_random_
Jewel Runner
If the contents of your computer, phone, or tablet were all that remained of human culture, how would society develop from there? Using my phone, here are some different thoughts in different areas:
Religion: I have the King James Bible, CS Lewis's Mere Christianity, and some odd theology papers downloaded, so people could likely get a fairly decent reconstruction of Christianity going. That being said, not a great deal is dedicated to Christian ritual, so seeing a "traditional" church service in hypothetical post-apocalypse land would be interesting. It would likely draw on...
Music: A fair amount of the music I've downloaded has some Christian themes, from Johnny Cash and MewithoutYou and Relient K and Becoming the Archetype. This combination would likely create a vaguely protestant base, with more mystical, accepting sects emerging using from the poetry of Aaron Weiss and more fundamentalist wrathful-God type sects singing "God's Gonna Cut You Down" and "Elemental Wrath" in church. I also have a few songs critical of Christianity from Aesop Rock, Amon Amarth, and a couple of others, so maybe this would lead to atheism in some and very crudely reconstructed Norse Neopaganism in others. Time for some holy wars! Also, the presence of hip hop and heavy metal may lead screaming and rapping to be assumed as traditional vocal techniques rather than things that annoy your parents.
Literature: Aside from the Bible, the biggest "great work" of literature I have is an audio recording of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamasov. This would likely be a pretty big influence on religion too, given the heavy presence of Orthodoxy in the novel. I haven't actually finished reading it though, so I couldn't say if it could form the basis for a reconstruction of the faith. Aside from that, pretty much all the other fiction I have on there fits under the umbrella of "speculative." This includes an SNES emulator that plays Chrono Trigger and a few seasons of Doctor Who audio drama, meaning time travel would likely feature in a lot of future literature. There's also an assortment of Superman, Hulk, Aquaman, and Planetary comics, so superheroes would likely be big figures as well. There may very well be people who think superheroes were actually a thing, I guess.
Government: People might get a vague idea of what democracy was based on whatever was on the front page of Politico when the internet died, and assume it was very complicated and not terribly effective and establish monarchies because they're easier and they're in the Bible and Christopher Lee's metal albums. I feel very regretful in the very slim chance that this might occur.
Religion: I have the King James Bible, CS Lewis's Mere Christianity, and some odd theology papers downloaded, so people could likely get a fairly decent reconstruction of Christianity going. That being said, not a great deal is dedicated to Christian ritual, so seeing a "traditional" church service in hypothetical post-apocalypse land would be interesting. It would likely draw on...
Music: A fair amount of the music I've downloaded has some Christian themes, from Johnny Cash and MewithoutYou and Relient K and Becoming the Archetype. This combination would likely create a vaguely protestant base, with more mystical, accepting sects emerging using from the poetry of Aaron Weiss and more fundamentalist wrathful-God type sects singing "God's Gonna Cut You Down" and "Elemental Wrath" in church. I also have a few songs critical of Christianity from Aesop Rock, Amon Amarth, and a couple of others, so maybe this would lead to atheism in some and very crudely reconstructed Norse Neopaganism in others. Time for some holy wars! Also, the presence of hip hop and heavy metal may lead screaming and rapping to be assumed as traditional vocal techniques rather than things that annoy your parents.
Literature: Aside from the Bible, the biggest "great work" of literature I have is an audio recording of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamasov. This would likely be a pretty big influence on religion too, given the heavy presence of Orthodoxy in the novel. I haven't actually finished reading it though, so I couldn't say if it could form the basis for a reconstruction of the faith. Aside from that, pretty much all the other fiction I have on there fits under the umbrella of "speculative." This includes an SNES emulator that plays Chrono Trigger and a few seasons of Doctor Who audio drama, meaning time travel would likely feature in a lot of future literature. There's also an assortment of Superman, Hulk, Aquaman, and Planetary comics, so superheroes would likely be big figures as well. There may very well be people who think superheroes were actually a thing, I guess.
Government: People might get a vague idea of what democracy was based on whatever was on the front page of Politico when the internet died, and assume it was very complicated and not terribly effective and establish monarchies because they're easier and they're in the Bible and Christopher Lee's metal albums. I feel very regretful in the very slim chance that this might occur.
. I don't have many songs on this computer, some early albums of Santana, the Beatles, and random music I like though.
Also, Christmas gets to stay, thanks to the same music collections. 
