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How are you going to do any metalwork with your scavenged metal? Heat it up with a big mirror? Its very very hard without high energy density fuel. The article

• XorNot 12y ago
  Just because it would be a slower development path doesn't mean it's impossible. It would be slower, but any given civilization would have only a few viable options for development - so yes, I think you'd find a civilization which values glass and mirrors and polishing technology to get the heat necessary for metal working.
  • tinco 12y ago
    I don't think a civilization built on a shit load of aluminium scrap is going to develop very slowly. Don't forget aluminium is a wonder metal that's only been around for like a hundred years. All really important metals can be melted at temperatures that can easily be reached with a well built furnace and natural fuel like wood.
    • balabaster 12y ago
      Plus, we already know what we did to get to where we are now. We can adapt that knowledge to get back to where we are now. It's going forward we're going to be stumbling in the dark, but we're doing that now anyway.
• eropple 12y ago
  See my reply to your comment in a sibling thread. A wood fire can hit 1050C. There's plenty of easily-available metal in that range, and building a forced-draft charcoal burner will get you to 1350C. Iron melting points start around 1150C; steel is probably out of the question, but that doesn't mean much.
• yellowapple 12y ago
  > How are you going to do any metalwork with your scavenged metal? With a wood-fired forge. Blacksmithing predates fossil fuels by quite a long time.