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#194 - September 2001 If... Project
September 27, 2001 @ 6:24 pm

September 2001 If... Project

If all modern-day technology were to suddenly vanish (the Internet, computers, TV, CDs, cameras, etc.), how strongly would your life be impacted? What steps would you personally take to redefine your life in a non-technological society?

Personally, my life would become a living hell if technology suddenly vanished. Everything my life revolves around would be gone. My job would be pointless, since I work at a computer store. All the files at work would vanish with the computers. My husband would no longer be out of a job, but instead forcibly removed from his entire line of work!

If all technology vanished, there would be no electricity. Not a big deal here in the temperate climate of Washington state. But there would be no electric lights. Candles would fly off the store shelves. Candle making would suddenly stop being a hobby, and instead a necessity of life.

As computers vanished, so would all the records of the world's banks. Debts would vanish. Financial markets would be ruined. The entire world would be plunged into chaos, as if nuclear war had suddenly removed all governments from existence.

Governments would try to carry on, but without even electricity, the telephone, or even the telegraph? How on earth could they possibly control their countries? "Civilization" would disappear, crumbling into history.

My husband would want to rebuild things. Re-invent the computer, so-to-speak. He would be busy with that. That is, after a few years of just trying to survive the ensuing melee that America would fall into as everyone fought over the last cans of corned-beef hash with guns.

Me, I would follow him wherever he needed to be to re-start the computer industry. Because what I want to do, I can do anywhere.

It would suck not having cameras. I would love to do something with that.

And all my stories would be gone. My novel.

But I would start over. Write new stories. Document this new life we were all embarking on.

Basically, I would write. It could be like a new history. I would become a historian. With a bit of whimsical romance and vampire shit on the side to keep me dreaming.

Oh, and I'd have a baby. And a garden. A big garden, to get back to nature. Kind of a necessity without electricity. Me and my baby would play in the garden all day, and I would write in the afternoons.

Life would probably be good like that, after the first few hard years. Life certainly would be easier, when you don't have to worry about money anymore.

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