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United States7483 Posts
On February 05 2014 08:43 Epishade wrote:
If mankind were to forget how technology/machines/science of any kind worked tomorrow, how long would it take to figure out how everything worked again given our reliance on preexisting science textbooks/the internet?
Since we still have the texts and the records, probably not too long. If those were all deleted, it'd depend on how culture is impacted by the sudden change. If you are defining written word as technology and anything we've ever made (including fire), then the answer is probably a few thousand years, or perhaps less given the fact that we would still have examples of technology laying around that we could study to reverse engineer.
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On February 05 2014 08:43 Epishade wrote:
If mankind were to forget how technology/machines/science of any kind worked tomorrow, how long would it take to figure out how everything worked again given our reliance on preexisting science textbooks/the internet?
Do we maintain the same level of evolution that we have now? And, do modern structures remain, even if we don't know how to use it? Lastly, do we have the same population?
If so, I think it should take us roughly the same amount of time that it took before. Probably no more than 12,000 years if I had to guess, probably much sooner if our modern machines and technology still exist and we just have to figure out how they work.
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Well if we all forgot about it and it all disappeared but there was still 7 billion people on earth there would be a massive food shortage and mass starvation so people would be extremely motivated to find solutions to the problem so I'd expect the infrastructure to be built up again fairly quickly to fit all the new needs that would arise.
I often wonder about something similar, like if you brought Sir Isaac Newton or any other genius from the past into modern time today, how long would it take them to acclimate to all the new information and technology, would they still be considered a genius, and would they still be able to make any innovations?
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Yeah, the main setback would probably be based on short-term problems of missing knowledge, namely food and water being absurdly scarce compared to the population. Especially cities would become deathtraps, with hundreds of thousands of hungry people in a very small area with absolutely no food, and no reasonable way to spread out fast enough to get some since we would be basically set to walking speed for a few month/years. That of course leads to major social problems, lots of people starving, lots of people killing each other, and general chaos.
A lot of technology is pretty easy to figure out how to use, even if you don't understand the language of the device. Luckily enough, that is probably not the case for most of the stuff that can to actual major devastation like nuclear weaponry etc...
So with my guess, which is absolutely not backed up by anything, we got a few years of total chaos, ~90% of humanity dies, then stuff stabilizes. At which point you will start people trying to figure out how stuff works. Now, given the abundance of those now available, it is save to assume that at least some textbooks detailing the main scientific workings will survive, and i think most modern languages aren't THAT hard to decode. So my guess would be that we reach the knowledge of at least the early 20th century in no more then a hundred years after the event.
Of course, this is a optimistic outlook that assumes that the instability caused by the loss of knowledge does not turn into total devastating chaos that undoes civilisation, but basically the hope is that enough people die for the remaining agriculture to sustain the people before someone figures out some of the really major weaponry that is lying about.
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On February 05 2014 09:02 MtlGuitarist97 wrote:Show nested quote +On February 05 2014 08:43 Epishade wrote:
If mankind were to forget how technology/machines/science of any kind worked tomorrow, how long would it take to figure out how everything worked again given our reliance on preexisting science textbooks/the internet? Do we maintain the same level of evolution that we have now? And, do modern structures remain, even if we don't know how to use it? Lastly, do we have the same population? If so, I think it should take us roughly the same amount of time that it took before. Probably no more than 12,000 years if I had to guess, probably much sooner if our modern machines and technology still exist and we just have to figure out how they work.
Yes. I wish I had made this more clear. I was asking this question using the assumption that things would still exist for us to use them, we just wouldn't really know why they worked or how. So like, planes would still be around, computers and cars too. Just everybody would have to figure out why these machines worked and how they could use them. Have to re-learn driving etc.
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Lemarc's view on evolution is wrong, but can we simulate its effect by exposing random samples of populations to specific environments in such a way as to encourage random evolution to turn into an un-random direction?
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It would cause a lot of confusion but for the average person to reach their regular competance level again wouldn' take long, esp considering most people have such poor understanding of technology to begin with. Experts/motivated individuals could relearn everything to do the behind the scenes pretty quick (few years) to catch back up usin existing technologies as a reference.
