The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30–60% of Europe's total population. In total, the plague may have reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million down to 350–375 million in the 14th century. It took 200 years for the world population to recover to its previous level. The plague recurred as outbreaks in Europe until the 19th century.
Black Death Plague
Consequences of the Black Death
From the perspective of many of the survivors, however, the impact of the plague may have been ultimately favorable, as the massive reduction of the workforce meant their labor was suddenly in higher demand. R.H. Hilton has argued that those English peasants who survived found their situation to be much improved. For many Europeans, the 15th century was a golden age of prosperity and new opportunities. The land was plentiful, wages high, and serfdom had all but disappeared.
A century later, as population growth resumed, the lower classes again faced deprivation and famine.
huh...
Thanos' solution was always bullshit. What gets me is that the Marvel genre is filled with nerds and geeks (like myself) and they fail to address the long term math of the problem/solution.
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That's interesting, aside from the fact they got their own math wrong, the idea that population decline from a pandemic will result in a surge of productivity, wage increase, etc, is a little 15th century thinking.
If we had a real pandemic the least that would happen is we'd fall another century behind in technology development. More than likely we'd see a greater percentage of people dying off, resulting in a further decline in our ability to recover as a species. And all the tech development that we are on the brink of would vanish, either from the thinkers dying or the funders dying. A pandemic also the very real possibility of causing a global war, on top of the disease/biological outbreak.
Plus, just for shits and giggles, we'd still be looking at an oncoming ecological disaster because the carbon count is already at the point of pushing a positive feedback loop from melting ice. And we'd have no tech to fix it, as it gets worse.
I will be the first to acknowledge that this is all just reasonable guesswork.
Last edited by cubby; 2018-09-19 at 07:30 PM.
Thankfully the United States doesn't subscribe to the views of the "global community".
“I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: ‘O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.’ And God granted it.” -- Voltaire
"He who awaits much can expect little" -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
i actually really hope that we one day have a city planet like coruscant. but built on a dead world made habitable by our technology, not at the sacrifice of a living world.
but yeah, i like this idea. i don't really care for city living myself, but i would rather preserve what we have.
It's possible that pockets of technology would survive and be available. It would depend on how far and deep we were into nanotech and nanoreplicators when the devastation occurs. At some point in our technological development, with enough reasonable energy, any area could become self sufficient. A solid 3D printer could push out whatever you need to build humanity back up, and a nanoprinter would be able to produce food, or at least the means to produce food.
And nanoprinters at some early point will be able to print new printers, if that makes sense, so you'd be set. So long as energy was available. Which solar or wind should be available, depending on how the global war played out.
Unfortunately, no. I'm getting into areas where I don't have the science to get the full picture, but it's my understanding that the two would move along simultaneously and exasperate the devastation of the planet.
@Endus is a resident expert in this field. Perhaps he could chime in.