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.
Hopefully quite a while. I’m regularly in the wilderness, a holiday is 2-3 weeks off-grid. The only thing I use electricity for is lighting (torches and camp) and music/radio, powered off battery’s that are handled by solar.
I aim to extend food by fishing, which usually is week 2 after my stored meat is gone and I need more protein. I have a couple of different weighted bows, but rarely hunt as it requires extra licensing. Lots and lots and lots of expedition-level outdoor/survival gear.
Combine that all with still having a house for shelter, should be fine. Love a book and crosswords for non-electric entertainment, otherwise mountain biking or rock climbing. I won’t get bored.
I think fish wouldnt be as available as you think, since tons of desperate people will use less than ethical means to harvest every edible, living thing from the river systems.
Leaving to massive ecological damage, and possibly massive contamination as well.
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I think you misjudge, considering how massively popular fishing became during covid, as one of the only hobbies you could do that was outside and solitary.
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You are thinking like a fisherman, and not a throng of panicky, starving masses.
I bet most the fish wont even be cooked before being consumed.
Nor will care be given for any toxins dumped into the water to try and scoop every living organism out of it in the starved panic.
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Assuming an intentional EMP sent America back to the stone age, then America would respond in kind to China, N.Korea, Iran, Pakistan and Russia. England, continental Europe, Turkey, India, Israel, Japan, S. Korea would all have been hit with the same at the same time. If somehow we all just traded queens and stopped there, or if a prolonged solar storm hit the planet repeatedly accomplishing the same, I really think your optimistic limiting global losses to 75%
After the first northern winter I would assume 90-95% of humanity is gone. Those that can hunt are the most likely to survive. Seafood increases your odds of survival by orders of magnitude, as it requires some skill, but much less caloric investment before reward. By and large we’ve lost the ability to farm without fertilizers and pesticides, many will try but one early freeze will kill off dependant communities. Climate change making weather less predictable def does not work in our favor.
After the first winter I wouldn’t be afraid of strangers. Another person is far too valuable, when you remember that there are lots of things outside that will happily kill us. We only have strength when we’re in numbers.
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Depends if you’re fishing off a river or ocean/lake. Could easily see goofs just throwing a net across an entire river.
Even lakes, I wouldn’t be sure about in the long term. Every boomer with a fishing pole is probably headed to a lake if they can…
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I think your point would be true in a high population city in a high population nation where most of it is accessible to the average person.
I live in Australia, though.
Fishing requires gear, skill, and knowledge. For much of our fish abundance the average person wouldn’t survive getting to the area or know what to do once they got there. This is why they have untouched abundance.