We actually have the tech to save ourselves in most extinction level events, just not all 8 billion, probably a mere fraction. But enough where we wouldn’t go extinct.
Ofc I said most, there’s a few ELEs that we wouldn’t be able to do shit about with our current level of technology. Like our sun dying, an asteroid impact big enough to strip the atmosphere, gamma ray burst, false vacuum being true etc
Extinction, sure. But once we loose too many people, some industries become impractical. If the supply chain for mineral extraction fails, we will likely fall to a pre industrial level. And with all of easy-to-glean coal, gas, and other petrols already used up, there can never be another industrial revolution.
We actually have the tech to save ourselves in most extinction level events, just not all 8 billion, probably a mere fraction. But enough where we wouldn’t go extinct.
Ofc I said most, there’s a few ELEs that we wouldn’t be able to do shit about with our current level of technology. Like our sun dying, an asteroid impact big enough to strip the atmosphere, gamma ray burst, false vacuum being true etc
Extinction, sure. But once we loose too many people, some industries become impractical. If the supply chain for mineral extraction fails, we will likely fall to a pre industrial level. And with all of easy-to-glean coal, gas, and other petrols already used up, there can never be another industrial revolution.
Could we use biomass and hydro to bootstrap without fossil fuels?
We might have to go smaller scale, but if we have a playbook to follow, we can skip some wasteful false starts
Hydropower was used during the industrial revolution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydropower#19th_century
Try it using only metals salvaged from the dump, and forged by hand.