What will happen after the West falls?

[bob bobato]

What do you think will happen after Western Civilization falls (It will have to, eventually. Nothing lasts forever)?

I think, (supposing that it will end in a terrible war, like the fall of rome), that most of the world will become seperated into many, little countries. Trade between far off countries will dissapear, so the US and Canada could say goodby to rubber, sugar and coffee. A lot of technology will dissapear, such as electricity, because required materials will no longer be available and no one will know exactly how to use it. And, because no would need to know how to build a steamboat or sailing ship (when the West falls) and other such inventions, no one will know how to use those for a long time, even though it would have been possible.

 

[MobBoss]

Nothing, as the sun will have gone nova and the earth will have been destroyed?

 

[Xanikk999]

What do you think will happen after Western Civilization falls (It will have to, eventually. Nothing lasts forever)?

I think, (supposing that it will end in a terrible war, like the fall of rome), that most of the world will become seperated into many, little countries. Trade between far off countries will dissapear, so the US and Canada could say goodby to rubber, sugar and coffee. A lot of technology will dissapear, such as electricity, because required materials will no longer be available and no one will know exactly how to use it. And, because no would need to know how to build a steamboat or sailing ship (when the West falls) and other such inventions, no one will know how to use those for a long time, even though it would have been possible.

Why the heck do you think all of that crap will happen?

The west isnt showing any signs of crumbling into anarchy or becoming technologoically backwards. Maybe some countries may pass us in certain areas but that doesnt mean we will be destroyed.

 

[bombshoo]

I think he means more like 200-300 years in the future. My guess is it would be similar as to when Rome fell apart, it will be a process of slow degeneration. Technology won't completley relapse, but the basic standard of living will probably go down for almost everyone until it re builds up.

Or I mean who knows that far ahead. Maybe the west won't fall until aliens or robots, take over...or it will never really fall, we'll just all become one or two huge mega states.

 

[Princeps]

Another civilization will take its place. It isn't that bad. As long as human race survives.

 

[Gelion]

I think steam ships will be built even after the "west" "falls" as others are not as dumb as OP appears to think. If you mean "current world order" as "west" then I'd say that the collapse will be economical and social followed (perhaps) by a large scale global war (with many parties fighting one another) and a following "dying" period with people returning the roots of their development, surrounded by rusted cars and fields of radiation.

 

[bob bobato]

why would anyone build a steamship when the west falls? Why wouldn't the people after know how to build one? Not because they're dumb, but in 200-300 years there's no reason to need one, except for in a museum. So there probably wouldn't be any 'instructions manuals' on steam-ship building, or if there were any, they would be extremely old and likely to crumble unless protected. Same goes to sailing ships. So if the west were to fall, The people after would only have a vague idea of how steam power works. If any. Or they would have an extremely technical one writen in a languge that could very well be 'dead' or unkown.

And the West will have to fall eventually. Nothing lasts forever.

 

[Disgustipated]

west will fall a lot faster than that. Just wait until nukes become commonplace and terrorist groups and anarchists have access to them.

Every major western city in the world will be nuked. Society will break apart into smaller communities. Global trade will be severely curtailed. But life will go on. It always does.

 

[Stolen Rutters]

My opinion of what will happen after the west falls?

More like the fall of the British Empire. A new commonwealth with the reduction of central power replaced with more local controls. The EU districts will unite and form as a loose protectorate, semi-independent from Washington, with the President retained only as a nominal head of state. Local governments will be established from Tierra del Fuego all the way to Tokyo, some of them taking old nationalistic borders from deep history, such as Indochina or the Argentine/Chilean Union.

Even the United States of America will declare independence from the central government but attempts to move the capital to Sacramento will be shot down due to Washington DC having been designed specifically as a capital city and most importantly due to it's proximity to Raleigh/Charlotte/Columbia megalopolis in the Carolinas district... California was just outvoted.

Technology keeps moving and advancing even despite the dark ages during the birth of the mindnet that formed the current world order (the dark times when the internet was still on external machines instead of directly integrated and implanted into our minds at birth). Well, that's as far as my mind can take it.

 

[Evie]

Should the west ever fall...

Then, in time, after perhaps a "somber age" (nowhere near the "dark ages", perhaps a reversion to overblown nationalism ala the nineteenth century ; or to wars of religion ala the seventeenth. National conflicts in various regions of the world ; possibly some limited nuclear (or other WMD) exchanges.), we'd see a new dominant civilization arise, first regionally and then most likely internationally. This civilization would, in time, adopt much of what they could remember of their predecessor's (the west) way, and, ultimately, improve them.

And, in the end, the fall of the west would be only a temporary setback in the forward march of humankind.

 

[Tee Kay]

What do you think will happen after Western Civilization falls (It will have to, eventually. Nothing lasts forever)?

