Reader (and friend) Abra pointed out this excerpt from "Bugs in the Arroyo" by Steven Gould. The story has a very interesting form of apocalypse: metal eating bugs. I get the impression they might be some kind of self-replicating machine gone wild. It reminds me of Ray Bradbury's short story "A Piece of Wood," where a man discovers a compound that quickly turns metal into rust.
A metal-free future would be a particularly difficult one. Certain things like saws would be difficult, if not impossible to make. Plows and axes are possible with other materials, but inferior. There would be no guns or bullets, or even nails. Harnessing electricity would be basically impossible. On the other hand, glass has a very sharp edge even if it doesn't hold very long, and some types of wood are as strong as some metals. I suspect that a culture prepared for an event like that might be able to develop some strong plastics (or as mentioned in the story, fiberglass) to replace certain metal items, but they'd still be locked into a permanent metal-free existence.
I'm sure these aren't the only two examples of metal-free futures, or ones where certain resources are "off-limits." If you can think of more, let me know in the comments.
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3 comments:
on the same note you could use the grey goo theory or "ecophagy"
side note- i enjoy your site "keep up the good fight"
I am unsure if this counts, but what about the grey goo theory...or ECOPHAGY..
on i side note i enjoy your site "keep up the good fight"
Jim Crace's novel "The Pesthouse" includes a religious movement based in part on the rejection of all things metal in a post-literate neomedieval America.
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