Reinventing Technology

[Mr. Hyde !!cPIqDLBbmTg No.2004303]

Hypothetical Situation:
You and a small group of people are the last humans on Earth.
You are the most educated (you have your current education), and the group respects your education and is willing to listen to your advice.
What do you do to ensure your (and your 'tribe's) survival, and what do you do to reset technological progress?

Specifics:
Assume you blacked out and are woken up in this 'humanless' world by a 'tribal leader' of sorts who has the respect of his people and is aware of your education and trusts that its application is to his and his people's advantage.
Assume you all speak a common language. (for simplicity's sake)
Assume no access to cities, existing technology, etc.
You are unaware of any other human groups, though you suspect they may exist.
Assume the people trust you, but trust their tribal leader more.
Assume the tribal leader trusts you enough to listen to your advice within reason, but demands an explanation before taking action on your advice.
Assume the group is 200 strong with 40% males and no children.
Assume the group is physically fit and healthy, with roughly high-school education.

[Anonymous No.2004377]

Well first, I kill all the niggers.

If they're all niggers, I kill myself.

captcha: moral hooing

[Mr. Hyde !!cPIqDLBbmTg No.2004384]

I'll start:

First is hunting by the men and gathering by the women. Possibly an Atlatl or spears would be nice to develop. With strong wood nearby we might even be able to construct bows.
Next is agriculture, possibly also by the women, depending on how difficult hunting proves to be. (hunting/gathering is important until agriculture really kicks in)
Next, try to re-invent pottery by heating mud or clay.
With clay pots I would develop water filters with sand and rocks and a water boiling station for drinking, bathing, and sanitation.
Next we seek honey and sugar for the development of mead (safe to drink, used for recreation and as a reward mechanism) that'll take several months to develop.
Next we stretch the limits of pottery to try to make large vats in the ground that can be sealed. If successful, we all urinate in one vat and defecate in the other. Hay is added to the urine vat and in a year or so we can extract ammonium nitrate for gunpowder. The defecation vat can be used as a source of fertilizer and methane gas, provided we develop a method of air-tightening containers and a method of methane harvesting.

[Anonymous No.2004394]

Begin from scratch: start harvesting natural resources, building structures to house people (showing them the arch and possibly concrete if we come across the materials for it), begin teaching others simple math, writing, etc. Begin forging tools: stone or wood first, then whatever metal we find. Continue education and most likely form some sort of government. After we find a good source of metals, begin building machines to aid in farming, eventually leading up to a steam engine, then voila we're in the industrial revolution again. Continue education and expanding, and it'll be just like before the apocalypse.

[Anonymous No.2004391]

This is kind've a hard question.

Are all forms of civilization wiped out?

[Anonymous No.2004397]

>>2004303
I'll just go around looting and playing black jack.
The fuck you want me to do?

[Anonymous No.2004414]

How much knowledge does they have? Stone age technology?

[Mr. Hyde !!cPIqDLBbmTg No.2004417]

>>2004391
As far as you can tell, all forms of civilization have been eradicated save for this small group and possibly other small groups unknown to you.
Everyone in your group has had a similar experience to you in that they were minding their own business in the year 2010 when they blacked out and came to under conditions similar to you.
They all have a high-school education, and were working menial jobs when the blackout hit.
For the sake of simplicity, we are assuming they trust the tribal leader.
For the sake of conversation and discussion, we assume you are the most education person in the group.

[Anonymous No.2004424]

Do we still have remais of civilization? Like trash, pet bottles, cans, etc?

[Anonymous No.2004432]

What do they have so far? What kind of environment are we in? These are key details.

[Mr. Hyde !!cPIqDLBbmTg No.2004446]

>>2004394
What natural resources, from where, and how would you harvest them?
We'll assume they have a high school education, but teaching them what you know is a very good idea. Also, maybe developing a method of recording information (either on clay or if you could somehow develop paper or parchment or even hides) so you could write down all you know in case something happens to you.
How would you build a blast furnace to work the metal? Perhaps with stone and clay and an accelerant of some kind (maybe the methane?) I'm actually not sure about the technical details of blacksmithing from scratch. Though I'm sure it's absolutely critical to our progress.

[Anonymous No.2004449]

im a music major

[Anonymous No.2004450]

First, we find an excellent location to settle a new city.

Then, I set my scout to auto-explore the region.

I work on developing a warrior to garrison my city.

Then I wait for the next turn and for all other players to process their moves.

YOUR MOVE, CHINA.

[Anonymous No.2004473]

>>2004449
humanity is doomed.

[Anonymous No.2004474]

Well, since i am an engineer, i would have sex with all the men

[Anonymous No.2004481]

>>2004474
What does this have to do with engineering? You do realize most engineers are straight.

[Mr. Hyde !!cPIqDLBbmTg No.2004482]

>>2004424
No remnants of any modern civilization, assume no concrete, no leftover buildings, no worked metal or man-made materials of any sort.

