what would be missed the most?

[mem]

During a power outage caused by a storm or other odd act, walking into a room and flipping the light switch and nothing happening. That always gets me. Eventually that habit would be broken but one would still do it occasionally and just stand there for a moment remembering what it was like for that light to come on and how often it was taken for granted.

[BoomerXL]

Funny thing is I was talking to a buddy of mine from work about something similar to this topic, I guess I'd miss all the little things you take for granted, like clean clothes, there's now way washing clothes in a river or other body of water would get them as clean as a washing machine does, but then again that would probably be the least of my worries...

Also having lived in a city all my life I have no nature survival skills, I don't know the first thing about hunting, I've never fished, hell I'm not even that good of a swimmer, and I can't start a fire without a lighter so I figure I'd be royaly screwed come Z-Day....oh well

[Pteranodon]

Speaking of clean clothes, heard something amazing on History channel (and probably on The Western Tradition) that cotton fabric extended average life expectancy by 20 years. TWENTY YEARS!!! Can you imagine that? A simple thing like cotton having such a huge impact, because the fabric breathes better than whatever they wore before.

The Cotton T-shirt is considered one of the most immensely useful and practical garments ever created, it's worn all over the world in all sorts of climates. So many things we take for granted....

Just go to a museum or antique store and look at all the old tools; hand-wringers, wshboards, spinning wheels... Recently toured a historic 18th Century mansion. The place had served as a field hospital in the Civil War, and they had the 'surgery' tools to prove it; ugly pliers for removing bullets/lead balls, saws and BITING STICKS (ugh!) for amputating limbs- and they were just learning to wash the implements between uses, so infection was rampant back then... The simple mundane advances are the most important.

[Eviebae]

During a power outage caused by a storm or other odd act, walking into a room and flipping the light switch and nothing happening. That always gets me. Eventually that habit would be broken but one would still do it occasionally and just stand there for a moment remembering what it was like for that light to come on and how often it was taken for granted.

Could you imagine, little kids who grew up watching adults do that. With Adults gone, they decide that it's a religious ritual that you do whenever you enter a new building and make little non-working switches in all their new homes.

[cycogod]

Without any new manufacturing going on , I think everything would stop. Medicine and food would expire, things we accept and live with now would be lost or changed forever.It would be interesting to see if humans could adapt fast enough? The best surgeons were the fastest cutters.

[Eviebae]

Without any new manufacturing going on , I think everything would stop. Medicine and food would expire, things we accept and live with now would be lost or changed forever.It would be interesting to see if humans could adapt fast enough? The best surgeons were the fastest cutters.

But there is a lot of ambient info around if you can take the time to teach the kids to read. I've always wondered, short of letting a piece of bread develop mold, is it possible to make penicillin?

[gaijinpunk]

Guinness. That sweet, dark, nectar of the Celtic gods. (and Hooters Girls...)

[yarri]

But there is a lot of ambient info around if you can take the time to teach the kids to read. I've always wondered, short of letting a piece of bread develop mold, is it possible to make penicillin?

One of the blessings of humanity is given a will there is always a way. WE could over come and adapt and survive and
set about rediscovering things like Penicillin. You just have to know what the mold looks like and find an old microscope that doesn't require electricity. (there are some still around).

[reaper239]

see the thing about medicine is all of that is derived from nature, so with the know how you can make different medicines. at least anything you would really need you could get from nature, you couldn't get your anti-snoring medicine anymore, or your give-me-less-freckles medicine or whatever. here's the thing: look at a library today, there is more knowledge in your average library, than existed in almost the whole world prior to like the last three hundred years. not only that, power plants keep manuals for the generators, hospitals have medical texts, places keep texts relating to there business, and contrary to popular belief not every job in america requires a college education. some alone time and a manual and most people of average intelligence could do 99% of the things that give us our modern ammenities. so there isn't really much that i would miss that we couldn't get back on line in short order (by that i mean about 5 years) the one thing i would miss that we would never really be able to get back up like it was is the internet.

[luna]

I would miss the internet... movies... and food!!! hot baths what wouldn't be missed