What would keep going?
Discussion
A friend and I have been trying to write a science fiction novel for several years now, on and off. There's one major stumbling block which is hindering progress. It's this:
The story begins in the present day, and the main plot device is that, due to various circumstances which we won't go into (buy it if you want to find out!) a large proportion of the world's population - say 95% - suddenly go into a deep coma. This occurs at 8:30 on a Monday morning, so most people either haven't left for work yet, are on their way there, or have only just started. This is of course told from the point of view of the small number of survivors who have to find out what's happened and put it right.
So this is our query: In the event of a huge number of people not doing their jobs, what will stop immediately, and what will continue, and for how long? I'm thinking of gas and electricity supplies, home and mobile phones, broadband, the internet and sat-navs. In the case of the mobile phone service for example, will it continue until a problem occurs that requires human intervention? Will it stop when it finds the bill hasn't been paid? Or will the banking system automatically do that too?
Any thoughts, anybody?
The story begins in the present day, and the main plot device is that, due to various circumstances which we won't go into (buy it if you want to find out!) a large proportion of the world's population - say 95% - suddenly go into a deep coma. This occurs at 8:30 on a Monday morning, so most people either haven't left for work yet, are on their way there, or have only just started. This is of course told from the point of view of the small number of survivors who have to find out what's happened and put it right.
So this is our query: In the event of a huge number of people not doing their jobs, what will stop immediately, and what will continue, and for how long? I'm thinking of gas and electricity supplies, home and mobile phones, broadband, the internet and sat-navs. In the case of the mobile phone service for example, will it continue until a problem occurs that requires human intervention? Will it stop when it finds the bill hasn't been paid? Or will the banking system automatically do that too?
Any thoughts, anybody?
Evangelion said:
A friend and I have been trying to write a science fiction novel for several years now, on and off. There's one major stumbling block which is hindering progress. It's this:
The story begins in the present day, and the main plot device is that, due to various circumstances which we won't go into (buy it if you want to find out!)
You have a vague concept for a novel, which you apparently can't write without external help, and yet you won't reveal a crucial plot point that may have some bearing on the solution to your problem.The story begins in the present day, and the main plot device is that, due to various circumstances which we won't go into (buy it if you want to find out!)
Buy what? It'll never be written.
You're probably right, every time we start discussing it, one of us eventually looks up and says, "you know what? This is unworkable!"
But thanks for the link Orchid1, I believe I have seen this, of course it's a few years old now.
Anyway it's only the first six weeks or so I'm interested in.
But thanks for the link Orchid1, I believe I have seen this, of course it's a few years old now.
Anyway it's only the first six weeks or so I'm interested in.
To be slightly more charitable, I wouldn't expect electricity supply to last more than a couple of days without human intervention. Everything else needs electricity. ( Well GPS would continue to squark "I am this satellite and the time is precisely..." for a very long time, but without powered receivers? How useful would that be?
rxtx said:
Benmac said:
If the sudden coma for most people all over the world happens at 08:30 have you considered that 08:30 is a different point in time in Australia to, say, London?
That was the first flaw I saw too 
Benmac said:
If the sudden coma for most people all over the world happens at 08:30 have you considered that 08:30 is a different point in time in Australia to, say, London?
Yes that did worry me as well. I also suggested that the effects could take a few minutes to come on, thus giving people time to steer a car to the kerb, attempt an emergency landing, etc.Evangelion said:
Benmac said:
If the sudden coma for most people all over the world happens at 08:30 have you considered that 08:30 is a different point in time in Australia to, say, London?
Yes that did worry me as well. I also suggested that the effects could take a few minutes to come on, thus giving people time to steer a car to the kerb, attempt an emergency landing, etc.
ks to that!We need CARNAGE!
Don't fanny around man!
Are you suggesting 95% of the worlds population goes into a coma at the same time but nobody dies, there's a possibility planes would land themselves , not sure how the autopilot works , whether the whole journey is set or they have to do it en route but however it goes a lot will die in cars
If the thousands of cars on the roads all get to slow down and put the handbrake on all credibility is lost right at the start
Once power goes most things will stop working , I'd expect that to happen within hours
I read somewhere we're only ever 10 days from anarchy , once the cash machines stop spitting money out and cards don't work it all falls apart
If the thousands of cars on the roads all get to slow down and put the handbrake on all credibility is lost right at the start
Once power goes most things will stop working , I'd expect that to happen within hours
I read somewhere we're only ever 10 days from anarchy , once the cash machines stop spitting money out and cards don't work it all falls apart
T+1m All cars have crashed, causing a few fires. Other fires break out in industrial facilities and laboratories, as operators drop machinery and chemicals that keep running / react and ignite. 2,000 bots "like" a post on twitter by Scott Alexander, who was too awesome to go into a coma and wanted to tell his followers.
T+5m Fires are spreading in several locations. Some are controlled by automated fire systems, but many are not. The major networks broadcast an emergency message. 5oh mustang gets a big 10-4 and decides to bug out.
T+10m Bad people have started to roam the streets, but are no match for 5-oh's Nissan patrol. It has a light bar and he's in hi-viz. No-one is going to mess with that kind of authority.
T+4h 5oh reaches his bug out location via emergency route 3. He unpacks his tampons and the 4 terrabite thumb drive full of grot in a faraday cage into the underground bunker. Much of the area is without power. Several chemical plants have exploded, spewing toxic fumes into the atmposphere. 5oh dons his hazmat suit (requireing a level 5 donning technique). Civilisation is all but gone at this point.