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what do you do when you get cramps in the middle of your balls and anus? the area where you practice your Kegel exercises. I mean sometimes, i get up in the middle of the night to pee, then that area suddenly starts cramping and i'm left there teary eyed holding my penis while screaming inside my head 'oh god why'
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On February 05 2014 15:49 icystorage wrote:
the area where you practice your Kegel exercises
am i the only one that doesnt do this?
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On February 05 2014 10:11 Epishade wrote:Show nested quote +On February 05 2014 09:02 MtlGuitarist97 wrote:On February 05 2014 08:43 Epishade wrote:
If mankind were to forget how technology/machines/science of any kind worked tomorrow, how long would it take to figure out how everything worked again given our reliance on preexisting science textbooks/the internet? Do we maintain the same level of evolution that we have now? And, do modern structures remain, even if we don't know how to use it? Lastly, do we have the same population? If so, I think it should take us roughly the same amount of time that it took before. Probably no more than 12,000 years if I had to guess, probably much sooner if our modern machines and technology still exist and we just have to figure out how they work. Yes. I wish I had made this more clear. I was asking this question using the assumption that things would still exist for us to use them, we just wouldn't really know why they worked or how. So like, planes would still be around, computers and cars too. Just everybody would have to figure out why these machines worked and how they could use them. Have to re-learn driving etc.
The big question is if people would still be able to read.
Considering computers and the internet would still run until power runs out, and that our books contain nearly all of human knowledge
and the fact that manuals for machines have written instructions, as well as some describing words next to important buttons and levers,
it could take as little as a decade or two for humanity to get our current system somewhat running again. Still better than collapse of society.
If we can't read anymore, collapse of society along with hunger, war for food and water and disasters at power plants that people don't put cooling water in because they forgot how and why, all seem kind of inevitable.
Even if people find out how to use cars or other rather simple machines and/or weapons.
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you do that exercise when you try to hold/stop your pee or cut your shit with your anus
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Is it still considered cheating if you are 10,000 miles away from your girlfriend at the time?
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On February 06 2014 10:30 Dogfoodboy16 wrote:
Is it still considered cheating if you are 10,000 miles away from your girlfriend at the time?
Are you in a competition with SixStrings or something?
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On February 06 2014 10:31 Najda wrote:Show nested quote +On February 06 2014 10:30 Dogfoodboy16 wrote:
Is it still considered cheating if you are 10,000 miles away from your girlfriend at the time? Are you in a competition with SixStrings or something?
who?
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On February 06 2014 10:34 Dogfoodboy16 wrote:Show nested quote +On February 06 2014 10:31 Najda wrote:On February 06 2014 10:30 Dogfoodboy16 wrote:
Is it still considered cheating if you are 10,000 miles away from your girlfriend at the time? Are you in a competition with SixStrings or something? who?
no one can beat SixStrings
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On February 06 2014 10:42 Kojak21 wrote:Show nested quote +On February 06 2014 10:34 Dogfoodboy16 wrote:On February 06 2014 10:31 Najda wrote:On February 06 2014 10:30 Dogfoodboy16 wrote:
Is it still considered cheating if you are 10,000 miles away from your girlfriend at the time? Are you in a competition with SixStrings or something? who? no one can beat SixStrings
Idk, Dogfoodboy's gaining pretty quickly now.
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On February 06 2014 10:42 Kojak21 wrote:Show nested quote +On February 06 2014 10:34 Dogfoodboy16 wrote:On February 06 2014 10:31 Najda wrote:On February 06 2014 10:30 Dogfoodboy16 wrote:
Is it still considered cheating if you are 10,000 miles away from your girlfriend at the time? Are you in a competition with SixStrings or something? who? no one can beat SixStrings
I'm interested in finding out if that's true.
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I think it's funny I posted that thinking this was the Dating how's your luck thread but enough people got the joke anyway.
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Now I'm curious about this... what happened to SixStrings? Last I saw of him, he was writing badly and ambiguously worded blogs.
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On February 05 2014 15:49 icystorage wrote:
what do you do when you get cramps in the middle of your balls and anus? the area where you practice your Kegel exercises. I mean sometimes, i get up in the middle of the night to pee, then that area suddenly starts cramping and i'm left there teary eyed holding my penis while screaming inside my head 'oh god why'
I don't know how I missed this before, but I'm glad I came back.
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