Post-Apocalypse: Back to the Stone Age

[cptbutton]

Originally Posted by starslayer

What if the disease actually caused the lost knowledge. Some sort of brain infection that literally wipes all active knowledge from all humans on the planet resetting us to muscle memories only (an airborne version of syphilis might be able to do it, some sort of new bacteria or virus that hosts in the brain and mimics the action of the neuron release hormones would do it it too). Most people die in horrible starvation (even though they might have cans of food right in front of them they don't know to open it), no one can communicate with one another, everything is new and scary, people don't know who there children are, or parents are.

I am vaguely recalling some SF story where a human is asking ultratech aliens for help with humanity being about to destroy itself and they offer to cause something like this. Not quite as bad, I think people would be able open cans for food and use guns till they broke or there was no more ammunition. But they would not be able to grow or process more food or make new ammunition.

But the human thinks this is too extreme and tries a third option of some kind.