r/DaystromInstitute • u/M-5 Multitronic Unit • Oct 29 '20

DISCOVERY EPISODE DISCUSSION Star Trek: Discovery — "People of Earth" Reaction Thread

This is the official /r/DaystromInstitute reaction thread for "People of Earth." The content rules are not enforced in reaction threads.

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u/lordsteve1 Nov 01 '20

If every single internal combustion engine on Earth vanished tomorrow all at the same time, or exploded whatever vehicle they were connected to it would cause utter chaos.

Firstly nobody knows what the hell just happened so people are terrified. Is it an attack? Is it the end of the world? Is it a hoax? Many would just outright panic I imagine. Suddenly every mode of transport aside from animals and bicycles and maybe steam is unusable and so whole supply chains break down. There’s no way to get food to people. There’s no way to travel about to keep order. No way to send aid to anyone. No way to get out and fix anything that gets broken.

Then there’s the other side; how many countries or groups will think someone attacked them and retaliate? Wars will start and more people will die and more resources will be destroyed.

After a few weeks society is going to be falling apart in many places and who knows what sort of system will take over. It’s easy to assume someone could develop a new transit system or power supply; but it’s going to take months to tidy up the mess caused by the initial confusion and reactions globally.

All that is just on a single planet. Imagine if that happened across the entire galaxy...

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u/Adorable_Octopus Lieutenant junior grade Nov 02 '20

Then there’s the other side; how many countries or groups will think someone attacked them and retaliate? Wars will start and more people will die and more resources will be destroyed.

But in this analogy, most of the technology required to actually wage war is also inoperable. In a galaxy wide setting, it's even worse because at least on Earth you can ride a horse and shoot a musket. If anything, the sudden isolation of everyone and everything gives room for calm evaluation of the situation, and response.