuming all these "knowledgeable" people survive the collapse, which probably wont be the case.

[Scythe13]

(14 June 2015, 08:27)bigpaul Wrote: that's all assuming all these "knowledgeable" people survive the collapse, which probably wont be the case.

Well it's a good job that as preppers we're developing the knowledge, right? I mean, that is the plan isn't it? Knowledge of how to survive or how to survive and thrive?

If there is a major die off, I'm not going to be worried about food. Everyone says the die off will be over and done in the first 90 days. So I'm not concerned. With over a year's worth of food, I will have plenty of time free to not worry about getting food stores in place (although I can happily go out and add to what I already have). After any major die off, I'll be jacking a few cars for components and building my own electricity generating system to add to a wood gas system. Presto, we'll have fridges and freezers. Don't forget the solar panels we'll be acquiring. Oh and the network and relationships we have with our neighbours, that'll help for security. Feeding them will be easy enough. Will teach a couple of people to set snares and the alike, and we'll be able to feed a lot of people without letting them know we have stores.

With the electricity systems we set up, we'll be able to start building stuff for the community as a whole, namely our street. We all get along well, and there's a few shooters on the road, so security will be good. Right on the edge of farm land, so that's a good help. "Any carpenter friends or electrician or mechanic friends around my dear neighbour?"…"YES?!?! Well bring them along!" And suddenly we're rebuilding. Catch a few rabbits, get them breeding, that becomes a major food supplement.

But we'll have the people and resources to build up a system to help ourselves. That system will include electricity, water wheels, solar, and the alike. Hell, we'll be using things like camping gas, and BBQ's to cook on. But we'll be able to survive and do well.

[bigpaul]

I give up, la la land springs to mind.

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seeing as how you believe "nothing will happen" we are just chewing the fat aren't we.

[Scythe13]

My best mate is the farm manager for one of Britain's largest chicken farms. Egg layers. Damn right we'll be heading over there and picking up a load of chickens. He won't have a single problem with that. I've turned up in his garden, when he was away, with guns, popped him a quick call and shot into the field behind his house. This is a pretty regular thing. Did it once with SD. Best of all, although I have full reign of a huge area of land to try out snaring, shooting, and other kinds of things, I've already been offered chickens and enough food to last longer than me. There is no La-La Land there.

We have 2 preppers on this road, 2 other shooters, and I'm out on local farmer land 2 or 3 days a week. I even go to the pub with one farmer, and the other is my best mate. What I've done is purposefully seek out these people as a network for if TSHTF. Relying on myself would be foolhardy and unwise. If I was the linchpin keeping everything together, and I died, my wife would be in trouble. So the idea is to have a network build up where people have skills and can teach other people.

If you have neighbours that are carpenters, electricians, mechanics, farmers, firemen, police, plumbers, general handyman/builders, doctors, nurses, vets, military and the alike. Teachers to help with any children. Even a paster/preacher would help many people cope with their grieving. It makes total sense to keep an eye on who has extra needs, like diabetics, pregnant women, disabled people, and the alike. If you can look out for these things, you're doing a much better job than just thinking, I'm going it alone because I'm superman. Are they all highly skilled preppers? No. But I can guarantee that the specialists are going to be better at their skills than I am, and they'll be able to teach others.

[bigpaul]

not getting at you personally mate I just think that where TSHTF is concerned there are a lot of people who believe it will be of short juration and the government will have it under control in short order and then it'll be "business as usual" or in some cases "nothing will happen" or nothing of any consequence anyway, putting my point of view, opinion and beliefs has always led to me being trolled(before I came online the only troll I knew of was the kind that lived under bridges!!), abused and ignored, I even had my personal details splashed over some insignificant blog without my permission. I have always thought I was a dinosaur(well me and one other) and nobody can, or wants to, understand where I'm coming from. so you carry on Scythe my friend, you do it your way and i'll do it mine. and I wish you the best of luck.

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my wife says I don't understand about "social media" and she is quite right, I don't.

[Scythe13]

(15 June 2015, 08:53)bigpaul Wrote: not getting at you personally mate I just think that where TSHTF is concerned there are a lot of people who believe it will be of short juration and the government will have it under control in short order and then it'll be "business as usual" or in some cases "nothing will happen" or nothing of any consequence anyway, putting my point of view, opinion and beliefs has always led to me being trolled(before I came online the only troll I knew of was the kind that lived under bridges!!), abused and ignored, I even had my personal details splashed over some insignificant blog without my permission. I have always thought I was a dinosaur(well me and one other) and nobody can, or wants to, understand where I'm coming from. so you carry on Scythe my friend, you do it your way and i'll do it mine. and I wish you the best of luck.

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my wife says I don't understand about "social media" and she is quite right, I don't.

Mate, you sometimes say it'll be a sudden event with a large die off and other times you lean towards a slow event with little semblance to a major die off. I'm just looking to account for both. If it's slow, then having a community of people will be a major benefit. If it's a rapid event, then a network is going to be a major help. Or do you think it's easier alone? I know your situation is very different from mine, in location, population and the general populace. Where we are, there's lot of handymen, shooters, farmers, and our social circles include a lot of vets and medical people. I know you're caught in a council area with really crappy neighbours, so building a network isn't an easy option for you. It's the networks we are building that will allow tech to survive for us. It'll be about 80% of what we currently have.