>>2004432
Of course,
Assume they 'woke up' not long before you, but long enough for one man (the 'tribal leader') to gain the people's trust and become an established and respected leader. (for the sake of simplicity and discussion, you see)
Assume they operate under a benevolent dictatorship under the 'tribal leader'. For the sake of simplicity let's assume complete obediency.
Assume the people have been surviving by hunting/gathering up to this point and have developed only sharpened sticks to aid hunting before your awakening.
Let's arbitrarily choose an environment as a starting point.
I'll arbitrarily choose a gulf coastal region as my starting point (if only because that area I'm most familiar with) and assume fertile soil for the sake of simplicity.
I'd be very interested in people choosing different starting points and discussing the implications of their starting points.

[Anonymous No.2004487]

Aristocrat here.

[Mr. Hyde !!cPIqDLBbmTg No.2004510]

Perhaps someone might choose to start near mountains in a stormy region where lodestones are more likely to form. This would increase the chances of developing magnetism and electricity early on. I think it would also increase the chances of finding sulphur to improve gunpowder yield.

I am suddenly picturing a /sci/ driven "Let's Play: Dwarf Fortress"

[Anonymous No.2004511]

>>2004481
you do realize you're a troll

[Anonymous No.2004513]

>>2004481
>You do realize most engineers are straight.

Something like 80% of engineers are gay.

[Anonymous No.2004516]

>>2004481
>You do realize most engineers are straight.
NOPE.avi

[Anonymous No.2004517]

>>2004513
You do realize I'd rape my fellow engineers regardless?

[Anonymous No.2004529]

Well, the first step after fiding a river and setting up a camp there would be to gather moderately hard but deformable stones to turn into tools. Then set up a hydromotive station to power much needed automated tools (grinders, mill, even a fucking dynamo). After that everything would be too easy.

[Mr. Hyde !!cPIqDLBbmTg No.2004533]

>>2004513
...um...[citation needed]?

Also, let's assume that despite fagtacularity, you recognize the need to reproduce and do so. (even if only to produce more boys to molest, 'fresh meat' if you will)

Perhaps you develop clay dildos and have an impetus to develop leatherworking and metallurgy to improve S&M sessions?

[This is me desperately trying to keep the thread on track]

[Anonymous No.2004583]

>>2004482
So I will choose some tropical or subtropical area. Where it doesn't snow and near the sea and a river. (Fresh water and food from river/sea)

Start with the construction of houses, fishing, waste disposal, gathering/agriculture and improving tools.

Them, making searches to look for usefull plants and animals to cultivate.

Start trying work with metal/glass/pottery/etc

[Anonymous No.2004590]

Get drunk, fuck the bitches.

[Anonymous No.2004607]

>>2004446
I actually built a furnace pretty much from scratch in high school. I used bricks, which are pretty easy to make from clay, and an air compressor, which could be substituted for some kind of bellows. Fueled it with charcoal I made, and I was able to melt steel quite easily.

[confederateyankee !!v8tGs6MjoE9 No.2004630]

>>2004303
>You are the most educated (you have your current education)

Well we're screwed.

[Anonymous No.2004634]

I wonder how long it would take me to put together a nuclear reactor.

[Anonymous No.2004718]

>>2004449

[Anonymous No.2004732]

>>2004634
give me some bricks, wood, and a week's time

[Anonymous No.2004748]

>>2004732
Hmm... well, you'd need
-large scale steel casting
-uranium mining and refinement capabilites
-the abillity to make high precision metal parts
-the ability to make very specific alloys
It would probably be doable without a computer at least.

[Anonymous No.2004771]

the toughest part about this scenario is that any technology that requires metal will need to mined.. until that happens, no industrial age whatsoever. Even the most experienced and broadly educated engineer would be able to do exactly jack and shit once he needed materials to advance.

Even if you wanted to leap-frog industrialization and go straight to more advanced energy techniques, you've still got to know how to find the ore for that shit, mine it and purify it. Obviously you would need to have a knowledge of mining. An experienced chemist usually knows what mineral/rock/what-have-you has in it and can get out what is needed.

[Anonymous No.2004792]

>>2004771
With 200 people, mining a large amount of iron ore shouldn't be much of a problem. And from there making iron isn't hard.

[Anonymous No.2004824]

Well we're fucked. 200 people does not have enough biodiversity to survive.

Nonetheless, go hunter-gatherer style. Make fires, hunt animals, do your thing. Write down as much as you can about whatever you know. Kill anyone who's religious. Basic shit is basic.

[Anonymous No.2004835]

>>2004824
Man originated from one man and one woman, dumbass. And you claim you're so smart because you go to university HURR DURR

[Anonymous No.2004837]

>>2004771
>any technology that requires metal will need to mined..
lolwat?
>until that happens, no industrial age whatsoever.
you have 200 people. You're not having an industrial age for probably a thousand years.

[Anonymous No.2004838]

>>2004824
OP implied that there were other groups.

[Anonymous No.2004847]

>>2004837
Depends on what you know. If someone was knowledgable in chemistry, physics, and geology and had worked in the steel industry, you'd probably be able to be working steel within 15 years.

[Anonymous No.2004877]

>I'm the most educated
>group has high school education

which one is it, OP?

