Fallout: Not Like a Real-Life Nuclear Holocaust

[BobisOnlyBob]

But what about S.T.A.L.K.E.R.? though I doubt localized space time anomalies are very plausible...

STALKER is based on the film of the same name, and the book Roadside Picnic (which the film was based on anyway). Both of those are about a "Zone", but it's not caused by a nuclear explosion. Instead it's an event, implied to be an extremely brief visitation from an alien presence/power, but could just as easily be a supernatural occurrence or a weapons test gone wrong, etc.

The fact they used Chernobyl for the game was that it tied to a real-world event, and gave it a little more realistic grounding than the philosophy-heavy film and book.

 

[hebdomad]

But he specializes in string theory! Find me some one more credible!

 

[Adventurer2626]

A lot depends on how it goes down. I don't actually think (God help me if I'm wrong) we're stupid enough to do the picking sides thing like in the World Wars when nuclear weapons are involved. Everyone that's heard of them knows they're bad news and has heard a plethora of horror stories on what could happen. If the Himalayas erupt with radioactive fire, I'm hoping the two just nuke each other into oblivion and that's the end of it. Same goes for anyone else. I sure as hell wouldn't back up even my best friend nation in a nuclear war. I hold the survival of humanity over any superfluous thoughts of nationalism.

Let's say a global exchange does happen:

Water EVERYWHERE will be poisoned to some degree unless by some random chance Act of God the air currents push the debris clouds away from some mountain springs.

Any beneficial mutations will not occur/become visible until decades afterwards if not much much longer and will likely be so overshadowed by the DNA "yarn balling" that no one will notice/care. More likely is that surviving life will merely adapt behaviorally and if possible pass that on genetically. No Fallout-esque mutants sorry. "Ghouls" won't be self-healing and will likely not live past the decade.

A lot of technical knowledge will be lost as well as much culture but a fair amount will survive in sturdy structures. The focus will be more on innovation than caring about the previous civilization. So the projected demographics/socio-cultural aspects, I feel, are fairly accurate. Law will become much more conservative (think pre-renaissance), people will become more homophobic/racist/sexist? and generally more selfish.

I can't predict how civilization will turn out beyond the extended period of subsistence living. Suffice to say we'd have to learn how to live and survive with constant radiation sickness for a thousand years or so. Unless there's tech/science renaissance that helps cure the rads faster.

 

[kouriichi]

What? Has he been in a nuclear Holocaust?
I dont think he knows what one is truely like unless hes been in it first hand.

they say the fallout blocks out the sun and causes an ice age that kills animals and plants. our entire ecology will collapse and we will revert earth back to the time when only microscopic cells inhabited earth. scientists studied how nuclear weapons would affect the earth, and we know very well NOW what we are getting into. if ONE nuke drops we can say goodbye to ALL electronics for miles. if the world was nuked we would lose all electronic devices and it would be an never ending winter. look at old pseudo documentaries like this:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2023790698427111488#

this is what we USED to believe happens, now we know it isn't just the "oh, just rebuild it" attitude from the past. now, however, we know that nuclear winter will happen. A lot of scientists research these things for a reason.

So every device, generator, powerplant, and dam ((which generates power)) would become completely inoperable? And every inch of the earth would wither and die?

I have more then a hard time beliving that to be true. Science has been wrong in the past. We THINK this will happen, but we wont be sure until it really does.

I belive more in the 2012 end of the world then the entire plant freezing solid and everything dieing from a few nukes.

^Edit^

nuclear weapons produce EMPs which destroys electronics. they cant be used anymore no matter what you do. the nuclear weapons also send dust into the air and the theory is if enough of them send enough dust in the air it blocks out the sun and sends us into an ice age. it happens with very large volcanoes too. if a large enough volcano erupts and sends enough dust into the air, it creates a plume of dust that covers the surrounding area and blocks the sun for that area. scientists wouldn't know how long it would take for the dust to disappear from a couple weeks to years to completely go away

Exactly. "In theory".
We arnt sure. We can speculate, but thats really it. And what about all the placed bombs dont fall? The electronics wouldent be effected there.

And not every book on electronics would be destroyed. So if a "nuclear winter" didnt accually happen, then we would be completely fine. And even if it did, you have to take into effect green house gasses and the such.

The sun itself could heat the clouds of dust right? Thats another possible idea. And with the gasses produced below, and the suns heat above, "In theory", only parts of the plant would freeze of. Probably the parts closest to the north and south poles.

