# REVISITING: Which dystopia do you find the most plausible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 17, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102 "2018-07-17T18:26:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/41 "2018-07-19T00:27:31Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I disagree. A dedicated religionist can be relentless and, in the end, persuasive, if you have nothing to answer back except “well, I don’t know.” I hope I’m wrong, but I’m not sanguine. I have personal experience. My father was an evangelical Baptist preacher and I was raised in a fundamentalist household. I was able to begin thinking for myself and I have no reason to believe your fears have any weight in this country. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/42 "2018-07-19T00:28:34Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > The most likely dystopic form in the short term, I expect, is the corporation version as seen in the original _Robocop_ and its sequels. They’ve always been pulling the political strings, they’ll soon be doing so openly and brazenly, to the point where elected officials are just figureheads chosen by popularity contests. Where the hell have you been? It’s been that way in this country for decades. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/43 "2018-07-19T01:23:50Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I disagree. A dedicated religionist can be relentless and, in the end, persuasive, if you have nothing to answer back except “well, I don’t know.” I hope I’m wrong, but I’m not sanguine. You always also have “… and you don’t know either, so STFU” to add to your initial answer. I’m an atheist, sure, but mainly in terms of religion I’m what might be called a “hard agnostic” - adding to EVERY religious answer “…and you don’t know either, and nobody ever will, so STFU” ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/44 "2018-07-19T01:47:52Z")
Can you all save the religion debate for GD, pretty please? ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/45 "2018-07-19T03:05:53Z")
One plausible scenario I could see happening is a Black Death event - a new disease erupts that kills a third of the world’s population and plunges humanity into a new dark age. (The Plague killed a third of Europe’s population in the 1300’s.) Or god forbid there is a worldwide pandemic like the one that Native Americans experienced after European contact. That one is believed to killed somewhere between 85 and 95% of all Native Americans in The New World. It was series of epidemics consisting of smallpox, measles, and yellow fever among others. (Though I believe smallpox contributed to the majority of deaths.) I am not sure if there are many novels or movies based around this scenario though. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/46 "2018-07-19T03:57:28Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Can you all save the religion debate for GD, pretty please? It’s not a religious debate, it’s a debate about the susceptibility of young people to persuasion from (what I think is) casual skepticism to religious belief, the point of which is whether this country might succumb to religious fervor and become a theocratic state, which ties back to the OP. I think it’s possible, **RikWriter** does not. **RikWriter** : I submit that in order to start thinking for yourself, you had to overcome some things in your upbringing and early influences which led you to some firmness in your convictions. If you had only drifted into secularism because that’s the way you had been raised, I believe you would have been less armored against persistent religious persuasion as a young adult. However, it is something of a side point to the discussion, so perhaps you can take the last word and we can drop it. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/47 "2018-07-19T05:08:41Z")
I hope this isn’t considered threadshitting, but it’s probably nothing that anyone is predicting. When we predict the future, we have a habit of taking the present and exaggerating it, while ignoring the fact that a lot of major and minor changes will lead to a totally new world. The trick is predicting the big changes. What, you want me to do that? No, I’m not smart enough for the task. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/48 "2018-07-19T05:15:46Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > One plausible scenario I could see happening is a Black Death event - a new disease erupts that kills a third of the world’s population and plunges humanity into a new dark age. (The Plague killed a third of Europe’s population in the 1300’s.) Or god forbid there is a worldwide pandemic like the one that Native Americans experienced after European contact. That one is believed to killed somewhere between 85 and 95% of all Native Americans in The New World. It was series of epidemics consisting of smallpox, measles, and yellow fever among others. (Though I believe smallpox contributed to the majority of deaths.) > > I am not sure if there are many novels or movies based around this scenario though. Earth Abides, for one. Yes, smallpox mostly. Unless the Sentinelese have some disease that we’re all susceptible, I don’t think the Native American scenario would be plausible. That one was particularly bad because while it came with European contact, it moved faster than the settlers ever encountered native tribes. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/49 "2018-07-19T10:27:20Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Where the hell have you been? It’s been that way in this country for decades. Well, it’s not _quite_ to the point where a corporation can take a city “private” and police it with its own security forces, but it’s getting there. