It's hard to know the long-range consequences of a general war. Conceivably it could mean the end of the human race. The war and the years immediately after would be as terrible as advertised. But the race would probably survive. Such a war would be a great detour into darkness, but as the years passed and the survivors grew old, and their children's children became adults... the bad times would be remembered as a distant misfortune. There could be happiness and bright times for those descendants; the war might be the end of our world, but not of theirs. Most of our informational heritage exists in a million libraries, even more robust than humanity. And I don't buy the arguments that technology couldn't restart because our civilization has consumed all the easily accessible resources. With the exception of petroleum, post-debacle civilizations might well find Earth's resources more accessible than before. (Non-poisoned urban ruins make great open pit mines.)
In some scenarios, the post-war civilization might have high levels of education and a clear vision of the past. (If) luck finally runs out for our current civilization, (and) we have a general war and worst times than I can describe (or want to imagine) (...), at the far end of it all there is another opportunity for prosperity and progress.
In some scenarios, the post-war civilization might have high levels of education and a clear vision of the past. (If) luck finally runs out for our current civilization, (and) we have a general war and worst times than I can describe (or want to imagine) (...), at the far end of it all there is another opportunity for prosperity and progress.
— Vernor Vinge, preface to The Ungoverned
"you see shaun the institute technology USED to be the best hope for the commonwealth"
"but now i have the power of mods, you're like mid tier tech level"
"dr mcclintock from the bleachers built a full greenhouse and stuff out of scraps, she's probably done more for humanity than all of you put together"
"but now i have the power of mods, you're like mid tier tech level"
"dr mcclintock from the bleachers built a full greenhouse and stuff out of scraps, she's probably done more for humanity than all of you put together"
— From a Discord discussion on Fallout 4 mods that venture away from the post-apocalyptic genre
