Car Wars Reloaded

sum1els · 11-29-2004, 12:36 AM

A grain blight might also be caused by the trend away from biodiversity in food crops combined with the influx of geneticly engineered seed. It is possible that a crop becomes so prevalent because of its short-term success, that it dominates the market. If something happens to stop its production in the long term, the world could suffer the effects of a blight. It wouldn't even have to be an external influence, it could be caused by a flaw in the crop itself.

Even today, some high yield crop seeds are engineered so that they will not reproduce on their own, forcing planters to purchase new seed every year rather than replanting some of what they grow. If something happened to the supplier, they would be forced to return to old crops. If the old crops have all but died out during the success of the new engineered crop, planters would find it nearly impossible to find viable, sustainable crop seed.

But, of course, the blight angle is a lot easier to explain in one sentence, and it provides a fairly inescapable crop doom.

I think that the food riots provide a good decline of civilization to retard the advance of technology. Widespread terrorism would be more likely to unite the terrorized peoples against the threat. Hunger is something that affects the daily lives of everyone, and would be more likely (IMO) to pit neighbor against neighbor.

Sean

11-29-2004, 12:36 AM	#18
sum1els Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Bellevue, WA	Re: Car Wars Reloaded A grain blight might also be caused by the trend away from biodiversity in food crops combined with the influx of geneticly engineered seed. It is possible that a crop becomes so prevalent because of its short-term success, that it dominates the market. If something happens to stop its production in the long term, the world could suffer the effects of a blight. It wouldn't even have to be an external influence, it could be caused by a flaw in the crop itself. Even today, some high yield crop seeds are engineered so that they will not reproduce on their own, forcing planters to purchase new seed every year rather than replanting some of what they grow. If something happened to the supplier, they would be forced to return to old crops. If the old crops have all but died out during the success of the new engineered crop, planters would find it nearly impossible to find viable, sustainable crop seed. But, of course, the blight angle is a lot easier to explain in one sentence, and it provides a fairly inescapable crop doom. I think that the food riots provide a good decline of civilization to retard the advance of technology. Widespread terrorism would be more likely to unite the terrorized peoples against the threat. Hunger is something that affects the daily lives of everyone, and would be more likely (IMO) to pit neighbor against neighbor. Sean