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/50 "2018-07-19T11:51:15Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, it’s not _quite_ to the point where a corporation can take a city “private” and police it with its own security forces, but it’s getting there. A lot of people argue that this is exactly what Disney did with the city around Disney World here in Florida. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/51 "2018-07-19T13:48:59Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Earth Abides, for one. > > Yes, smallpox mostly. Unless the Sentinelese have some disease that we’re all susceptible, I don’t think the Native American scenario would be plausible. That one was particularly bad because while it came with European contact, it moved faster than the settlers ever encountered native tribes. One possibility is if a animal pathogen that never infected humans previously mutates in to a strain that \*can \*affect humans. Also, I’d like to point out that there are other species of pox virus aside smallpox that don’t currently infect humans. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/52 "2018-07-19T16:45:52Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > One plausible scenario I could see happening is a Black Death event… > > I am not sure if there are many novels or movies based around this scenario though. Take a look at Stephen King’s _The Stand_ and the recent \*Planet of the Apes \* movies. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/53 "2018-07-19T17:01:19Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Take a look at Stephen King’s _The Stand_ and the recent \*Planet of the Apes \* movies. And 28 Days Later. The moral of the story is that science is evil! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/54 "2018-07-19T17:14:21Z")
Not all science. Just the _bad_ kind! And it’s the starting point of _I Am Legend_, too, come to think of it. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/55 "2018-07-19T18:16:53Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Take a look at Stephen King’s _The Stand_ and the recent \*Planet of the Apes \* movies. Yeah, I’d say these are the most plausible. We know that diseases can destroy large parts of a society, and that some of them have been engineered as weapons to increase their effectiveness. It’s also the most plausible, because it’s probably the easiest to have happen by accident. Even under the rules of Mutually Assured Destruction, you need people to make deliberate choices to launch the nukes, but with biological pathogens, one mistake could spiral out of control. As I’ve said before, a nuke doesn’t care if it kills you or not, but viruses and bacteria? Those bastards are out to get us! ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/56 "2018-07-19T18:28:30Z")
Seen “Shadow on the Land”? [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxXam7gK3Jo) ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/57 "2018-07-19T18:28:37Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, it’s not _quite_ to the point where a corporation can take a city “private” and police it with its own security forces, but it’s getting there. How does that compare to 19th and early 20th century company towns? It doesn’t seem like a new concept. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/58 "2018-07-19T18:57:44Z")
Here are two more: This has been the subject of a story or two: A bacteria designed to eat oil to clean up spills gets lose and consumes all hydrocarbon and plastic in the world. George RR Martin of Game of Thrones fame used this as the premise of a parallel world in his failed pilot Doorways. This one happened in real life. A company developed a bacteria that would convert vegetable waste to alcohol. The idea was that farmers would buy this and turn their waste to alcohol and sell the alcohol. The company had crossed every t and dotted every i and got all the legal go aheads they needed to sell it. While they were waiting for marketing materials to be completed an employee sent a sample to a friend who was a botanist at a University. She tested it with live plants vs. the lab environments they did at the company an made a discovery: it attacked the roots of every plant it came across and killed them. If this material had been released it would have literally killed every plant it came in contact with and since it was a bacteria, it would have spread. More info about this [here](http://online.sfsu.edu/rone/GEessays/Klebsiellaplanticola.html) and [here](http://www.cracked.com/article_18503_how-biotech-company-almost-killed-world-with-booze.html). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/59 "2018-07-19T19:58:46Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > How does that compare to 19th and early 20th century company towns? It doesn’t seem like a new concept. Those towns didn’t have police officers who were also robots. The Disney town might, though. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102/60 "2018-07-19T20:28:40Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Those towns didn’t have police officers who were also robots. If you read the quote I was responding to, it did not say robot police forces, but instead said private police forces, which are incredibly common, as are allegedly public police forces that in reality answer to someone other than the public. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-which-dystopia-do-you-find-the-most-plausible/818102.md?page=4)