[Anonymous No.2004880]

You need to ensure enough food and clean water first. Depending on the circumstrances this could be really easy or impossibly hard. I mean if there are still chickens or rabbits around then it could be done easily. If you won't find wheat or potatoes or some other kind of basic crop, you won't be able to sustain a large population regardless of technological development.
If thats worked out you need to build better shelter, so you have to find a way to make tools. If there are scrap metal around its easier, but if not you need mining and that takes a lot of people and a lot of effort so it would likely take decades to be able to do that.
Once you did that you need energy, for milling and industry in general, it could be windmills or water, water is likely best and it could be done without a lot of metal.

Another thing thats important is to write down everything you remeber and the same with the other tribe members, and make sure you preserve the knowledge.
It would likely take more then a hundred years to get back to a middle ages level society if even that.

[Anonymous No.2004881]

>If someone was knowledgable in chemistry, physics, >and geology and had worked in the steel industry, >you'd probably be able to be working steel within 15 >years.

>Assume the group is physically fit and healthy, with >roughly high-school education.

FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

[Mr. Hyde !!cPIqDLBbmTg No.2004964]

So by burning wood in a low oxygen environment we get charcoal.
By pissing in a hole in the ground for a year or so we get ammonium nitrate. Now we have shitty gunpowder! If we can find some sulphur somewhere, we could make black powder or blasting powder.

So let's recap. We've got hunting, agriculture, sanitation, pottery, mead (woo!), blacksmithing (assuming sufficient mines are found), firearms... If we get blacksmithing done right and assume we get charcoal production pretty pro, we can claim a rudimentary steam engine. I think we're off to a good start /sci/

I definitely think the hardest part of this is the finding and subsequent mining and purifying of metals. I'm not even sure HOW to purify ore.

And finding a lodestone for the first time is going to be a bitch. Once one is found, you basically have an electrical revolution, but those are pretty hard to find.

[Anonymous No.2004979]

Also without doctors in the group we will have problems. And since it will likely take generations and if we are shooting for optimal growth most of the population will be kids so education is important. Kids would have to work by the time they're 6. And have children at 14.
This kind of society is unstable without strong control, so you need a way to do that.

[Anonymous No.2004991]

IMO, there is far too few people and not enough educated ones of those few to be able to come close to modern day society. In a lifetime, I'd say we'd be technologically equivalent to the middle ages.

[Anonymous No.2005017]

>>2004991
>I'd say we'd be technologically equivalent to the middle ages.
No chance. Middle ages in iron age. You're in the stone age. The idea that your group is going to find iron ore, mine it and smelt it in the first generation is preposterous.

If you want to fast-track technology, the best you can do is start a culture of compulsory education (literacy), and write down everything you know about mining, smelting, metalworking (assuming you know anything about it), and every other technology you know anything about. If you're not a geologist, I'm not sure how you'll be able to teach them to recognize iron ore in the first place. It might be a very long shot to preserve any knowledge at all.

[Anonymous No.2005019]

amended
>>2005017
>to preserve any knowledge at all.
rather to preserve any knowledge at all beyond the knowledge that is immediately applicable, which is stone age technology, such as agriculture, fire starting, bows and arrows, shelter construction. But I wonder how many people here know much about these things in the first place.

[Anonymous No.2005021]

>>2004964
you purify ore by melting it then skimming the impurities off the top.
but for mining I'm sure all you have to do is punch a tree then make some sticks, take one of the pieces of tree then karate chop it into 3 pieces, take those 3 pieces and put them on top, then take the two sticks and attach them and then the 3 pieces of wood. take your new pick to the nearest stone you can find then take the 3 pieces of stone and put them on top of two other sticks for stone axes.
teach this to everyone its quite important. now everyone is equipped with mining axes and can now mine into the ground and look for iron and coal. take 8 pieces of stone and make a box for a furnace, when you find the iron you can smelt it in here using the coal. this can also be scale able. now that you have your iron bars you take 3 of those bars and two sticks and make another axe, as many as you can and distribute them out and search for as much iron, coal, and diamond as you can. Diamond of course being the hardest metal known to man. having 400 people do this you will be swarming in stone. whenever you get hungry eat an egg and at night make sure everyone is indoors. Also on day 1 have everyone impregnate at least 1 woman. because you will need as much manpower as possible in the future. by the time woman start shittign babies you should have developed lava lighting and heating with the entire wold mined out into a paradise.

[Anonymous No.2005029]

>>2004964
Its pretty much just heating the oxide with carbon so it reduces, its easy enough for tin and copper, but for iron it takes a lot of heat. I think i remember reading somewhere though that the first iron was produced by reducing it at a low temperature then hammering it.

[Anonymous No.2005036]

>>2004881
>If someone was knowledgable in chemistry, physics, >and geology and had worked in the steel industry, >you'd probably be able to be working steel within 15 >years.

>>Assume the group is physically fit and healthy, with >>roughly high-school education.

>FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

actually, if someone actually learned ALL the curriculum from HS, they would be pretty apt at chemistry, physics and able to do this..

but alas

[:D !!s2uh28knASO No.2005057]

After assuring we have enough food, we need to start sending scouts to find for more people or groups, and then set trade and information routes.


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