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Originally Posted by Elfwreck
I'm not sure that enough power for large-scale manufacturing is plausible; the industrial revolution was founded on easy access to fuels we've mostly used up. (Even with a horrific decimation of the populace... the easy coal is gone. The easiest oil is deep underground or underwater. Deforestation has a long recovery time.) However, small/local manufacturing, powered by humans, animals, wind or water, is very possible, and would allow us access to a lot of the information and technology that makes our lives so much more healthy and comfortable than most of our ancestors.
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Actually, your comment about water is very likely what it'll take to get things going again. Take a look at Stephen King's "The Stand". Everyone on the good side settled in Colorado or somewhere in the mountains and one of the things they did within the first two weeks of arriving home was to get the water turbines at a local hydroelectric dam restarted. After that, aside from the limited supplies (despite being in a massive city full of resources) they were able to resume some form of normalacy again. It wasn't much, but it at least allowed them to heat their homes, have lights, and also running water. The only thing he didn't touch on was if they were able to restore industry again. But given that they were in a demi-war scenario combined with a continued survival and recovery situation, I think industry was the last thing on their minds.
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Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
Of course, it really depends on the crisis and the people.
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Exactly! That's what makes Survival Fiction so exciting. You really don't know how things are going to play out. It could be a happy ending, sad ending or something in between, and the disaster and subsequent recovery could be any of a thousand possibilities. At least that's why I enjoy reading and writing in the genre.
