this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2023

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How long would you live if electricity for the whole world went out permanently? (aussie.zone)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Indefinitely, but significantly less life expectancy than if it didn't happen.

I'm relatively well set up and experienced for that kind of thing. Don't get me wrong, it would suuuck. But I think we'd be okay. I personally would probably not live as long because living rustic is fucking hard work and my kids are still too young to help much. We'd have a rough time of it, but I am confident that with our help my kids would figure out how to thrive by the time my health is failing. So yeah at least another generation or two seems likely even though I doubt I could last more than another 10 or 15 years living that way. Especially given that the first few years would be the hardest.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

As soon as the health system is out I'm taking myself out. It's just not worth it without medicine

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If we can create fire we'd still have steam energy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I feel like this is the kind of thing everyone overlooks in these kinds of scenarios. Thousands of people are going to be working on the problem. Okay, all our current electronics are fried, but that doesn't mean we can't make new ones. All our power plants and water treatment facilities suddenly don't work... Well, people still have jobs at those places so someone is going to try to fix it. And I think most people sort of know and understand that, at least over the short term. Society doesn't fall apart after every disaster.

And if it did, you're probably wrong about how you'd respond or you're not being creative and therefore are doing what everyone else will do and the resources will dry up and you won't be one of the lucky few that makes it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Well these questions are mostly for people to LARP about how tough and self-sufficient they are. No, society wouldn't collapse because we didn't have electricity for 99% of our time on Earth. Electricity was a luxury as recently as 100 years ago.

Number one issue is, can electronics be fixed? If yes, temporary issue. If not, and we are literally without power (for some magical reason) we just need a million more horses to cart food around. There wouldn't be much looting. The new iPhone won't work and how are you going to get away with anything bigger? Guns and locks still work without electricity.

I personally would start buying up property from people ignorantly fleeing cities. Most major cities are built on great harbors or waterways for sail and steam ships. People will try to farm, fail at it, and just buy from farmers like before. Food will move by boat first to major ports. Every prepper in the middle of nowhere will sit in a bunker eating canned vegetables while the rest of the world goes on with their lives.

You don't actually need Facebook and Tik Tok. You won't die without it. You'll just read the same gossip in a magazine.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I wouldn't be able to use more of my medication, so if I keep taking NSAIDS every day, then until I have kidney/liver failure. I don't know how long would that be.

That's of course not accounting for someone trying to murder me to get the NSAIDS they couldn't get, or someone else trying to murder me for my belongings/food. Since I have arthritis I can't really defend myself so... Yeah.

I did talk to my wife about this on one of those drunken conversations and we both agreed to just end it when we see no other way because we both need medication to live.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I'm not too concerned. Worst case, my brother is a competition shooter and has a number of guns and the components for lots of ammo at home (he makes his own custom tailored ammo), while gun ownership is otherwise quite unusual in my country.

I suppose a major issue would be realizing early enough if things are not going to improve, and that it's time to bug out to his place and switch to Fallout mode.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I would definitely die sooner than a lot of people because of my mechanical heart valve. The blood thinners and needing to make sure my blood isn't too thin or thick would be harder since I've been getting it checked for over a decade and I've never seen them use a non-electric method of testing.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

This was the storyline for the old Jessica Alba show, a Dark Angel.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I would live maybe even longer than in the current world. So much more action would help my physical condition.

I have grown up with low tech, so I know how to get along. It is just a lot less convenient.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Got a plan for food, long-term?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Grows everywhere. I would go outside of the city, but I have heard about people in cities can also grow things.

The much more difficult "secret knowlege" (nobody seems to know it anymore except a few large companies) is how to store food long-term, for example through a cold winter.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So you're planning to find some empty land and then plant some crops?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

That's a possibility. I'm not exactly planning.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Would probably depend on how strongly my survive instinct would kick in, and what I'd be willing to do to survive. And of course on how we as a society would deal with this big change.

A few minutes would be the minimum.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Until my medication runs out. :(

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I know a place I could last for months, depending on what time of year the power's lost, but it's a long ways from here. And then, only if bullets for hunting were still available (they'll get scarce fast, faster than toilet paper when COVID came around). Once the bullets are gone, I've either learned to trap or become a vegetarian.

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