3 ms·

There's an interesting Youtube channel "Primitive Technology"[0]. Note how pretty much every technology involves fire. This is prehistoric tech-level, and it al

by mrob 10y ago

There's an interesting Youtube channel "Primitive Technology"[0]. Note how pretty much every technology involves fire. This is prehistoric tech-level, and it already won't scale to modern population sizes without fossil fuels. Trees aren't enough[1]. Modern technology is even more energy intensive. [0] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation#Pre-industrial_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation#Pre-industrial_h...

xj9 10y ago
why would you jump all of the way back to prehistoric tech? a lot of modern (and fairly green) tech would be pretty easy to salvage. manufacturing some of this stuff is pretty involved, but i don't think we will have to start all the way over. https://youtu.be/ZmHY9DkD1Hw https://youtu.be/ZmHY9DkD1Hw http://www.mikeswindmillshop.com/instructional-lessons/mikes-method-building-wind-generators http://www.mikeswindmillshop.com/instructional-lessons/mikes... http://www.techlib.com/electronics/amxmit.htm http://www.techlib.com/electronics/amxmit.htm
adrianN 10y ago
Modern population sizes are unlikely to be sustained past a hypothetic apocalypse and a rebirth of technology is unlikely to include a large part of the survivors. The question is how many hands you need at least to bootstrap from society's scrap metal back to a sustainable technology stack.
- abtinf 10y ago
  More than .15 per square mile. According to Guns, Germs, and Steel, a population of 4,000 humans living in Tasmania were cutoff from contact with the mainland after the Bass Straight flooded 10,000 years ago. In this extreme isolation, they regressed beyond even stone-age technology, including losing knowledge of how to catch fish or start fires. https://books.google.com/books?id=PWnWRFEGoeUC&pg=PA312&lpg=PA312&dq=guns+germs+and+steel+tasmania&source=bl&ots=Ol_5hGxUlS&sig=E9DhyYydJrCYM5ZwdtOt34qQ9I8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwie4PrR0dnTAhVN62MKHbDhBSgQ6AEIHDAA https://books.google.com/books?id=PWnWRFEGoeUC&pg=PA312&lpg=...

by mrob 10y ago

xj9 10y ago

why would you jump all of the way back to prehistoric tech? a lot of modern (and fairly green) tech would be pretty easy to salvage. manufacturing some of this stuff is pretty involved, but i don't think we will have to start all the way over. https://youtu.be/ZmHY9DkD1Hw https://youtu.be/ZmHY9DkD1Hw http://www.mikeswindmillshop.com/instructional-lessons/mikes-method-building-wind-generators http://www.mikeswindmillshop.com/instructional-lessons/mikes... http://www.techlib.com/electronics/amxmit.htm http://www.techlib.com/electronics/amxmit.htm

adrianN 10y ago

Modern population sizes are unlikely to be sustained past a hypothetic apocalypse and a rebirth of technology is unlikely to include a large part of the survivors. The question is how many hands you need at least to bootstrap from society's scrap metal back to a sustainable technology stack.

abtinf 10y ago
More than .15 per square mile. According to Guns, Germs, and Steel, a population of 4,000 humans living in Tasmania were cutoff from contact with the mainland after the Bass Straight flooded 10,000 years ago. In this extreme isolation, they regressed beyond even stone-age technology, including losing knowledge of how to catch fish or start fires. https://books.google.com/books?id=PWnWRFEGoeUC&pg=PA312&lpg=PA312&dq=guns+germs+and+steel+tasmania&source=bl&ots=Ol_5hGxUlS&sig=E9DhyYydJrCYM5ZwdtOt34qQ9I8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwie4PrR0dnTAhVN62MKHbDhBSgQ6AEIHDAA https://books.google.com/books?id=PWnWRFEGoeUC&pg=PA312&lpg=...