T+1d Entire area without power. Some dwellings have backup generators. Survivors forming small groups in an attempt to regain normality. Most drive around seemngly aimlessly, whist wearing bits of old tyre and leather (but not round the sex bits, for some reason). Mel Gibson starts bleeding. Bear Grylls drinks his first cup of piss.
T+2d The group of people that mainly wore white have been brutalised by the people in bits of tyre. Men have been slaughtered, women raped. 5oh watches from his NATO spec binos with night vis whist stroking his M15 carbine and checking the status of his backup weapon (desert eagle), the backup backup weapon (15 can openers). In a lapse of concentration, he allows a tango to get "eyes on" the li-lets stashed in his military grade burgen.
T+3d The siege of the bug out fort has begun. Unable to penetrate the 4 foot thick concrete, the people in mainly rubber begin broadcasting Russel Brand speeches into the fap-cave. 5oh enters info-lockdown, using some ear muffs stuffed with tactical "heavy flow" pads. Meanwhile, Paul Garlick reaches the 3 eyed raven hoping to save the planet, but it turns out it's just a normal raven from the Wirral. The walkin' dude reaches blackpool. He's not impressed.
T+7d 5oh finally snaps when the bearded wker says "basically" one to many fking times. He puts on a CD with a regular beat, applies camo paint to his face, then starts symbolically strapping guns to every inch of his body.
T+7d10mins The montage is complete. 5oh now weighs 140kg, of which 40 is pure ordinance. He exits the bug out cave via exit gamma and scopes a tango at 11 o clock. He fires at the Russel Brand radio, then is instantly killed by a dire wolf that's mates with one of the blokes wearing a dead animal as a scarf.
T+1 year 2many2cv's finally posts something worth reading on Pistonheads. This signals the rapture: The end of man.
T+5m Fires are spreading in several locations. Some are controlled by automated fire systems, but many are not. The major networks broadcast an emergency message. 5oh mustang gets a big 10-4 and decides to bug out.
T+10m Bad people have started to roam the streets, but are no match for 5-oh's Nissan patrol. It has a light bar and he's in hi-viz. No-one is going to mess with that kind of authority.
T+4h 5oh reaches his bug out location via emergency route 3. He unpacks his tampons and the 4 terrabite thumb drive full of grot in a faraday cage into the underground bunker. Much of the area is without power. Several chemical plants have exploded, spewing toxic fumes into the atmposphere. 5oh dons his hazmat suit (requireing a level 5 donning technique). Civilisation is all but gone at this point.
T+1d Entire area without power. Some dwellings have backup generators. Survivors forming small groups in an attempt to regain normality. Most drive around seemngly aimlessly, whist wearing bits of old tyre and leather (but not round the sex bits, for some reason). Mel Gibson starts bleeding. Bear Grylls drinks his first cup of piss.
T+2d The group of people that mainly wore white have been brutalised by the people in bits of tyre. Men have been slaughtered, women raped. 5oh watches from his NATO spec binos with night vis whist stroking his M15 carbine and checking the status of his backup weapon (desert eagle), the backup backup weapon (15 can openers). In a lapse of concentration, he allows a tango to get "eyes on" the li-lets stashed in his military grade burgen.
T+3d The siege of the bug out fort has begun. Unable to penetrate the 4 foot thick concrete, the people in mainly rubber begin broadcasting Russel Brand speeches into the fap-cave. 5oh enters info-lockdown, using some ear muffs stuffed with tactical "heavy flow" pads. Meanwhile, Paul Garlick reaches the 3 eyed raven hoping to save the planet, but it turns out it's just a normal raven from the Wirral. The walkin' dude reaches blackpool. He's not impressed.
T+7d 5oh finally snaps when the bearded w
ker says "basically" one to many fking times. He puts on a CD with a regular beat, applies camo paint to his face, then starts symbolically strapping guns to every inch of his body. T+7d10mins The montage is complete. 5oh now weighs 140kg, of which 40 is pure ordinance. He exits the bug out cave via exit gamma and scopes a tango at 11 o clock. He fires at the Russel Brand radio, then is instantly killed by a dire wolf that's mates with one of the blokes wearing a dead animal as a scarf.
T+1 year 2many2cv's finally posts something worth reading on Pistonheads. This signals the rapture: The end of man.
At 95% you'd just end up in a situation with a lot of dead bodies knocking about in a world where all infrastructure has collapsed. A good amount of the remaining 5% probably wouldn't survive it, both physically (babies and kids) and mentally (people just fall apart and kill themselves).
Everything would probably end up a little bit post-apocalyptic with some groups becoming tribal and others more lone rangers. Think sort of Waterworld but not as wet.
Or....You could reduce the percentage of people who fall into a coma which would probably leave the majority of the worlds infrastructure intact but place huge demands on the healthcare of the comatose'd and result in a pretty boring story about health insurance and wealth divides...
Everything would probably end up a little bit post-apocalyptic with some groups becoming tribal and others more lone rangers. Think sort of Waterworld but not as wet.
Or....You could reduce the percentage of people who fall into a coma which would probably leave the majority of the worlds infrastructure intact but place huge demands on the healthcare of the comatose'd and result in a pretty boring story about health insurance and wealth divides...
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