# Resume of world trade after a full scale nuclear war **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 20, 2019, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resume-of-world-trade-after-a-full-scale-nuclear-war/838953 "2019-08-20T19:01:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resume-of-world-trade-after-a-full-scale-nuclear-war/838953/61 "2019-08-27T20:49:35Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > 1. Many electronics components are highly specialized and depend on certain types of boards, chips, power sources, tools, etc. Furthermore - manufacturers have tried their hardest recently to obstruct the ability to repair them, using DRM and encryption keys and what not. It’s hard if not impossible to assemble usable tech out of random found parts, especially if you lack Google to help you, especially if you can’t order that random spare part from China. Good points. However some components are impossible to repair even if you are the manufacturer. We were developing a processor where it was very iffy if we could remove it and remove the heat sink in order to test it to figure out what went wrong. Got canceled before we had to deal with it at least. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resume-of-world-trade-after-a-full-scale-nuclear-war/838953/62 "2019-08-27T21:58:07Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Good points. However some components are impossible to repair even if you are the manufacturer. We were developing a processor where it was very iffy if we could remove it and remove the heat sink in order to test it to figure out what went wrong. Got canceled before we had to deal with it at least. Oh yeah. Tech is fragile. People do not appreciate that things now are kept running not by repairs but by replacement parts from overseas (that may require a certain password, not to mention a functioning GPS satellite network and god knows whatever else it takes to launch a container ship. When people talk about how quick farming is going to bounce back in a post-apocalyptic scenario, I immediately think of this article: [Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xykkkd/why-american-farmers-are-hacking-their-tractors-with-ukrainian-firmware). > [@](#): > > Tractor hacking is growing increasingly popular because John Deere and other manufacturers have made it impossible to perform “unauthorized” repair on farm equipment, which farmers see as an attack on their sovereignty and quite possibly an existential threat to their livelihood if their tractor breaks at an inopportune time. > > “When crunch time comes and we break down, chances are we don’t have time to wait for a dealership employee to show up and fix it,” Danny Kluthe, a hog farmer in Nebraska, told his state legislature earlier this month. “Most all the new equipment [requires] a download [to fix].” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resume-of-world-trade-after-a-full-scale-nuclear-war/838953/63 "2019-08-27T22:39:13Z")
I think a post-apocalyptic scenario, the Amish and Mennonite are going to be really popular, since for the most part, their lifestyle will be unchanged. Perhaps they’ll be training others in the old ways of doing things? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resume-of-world-trade-after-a-full-scale-nuclear-war/838953/64 "2019-08-28T12:23:59Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I think a post-apocalyptic scenario, the Amish and Mennonite are going to be really popular, since for the most part, their lifestyle will be unchanged. Perhaps they’ll be training others in the old ways of doing things? I mentioned above that places with widespread subsistence farming or hunting-gathering probably will more or less get on as they always have. There may be famine related to climate change or loss of some key farming input, but this is nothing new for subsistence farmers. The problem with the Amish is that they’re surrounded by people who wouldn’t be able to feed themselves, post-apocalypse. Starving people likely will be too desperate to patiently wait for the next harvest, or to learn how to farm. They would probably eat all the stored food, seed corn, farm animals, and the Amish people themselves. You may find that a bit extreme, but people can only live like 50 days maximum without food. People in first-world countries are fed almost entirely by global food distribution systems, which I think we can agree won’t be back online for years. A mind-boggling number of people will die of starvation in the first 3 months post apocalypse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resume-of-world-trade-after-a-full-scale-nuclear-war/838953.md?page=3)