I agree with that. Again, short of an all out nuclear war with multiple and redundant target strikes, the majority of the infrastructure will remain; it's kind of hard to get rid of, actually. Satellites may begin to fail, but there are wires wrapped around the world a hundred thousand times; wires made of materials that don't rust mind you, and those will last for some time. Of course there will probably be a rash of suicides when people realize they have to go back to dialup.

lol.

I think that there is also an unknowable factor in filling the vacuum - gigantic corporations. Multinationals of the evil variety have been scare-tactic fodder for conspiracy theorists and science fiction authors for a long time, but it's true that many of them have the resources and the muscle to carve out fully functioning empires.

Originally posted by: Jason Voorheees

Originally posted by: crunkmoose

Originally posted by: barbarossa

One of the main reasons for the continuity of trade after Rome fell is that it didn't 'fall' at all, but changed - rather slowly - into several other states. There was chaos and disruption in some regions, but contemporary historiography is very much on the side of continuity.

I'm not mentioning this to be a dick but to point out that survivalists and other eschatologically inclined folks won't take historical examples on the face of it.

And, of course, they still had far far more actual production of goods and meaningful services vital to life than we do today.. and they had an agricultural system far closer to the general populace than we have in most areas today.

Want to be prepared? Go sell all your gold right now while the price is still high and invest instead in dry storage containers, fill them with canned food, salt, guns, tools, ammo, seeds, etc.. then bury them keeping close track of how many, what they contained, and where you put them. Then, of course, stock your basement or bunker or house with the same sorts of things. Gold may eventually become useful again in a few years, but by that time you want to still be alive in the first place. Before a gold economy re-emerges the stuff is going to be pretty much useless for trade or survival. Sure, you can do a few things with it... but you can't make a shelter with it, can't make food with it, and can't purify water with it.

lol, really? I think if you want to be prepared, the first step is to never listen to any retards like Dwarn.

Agreed, but even a broken clock, ya know. Just because nuts and assholes have been predicting societal collapse for decades doesn't mean it won't happen at some point.

^Gas masks and water testing kits as well. Because like the government or not, right now it is the only thing that regulates industry, and industry in a state of anarchy will be a very ugly thing. Chances are that after the Dwarnpocalypse, industry will go on but with a lot more coal getting burnt and a lot more toxic waste being dumped everywhere. Libertarianism only works if you live upstream from the factory. It takes a national government to even conceive of the entire length of the stream as a whole. All the canned soup in the world can't protect you from that.

Originally posted by: barbarossa

lol.

I think that there is also an unknowable factor in filling the vacuum - gigantic corporations. Multinationals of the evil variety have been scare-tactic fodder for conspiracy theorists and science fiction authors for a long time, but it's true that many of them have the resources and the muscle to carve out fully functioning empires.

.



Indeed. And putting my Dwarn hat on for a second, they kind of already have. After all these years, I still can't think of any other logical reason for the war in Iraq other than as an income source for defense contractors, companies like Halliburton and Blackwater, and of course the various oil cartels. No one wants to believe it about 'their' government, but if anyone can't conceive of a power structure inventing a war for the sole purpose of economic gain, they really do need to study history a little more thoroughly.

"Because like the government or not, right now it is the only thing that regulates industry, and industry in a state of anarchy will be a very ugly thing."

Why I will never vote Libertarian.

Also.. yeah.. gas masks, water testing, and water purifying... at the very least a few bowls to make solar stills.

"All the canned soup in the world can't protect you from that."

Dang... well, I guess I will have to abandon my survival bunker made out of cans of soup.

If we are talking about tools for survival check out life straw.

click here for link

This is awesome.

They've been killing us with the parking lots the whole time

click here for link

killing me softly with parking lots, tellin my whole life with polysomething hydrocarbons, killing me softly with parking lots

ONE TIME

what