I think, (supposing that it will end in a terrible war, like the fall of rome), that most of the world will become seperated into many, little countries. Trade between far off countries will dissapear, so the US and Canada could say goodby to rubber, sugar and coffee. A lot of technology will dissapear, such as electricity, because required materials will no longer be available and no one will know exactly how to use it. And, because no would need to know how to build a steamboat or sailing ship (when the West falls) and other such inventions, no one will know how to use those for a long time, even though it would have been possible.

The West does not = human civilisation

The "West" as we know it will decline and fall eventually, but other civilisations will replace it and carry on from the achievements of the West. When the Roman Empire fall, the Byzantines and Arabs preserve Roman knowledge and spread it around the world. Most knowledge aren't lost to humankind. So if Western civilisation falls, that doens't mean the end of electricity or ocean going ships or that the world will go back to the Feudal Ages. It just mean a period of transition as other civilisations take over from the Christian West.

 

[Plotinus]

Taillesskangaru is quite right.

Define "the west" and "falls"! What exactly are you talking about? Vaguely stating that nothing lasts for ever doesn't mean anything. History usually proceeds by evolution rather than revolution. Even the Roman empire didn't "fall" in some great catastrophe (I don't know what this "terrible war" is that you speak of); in fact, most people didn't even notice it was "falling" during the fifth century or whenever it's supposed to have "fallen". Similarly, the Middle Ages are over, but there's no point in time you can specify as the moment when they ended. Furthermore, they didn't end in some catastrophe, but just faded as new ideas and new social institutions arose. If "the west" (whatever that is) "falls" (whatever that means) it would probably be in the same way: gradual evolution of existing social structures. Perhaps it's already happened and you just haven't noticed.

For example, taillesskangaru mentions "the Christian West", but that has already fallen. Most of Europe is almost completely secular, in a way that would have been inconceivable two generations ago. Today we live in a society that our grandparents would have found either incomprehensible or totally abhorrent. But we don't think of their world as having "fallen", even though in some ways it has been destroyed more totally than any war could have done.

 

[TheBladeRoden]

The Chinese become the new mamma jammas I guess. And yes, they do have steamship technology

 

[Mirc]

For example, taillesskangaru mentions "the Christian West", but that has already fallen. Most of Europe is almost completely secular, in a way that would have been inconceivable two generations ago. Today we live in a society that our grandparents would have found either incomprehensible or totally abhorrent. But we don't think of their world as having "fallen", even though in some ways it has been destroyed more totally than any war could have done.

What do you mean? Big parts of Europe have a HUGE majority of religious people:

Spoiler :

They would be in this order:
Moldova
Romania
Greece
Poland
Russia
Portugal
Italy
Ireland
Spain
Slovakia
Serbia
Croatia
Ukraine
Austria
Germany
Belgium
Switzerland
Lithuania

Those are countries with a majority of Religious people. Countries which have a majority of atheists are Czech Republic, France, Sweden, UK, Slovenia, Estonia, Hungary, Bulgaria. I'd say these are insignificant compared to the others!

 

[MCdread]

Yeah, but stating one believes in God, Jesus, the Virgin Mary or the Giant Radioactive Monkey for a "yes or nor" poll doesn't mean that religion is the primary force of that society or that people actually orient their lives in accordance to what religious texts, dogmas and traditions tell them too. And this is, I guess, what Plotinus means by secular society, both in civil law and private customs. I don't see many condoms' burning autos da fé in catholic countries...
And a country like Portugal, where supposedly, and according to that poll, 90 % of people are catholics just voted to legalize abortion by a majority of 60 % of voters.

 

[Mirc]

Abortion doesn't have much to do with religion though, here abortion was legalized with 80% of the votes since 1989, after the Communism fell.
And from many sources I know there are 1.1% non-religious people in my country: national demographics site (English), Wikipedia (English), Romanian Atheist and Romanian Orthodox center (English), newspapers (Romanian), TV (Romanian).

Edit: 6900th post.

Edit 2: But I do agree it doesn't play such an important role in the society, especially in laws and governing. And it's very good that this happens, when religion gets to mess with politics it makes the most stupid politic ideas or laws: ex: inquisition.

 

[MCdread]

Abortion doesn't have much to do with religion though, here abortion was legalized with 80% of the votes since 1989, after the Communism fell.

But this is a catholic country, and according to the catholic defenders of the faith it certainly is a religious issue. You might as well see what the protestant evangelicals in US think about the subject.

 

[Bast]

What will happen after the West falls? The end of culture and civilization. Barbarism will thrive for a few years before humans become extinct.

 

[Leifmk]

Bah, the West fell already. In 1914.

 

[REDY]

The question is how west should fell? What are your ideas and scenarios? When will start 80 countries collapsing? I have fear that only if will be end of the world...