this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
19 points (80.6% liked)

Ask Lemmy

38330 readers
1836 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I clarify:

Let's say scientists can't come up with solutions to global problems, AI gets out of control and turns almost everyone into paperclips during wars, and in the 2040s or 2050s, the surviving people (about a few tens of millions around the world or even less) gradually return to the level of intelligence of their distant ancestors?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] fizzle@quokk.au 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The only possible answer is that I would eek out an existence foraging for twigs and berries as a neolithic hunter gatherer. However, in my case I would only do that for several months before I died from a chronic health condition I manage with medication, so there's that.

I don't know if it's really possible for us to go back to the stone age. There's so much steel and iron lying around. I don't really know much about metallurgy but I'm pretty sure I could figure out how to flatten some rebar into a blade if it was all I had to do all day.

We also have domesticated breeds of livestock and know how to raise crops.

So, at worst it would be some kind of modern iron age, neolithic isn't really possible.

[–] deadymouse@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago

It depends on the region and country, but yes, matalurgy can be resumed over time.

[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

In the novel Star's Reach, in a post-collapse society, one of the main characters is a 'miner.' Their mining guild basically tears apart old concrete buildings, by hand, with sledge hammers to extract the old rebar from them.