How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse?

Re:How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse? by gjsman-1000 on Tuesday November 22, 2022 @11:46PM (#33715325)

My family jokes that, while everyone stocks up on “survival” products… cigarettes and alcohol will probably be in high demand. Got video games, maybe some solar power (just enough for a TV and a Switch)? Parents will want those to keep the kids sane. Got Blu-rays, DVDs? When people can’t stream, you might get some good resources for them. Got a PC with some offline CAD software? Makes planning making things out of wood easier. And so forth.

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Re:How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse? by quacked on Tuesday November 22, 2022 @11:48PM (#33715334)

That's a smart idea. Cigarettes, condoms, porn, gum, the sorts of things you bribe third-world soldiers with (often people with experience living without power for a long time.)

Edit: I saw you added CAD software; I actually think that people would go back to just drawing things on paper before they'd go to "solar rig to PC with CAD software on it". Civilization did run just fine without computers up until they crashed the scene, and most of the really memorable buildings were designed on paper.

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Re:How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse? by gjsman-1000 on Tuesday November 22, 2022 @11:51PM (#33715355)

Yeah… I don’t know how many CAD users there would be in the apocalypse. I’m just listing some everyday things we already have that are pseudo-prepper to do… ;)

EDIT: I just realized, how many people will have blank paper in the apocalypse? How many people print anymore? Man this rabbit hole never ends… For heavens sake though, digital media is so anti-resilient that it’s just crazy…

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Re:How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse? by sixstringtheory on Tuesday November 22, 2022 @11:50PM (#33715348)

Wouldn’t an EMP destroy photovoltaic cells, inverters etc?

Maybe keep a couple panels in your underground bunker to bring up to the surface after the blast…

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Re:How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse? by lettergram on Tuesday November 22, 2022 @11:55PM (#33715390)

My favorite is people who think gold and silver will matter. Nope.

Ammo, instant coffee, antibiotics. Cheap now, can keep for years, light weight and useful to everyone.

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Re:How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse? by PlasmaOInterest on Wednesday November 23, 2022 @12:16AM (#33715509)

>My favorite is people who think gold and silver will matter. Nope.

Seems like they'd matter more than the electronic number of a non-existent/inaccessible bank account of one's so-called wealth? But I agree that all such instantly barterable items are a better commodity.

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Re:How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse? by Milo0841 on Wednesday November 23, 2022 @01:19AM (#33715857)

Antibiotics and oxycodone.

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