"In theory" big foot exists because theres a law that protects them for being hunted.

 

[Flauros]

Noone brings up the ozone layer. I hate to see people waiting for the fallout to disappear, waiting waiting but the radiation never goes away.....One of the things a nuclear attack can do is erase the ozone layer.....making it post-explosion radiation party time EVERYDAY as wed be completely open to space radiation. Everyone do the sad emo party dance.....

 

[Andy Chalk]

I have to say, I'm really shocked at the number of you guys who seem wholly incapable of having fun with anything.

This is a games site, y'know.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

And here I thought people could actually contribute to this instead of being snobbish kids. How silly of me.

I like hearing to this scientist. I always see him on the history channel talking about what could be real and what couldn't. Plus, he can actually explain things without resorting to words that I have to look up in the science dictionary.

 

[Substance-E]

Noone brings up the ozone layer. I hate to see people waiting for the fallout to disappear, waiting waiting but the radiation never goes away.....One of the things a nuclear attack can do is erase the ozone layer.....making it post-explosion radiation party time EVERYDAY as wed be completely open to space radiation. Everyone do the sad emo party dance.....

Ozone works on UV radiation. Solar wind and cosmic rays wont fry Earth till our core solidifies like Mars's and our atmosphere gets blasted into space...

 

[kouriichi]

What? Has he been in a nuclear Holocaust?
I dont think he knows what one is truely like unless hes been in it first hand.

they say the fallout blocks out the sun and causes an ice age that kills animals and plants. our entire ecology will collapse and we will revert earth back to the time when only microscopic cells inhabited earth. scientists studied how nuclear weapons would affect the earth, and we know very well NOW what we are getting into. if ONE nuke drops we can say goodbye to ALL electronics for miles. if the world was nuked we would lose all electronic devices and it would be an never ending winter. look at old pseudo documentaries like this:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2023790698427111488#

this is what we USED to believe happens, now we know it isn't just the "oh, just rebuild it" attitude from the past. now, however, we know that nuclear winter will happen. A lot of scientists research these things for a reason.

So every device, generator, powerplant, and dam ((which generates power)) would become completely inoperable? And every inch of the earth would wither and die?

I have more then a hard time beliving that to be true. Science has been wrong in the past. We THINK this will happen, but we wont be sure until it really does.

I belive more in the 2012 end of the world then the entire plant freezing solid and everything dieing from a few nukes.

^Edit^

nuclear weapons produce EMPs which destroys electronics. they cant be used anymore no matter what you do. the nuclear weapons also send dust into the air and the theory is if enough of them send enough dust in the air it blocks out the sun and sends us into an ice age. it happens with very large volcanoes too. if a large enough volcano erupts and sends enough dust into the air, it creates a plume of dust that covers the surrounding area and blocks the sun for that area. scientists wouldn't know how long it would take for the dust to disappear from a couple weeks to years to completely go away

Exactly. "In theory".
We arnt sure. We can speculate, but thats really it. And what about all the placed bombs dont fall? The electronics wouldent be effected there.

And not every book on electronics would be destroyed. So if a "nuclear winter" didnt accually happen, then we would be completely fine. And even if it did, you have to take into effect green house gasses and the such.

The sun itself could heat the clouds of dust right? Thats another possible idea. And with the gasses produced below, and the suns heat above, "In theory", only parts of the plant would freeze of. Probably the parts closest to the north and south poles.

"In theory" big foot exists because theres a law that protects them for being hunted.

you're forgetting READING. how do you know people can read anymore? after the fall of Rome written language was lost and so was a lot of technological advancement. sure we have rare computers and books but who can USE them? people want macs because they cant understand computers in this day and age as it is and you want a random post-nuke caveman to use it? computers and books don't compute or put food on the table. you would have to grow food without pesticides, fertilizers, or chemicals. the American infrastructure alone is the most susceptible to general warfare, let alone nukes. the nukes will hit major cities, strategic resources, and industrial complexes. that makes most of the things of today will be lost. people don't send nukes out every which way, they CHOOSE the most important targets.

that isn't counting the general morale loss, death, societal abandonment, or the formation of raiders. hell America is struggling in math and science, that doesn't bode well for anyone especially for rebuilding. BTW America has to teach "how to use computers" in school now.

NOTE: computers would be extraordinarily USELESS since the internet would be gone, and would just be a novelty. god forbid a hardware failure would occur or you're FUCKED because there are few PC parts left.

