I was having this conversation with my daughter and thought it was an interesting topic.
If an EMP or solar flare took out everything electronic in the whole world (permanently), how long do you think it would take for you to die, given your current location and circumstances.
I believe my daughter thinks we would live a lot longer than I do, but she is thinking about how long she can live without the internet while I am thinking the world will quickly descend into anarchy.
With no traditional forms of transport, so supplies would dry up, limited resources, health etc, law and order would be a challenge as things become more desperate.
I think I would live for about 3 months. I would try to get the family somewhere safe and remote and come back later, but I think most people would have the same idea.
Depends how prepared you are and how you play the cards you have. Taking care of family/others will definitely slow you down. Gas won’t last and when you start seeing people roaming around, better be somewhere safe!
I swear American fantasies about societal collapse are so frustrating. Everybody assumes people would turn to violence and greed immediately. Either it’s because it looks good in movies or they genuinely think they suck.
Meanwhile in real extreme conditions everybody is all “let’s get all the famillies together to help each other gather our crops” and “I have too many lemons from my lemon tree, do you want some for free?” “Oh, only if you take some of this fish I got that may go bad instead”.
I know a few assholes. And if they’re assholes in times of plenty, I have no reason to think they’ll grow a moral compass when the lights go out.
Plenty of assholes everywhere, though. It’s not about a moral compass.
That’s another weird one, I guess. You get this notion that suggests that rural settings somehow have the moral high ground or something. They don’t. Sharing and community building are survival strategies. You help with gathering because you need help with gathering. You drop off the excess fish because at some point something needs to make up for your lack of lemons.
Going into a mad max rampage the moment the lights go off isn’t being mean, it’s being suicidal.
deleted by creator
That’s fair. Having lived in both settings… well, yeah, the fact that food grows out of the ground with minimal coaxing is a distinct advantage if you have to survive a bad time.
But I’ve seen maps of the US. The fact that this is a culture-wide assumption goes beyond urban vs rural. You need a yard to make a bunker. Not many bunkers around here.