Hypothetical Doomsday Scenario

[schoolsout]

Modern medicine saves many lives, but at the same time it also contributes to the growing problem of overpopulation.

This is a good thing, right?

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,336286,00.html

A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,...#ixzz21XuGj1Rr

[2LaneCruzer]

I'm afraid I have to agree with Patrick. With electricity we might have a chance to keep the wells pumping, the refineries turning out fuel, the vehicles running and the lifeline of food continuing, but it would probably be too little too late. The need for food and water would be immediate, and most would perish I think. Those of us with wells might figure out how to get water, and maybe we have a pond with fish, but you can't feed a country on squirrels, rabbits and other wild game. We have lost those survival skills that kept our Grandparents alive.

[riptides]

Interesting the "lean" of this thread to the negative.

Humans - adapt.

Even if someone pushed the button, we would adapt, survive and perhaps thrive even more. It is what we do.

[RoyJackson]

You would be responsible for millions if not billions of deaths. Cities would riot and burn. Starvation and disease would take care of the rest.

I think the more technologically advanced countries (the US, most of Europe) would bear the brunt of the "magic button". Africa, rural areas of South America...might not even notice the change.

Would I push the button? No...

[brin]

I think the more technologically advanced countries (the US, most of Europe) would bear the brunt of the "magic button". Africa, rural areas of South America...might not even notice the change.

Would I push the button? No...

I would not push the button either Roy, I will say we should have never gotten into this hi tech situation of dependency.....Look at an Airliner or many other critical pieces of equipment...they have back up systems...built in redundancies....so if the primary operation fails there are several back ups....Just imagine all the bankruptcies just because companies would lose all their accounts receivable and payable records...with no back ups...

When the tech era started...our fearless leaders should have been smart enough to maintain some back up solutions for all critical needs....They failed !

[k0ua]

I tend to agree with Patrick.. I think it would be he77 on earth. I don't think there are enough people that know how things work to put it back together. At least for a long long time. I do know how a lot of things work, and I also know how fragile it is now. Everything is stretched thin as it is.. electric grid, telecom grid, broadband, all of it is just barely working now..The growth in broadband backbones is exponential. Everything in Manufacturing is "just in time".. There are not warehouses full of goods, there is a streaming manufacturing process, by design. It is all very very fragile, and balanced now.
If the EOTWAWKI scenario comes it will be catastrophic. At any rate there sure would be a lot of dying involved. Not good. Jeez, things are bad enough as is.. don't be "pushing any frigging buttons"

James K0UA

[MasseyWV]

So, if you opt for the button then you may be an insane megalomaniac who may not have a good grasp of the consequences or some demented idiot who thinks the ends justifies the means.

I'm none of those things, are you? Perhaps you missed the point of this thread, or maybe you didn't see the words "Hypothetical" and "Doomsday" contained in the thread title. To imagine a worst case scenario can sometimes help one plan for a better future.

People aren't just going to, for the convenience of the button pushers, dig their own graves and climb in to await death by starvation and thirst.

The world stands on a mere knife edge now, where it wouldn't take much to throw us into complete chaos. Having just weathered one of the longest and most massive power outages in modern history, then experiencing the consequences, I know. People are already digging their own graves, a little at a time.

[jinman]

Hypothetical scenarios are a cheap form of entertainment for the uninformed. They have no limits in their extremes and unrealistic demands, nor do they bear any consequences. How's this for an example? If you had all the intelligence and power in the world at your fingertips, would you make everyone call you God?

I remember in the military being asked if I could launch a nuclear strike against a city if it was in the hands of the enemy and my family was also there? If you say yes, how do they know you are being truthful. If you say no, do they then consider you a security risk?

[Mounted Madness]

Hypothetical scenarios are a cheap form of entertainment for the uninformed. They have no limits in their extremes and unrealistic demands, nor do they bear any consequences. How's this for an example? If you had all the intelligence and power in the world at your fingertips, would you make everyone call you God?

I remember in the military being asked if I could launch a nuclear strike against a city if it was in the hands of the enemy and my family was also there? If you say yes, how do they know you are being truthful. If you say no, do they then consider you a security risk?

Jinman...interesting and very true comment.
No matter the reply, hypotheticals are just that, until reality forces the issue.

[MasseyWV]

Hypothetical scenarios are a cheap form of entertainment for the uninformed.

I respect your opinion, but strongly disagree. Hypothetical scenarios are a way of imagining a myriad of different possibilities. The question of "What if?" is the most powerful question ever conceived in the history of mankind. Those who don't ask questions are doomed to live out their lives in ignorance.