:/ so amarica alone is f*cked.
What about the rest of the world? Is Uganda gunna get bombed?
What about hawaii? And antarctica? Theyer theory only works if every place on the planet is nuked. If every contry, civilization, and people are bombed to hell and back.

And personally, i learned to use a computer on my own. :/ in less then 2 months after i bought one i was your average troll. Computers arnt hard for anyone with half a brain.

So all in all, yes, amarica, russia, china, korea, and the iraq are would all be screwed. But what about every place not bombed? Would the world end there? Would civilization crumble? I highly doubt it.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

The only part he really denied was the advanced mutations. Fallout does not have factions any larger than a few hundred people at most and most of everything IS collapsed. So, why is the title of this thread "Fallout is not like a real life nuclear holocaust"?

 

[Aulleas123]

In before armchair historians argue that the "Dark Ages" is a misnomer.

Also, as intelligent as Dr Kaku is, his many TV appearances suggest he is one who leans more on the fantasy side of theoretical in theoretical physicist.

This is true. While I liked Dr. Kaku's description and analysis of what could happen, there is one point that he got slightly wrong. He says "After the Roman Empire fell, it took 1000 years to get to the level that we (Europe) was at in 400 AD." Unfortunately, this is not true.

There was certainly a period of degregation for a few centuries afterward, however to claim that at the year 1400, we got back up to the level of 400 is simply not true. Remember, Europe had made many major leaps in the Middle Ages past what the Roman Empire could do: England experimented with the first limitation of power and legislative parliament (done through the Magna Carta and the founding of Parliament by Edward Longshanks). Many places in Europe founded Universities, while some of these places focused on Theology, many others focused on Law, Medicine, and Literature. This was also a time when naval innovations were developed (through the coastal powers of Europe and imports from the Middle East), banking was practically invented (thank you Knights Templar, and trade between Spain and China could (hypothetically) happen (most likely didn't but the possibility could be found).

I'm not saying that Dr. Kaku is completely wrong, just pessimistic. I believe that we would recover a lot faster than Europe did after the fall of Rome. After all, we have new allowances such as the scientific method and previous discoveries to work on. I would say that full recovery could take the full 1000 years, but recovery of some form of stable civilization would happen in about 250 years tops.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

The only part he really denied was the advanced mutations. Fallout does not have factions any larger than a few hundred people at most and most of everything IS collapsed. So, why is the title of this thread "Fallout is not like a real life nuclear holocaust"?

few hundred people? do i need to get the numbers of each faction?

NCR alone has around 3,000 people in one CITY ALONE.

I was referring to Fallout 3. I was never able to get into the first two. I tried, but even I have a limit of how primitive a game can be for me to enjoy it.

 

[Flauros]

Noone brings up the ozone layer. I hate to see people waiting for the fallout to disappear, waiting waiting but the radiation never goes away.....One of the things a nuclear attack can do is erase the ozone layer.....making it post-explosion radiation party time EVERYDAY as wed be completely open to space radiation. Everyone do the sad emo party dance.....

Ozone works on UV radiation. Solar wind and cosmic rays wont fry Earth till our core solidifies like Mars's and our atmosphere gets blasted into space...

Yup sure does. and?.....

What, is UV radiation the HAPPY radiation?

 

[Substance-E]

Noone brings up the ozone layer. I hate to see people waiting for the fallout to disappear, waiting waiting but the radiation never goes away.....One of the things a nuclear attack can do is erase the ozone layer.....making it post-explosion radiation party time EVERYDAY as wed be completely open to space radiation. Everyone do the sad emo party dance.....

Ozone works on UV radiation. Solar wind and cosmic rays wont fry Earth till our core solidifies like Mars's and our atmosphere gets blasted into space...

Yup sure does. and?.....

What, is UV radiation the HAPPY radiation?

A lot happier than no water or air...

 

[Capt. Crankypants]

Wouldn't they just prefer a nice game of chess?

And hooray for living in Australia. No-one wants to bomb us . Well, some people do, but we don't have any bombs of our own, and there are certainly 'bigger fish to fry' so to speak, so I feel pretty safe

(In the event of fallout in Australia, we could have our giant spiders mutate into giant spiders.)

 

[RooftopAssassin]

What? Has he been in a nuclear Holocaust?
I dont think he knows what one is truely like unless hes been in it first hand.

He's a theoretical physicist; I wish I could put more emphasis on the theoretical part.

OT: With fallout dust, mini ice-ages, and mutually assured destruction, you can bet he's sugar coating it:

Spoiler

EVERYBODY DIES