Getting humanity to bounce back faster in a post-apocalyptic world

Post by wepple » Sat, Jun 11, 2022, 11:06 AM UTC

throwawayarnty wrote: post #113

gavmor wrote: post #9

If I were to take one book with me "down into the bunker," as Dartnell puts it, I'd hands-down take with me the Bosch Automotive Handbook[0], a phenomenally dense and thorough text covering not just cars, but their constituent parts--and their constituent parts' constituent parts--all the way down to the materials. It has wonderful tables of data on the properties of various materials (from advanced plastics and allo…

Is this handbook still relevant in modern cars? I feel the new cars have so many hidden panels and electronics that you’re not expected to fiddle with the insides.

Post by JoeAltmaier » Sat, Jun 11, 2022, 11:12 AM UTC

imtringued wrote: post #186

Ishmaeli wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, it seems like just knowing some of the dead ends would be a huge step up. Like maybe we don't waste a ton of time and resources trying to turn lead into gold, or teaching left-handed kids to be right-handed, or trying to figure out which ritual to perform to which deity to make the crops grow.

I hope they realize that synthetic fertilizers are a dead end.

Post by occz » Sat, Jun 11, 2022, 1:01 PM UTC

nonrandomstring wrote: post #192

occz wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For how long would cars really be practical in a "down in the bunker"-scenario, though? There wouldn't be any more fuel produced, probably, and cars require a fairly high standard of roads which also would be lost after not too long. Personally, I would probably bring the equivalent book on bicycles, which I speculate would be the vehicle of choice for the end of the world. If anyone knows the name of such a book, I…

Engines can be modified to run on a lot of thing you can grow and process on a small farm. Maintenance would be an ongoing skill needed, so the role of mechanics and electro-mechanical knowledge would be highly valued again. A harder challenge would be stripping out all the ECUs, computers and security crap to make things "just work" again. All civilisations have been able to maintain their technology, but I think we…

Post by amanaplanacanal » Sat, Jun 11, 2022, 1:35 PM UTC

all2 wrote: post #87

throwaway892238 wrote: post #27

Weird take. Sure, you could try to re-build what you had before the apocalypse. Or you could build a new world that isn't the one that just plunged everything into chaos. If our technology wasn't so good, the world wouldn't be as populated, we wouldn't need so many resources, there wouldn't be so many ways to poison the earth, and the earth would be habitable and sustainable for millennia. After the apocalypse, I wan…

The problem isn't technology. The problem is immoral people. Immoral people make immoral and greedy governments. Immoral and greedy governments wield power to acquire more and survive as a parasitic organism. All governments move towards totalitarianism. No nation-state in the world has ever escaped this eventuality. Limiting technology won't limit the harm even one evil person can do. Take a look at Gengis Khan, for…

Post by yazantapuz » Sat, Jun 11, 2022, 2:50 PM UTC

occz wrote: post #161

elboru wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea is not to build a car just after you are out of the bunker. But it seems like this book would be helpful for a ton of useful things: > thorough text covering not just cars, but their constituent parts--and their constituent parts' constituent parts--all the way down to the materials. It has wonderful tables of data on the properties of various materials (from advanced plastics and alloys to leather, paper, a…

The materials-part could probably be useful, but still, the utility of cars in a world where neither their infrastructure could be maintained nor their fuel produced is highly questionable. Bicycles are far less vulnerable, in my opinion.