My forthcoming web serial, Hindsight Station, starts out in a dystopian setting where nuclear war has ended the world, as known in 2335. Survival depends on foresight, luck, knowledge, and will. Therefore, they are all to fight for. This dystopian setting got me speculating on what technologies could survive our real world, and how could we use them post holocaust?
James Fong, our protagonist in Hindsight Station, is a former weapons inventor in a world once controlled by corporations, and profit. His connections, timing, and foresight pushed him to think about the end of the world as he pieced together the signs of nuclear annihilation. In thinking about what technologies he would need as a survivor and scientist, he soon realized the task extended beyond his own immediate welfare.
Nuclear Holocaust And Technological Foresight
In the real world of today, we do not have the knowledge that James Fong has. After all, his is a fabricated world, some three hundred years into the future. We do, however, share his love of science and technology, along with the enduring nature of human ingenuity and will.
From Terror to Valor: Echoes and Shadows, available at your favorite digital bookstoreÂ
James realized when survival replaces for-profit motives, functional simplicity in technology is the key to its effectiveness. If we were to reach an epoch’s end through natural or manufactured disasters, the same realities would apply. So, what technologies would we need to have a fighting chance of survival?
Starting off with some basics. Our nation’s infrastructure, our electrical grid, our satellites, our internet reliant machines, our technological advantage? They are all gone. What do we have left? Destruction, radioactive black spots, food shortages, social unrest, and relative danger replace it. In such dire straits, we left with the power of knowledge, foresight, and human ingenuity.
Disaster Planning For Nuclear Holocaust
Before we can look at harvesting old computers and building simple, yet resilient machines using Collapse O/S, we require foresight. Priorities in a post apocalyptic world start with weapons, food, and medical supplies. We need to scavenge what we need. When one brings foresight, one soon realizes our current technological journey is not disaster resilient.
Good planning can see us remediate key infrastructure areas like power and communications via short wave band radios. Collapse O/S machines running electricity on a small grid basis would initially be a planning objective. Think local networks by province, county or district with power supplies that are innovatively used by survivors.
After Nuclear Holocaust, Knowledge Is Power
The destruction of our society with so much death is a highly traumatic event. Whole industries and technologies disappear from our lives in an instant. Therefore, restarting basic chemical production for making soap, paper, and glass is incredibly important. We need to chronicle what works, along with mitigating the risk of disease spreading through poor hygiene, and more.
Potash and soda are key chemicals in this pursuit. They can also scale as a local cottage industry. This is where the power of teamwork comes into play. Sharing knowledge, know-how, and expertise as a cooperative group heightens the chances of survival. For such groups, scavenged short-wave radios will be a key technology in the immediate aftermath.
Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail
Not everybody can have longer term foresight like James Fong in my fictional web serial, Hindsight Station. After a nuclear holocaust, survivors who collaborate, rather than compete, can organize to scavenge food, weapons, medicines, etc. Their community cooperation will also increase their chances of survival over the longer term.
The key to survival is in doing for the short term, while planning for what’s next, and what’s next after that. Timing is key to collaborative action, immediate needs analysis, and planning. When a group of survivors have the knowhow to scavenge with foresight, they have a strategic edge. They can eventually look to establish a local power grid using the resilient Collapse O/S and other innovative ideas, such as sand batteries, etc.
Every layer of action in the daily lives of people in a post-holocaust world will have leaders, thinkers, and doers. When we are all rowing in the same direction, we do what needs to be done in tandem with our plans. This combination of action in doing, thinking and planning is the most valuable asset we have as human beings. In such circumstances, it is also the most tested.
About the Author
As I move onto my next authoring project, I will post less frequently on the real-world issues linked to my novel, From Terror to Valor: Echoes and Shadows. My next project, Hindsight Station, will be a progression science-fiction webnovel, delivered via Patreon and a web serial platform.
John is a versatile author known for his gripping fiction narratives in the thriller, action, and suspense genres. With a background as a journalist since 2016, and expertise in cloud technologies as an engineer; John brings a unique blend of storytelling prowess and technical acumen to his work.
