Mad Max Fury Road style apocalypse. Collapse of the economy, collapse of law and order, collapse of civilization.
True; add a lot of suicides to the secondary (and tertiary) impact.
So the question becomes, COULD western society hold itself together? Could the systems to maintain a complex, interdependent culture survive the death of ~55-60% of the people within it?
I’m sure with Avengers: Endgame comes out we’ll see humanity struggling along but essentially unchanged. But that’s fanciful. Would northern cities be abandoned due to lack of maintenance on energy delivery leading to death by cold? Is it worth staying in Boston or Chicago or Minneapolis for a million+ people when there’s no gas or electricity?
In comics, every time this plot comes up, the effect is negated somehow. A bigger god snaps its fingers or the time stream is reversed or whatever magic the writer wants to use. Usually nobody even remembers that the event happened except for a few. Nobody in the DC or Marvel worlds wants a comic in which half the world is in perpetual mourning and - more importantly from their view - half the superheroes are gone.
Could the nuclear power plants in the northern US be safely decommissioned prior to leaving so we don’t have twenty meltdowns?
Keep in mind that this is the MCU world we are talking about, with the resources that they have that we don’t.
Superpowers and supertechnology could well change a few of these things. Stark’s nearly invincible nano-technology could help rebuild, and his power sources could provide plenty of power, not to mention whatever they are hiding in Wakanda. There are other superpowers and technologies in the universe that never get used for such unsexy uses as infrastructure and commerce, but with a massive gap in capabilities left with the loss of the majority of the population, suddenly, the most popular superhero is the one that can get the lights on and the water running again.
Half the humans? I thought it was half of all life throughout the universe. Half the animals we raise for food, half the birds, half the bugs, half of all critters everywhere-some are definitely going to go extinct, and what’s left certainly won’t be able to support the ecosystem as it now exists.
We screwed.
I was strongly under the impression that it was half the sentient, intelligent life with the non-sentient life being among the resources Thanos was so worked up about preserving. Dusting half the corn and moo-cows would defeat the purpose of dusting half the people (and Martians, etc)
That is…a subject of debate. In the trailer Nat says ‘half of all life’ or something similar. But I don’t see a bunch of trees turning to dust during the ending of Infinity War. I think it can be assumed that it’s either ‘half of all sentient life’ or ‘half of all animal life’. But clearly the plants weren’t going anywhere.
That’s why I didn’t mention the plants, but that still leaves all the problems I brought up before, and a lot more.
On one hand, killing half of [all/animal] life would be extremely stupid and counter to Thanos’ goal. On the other, Thanos has already proven himself to be a moron with all the foresight of a stoned freshman saying “Dude, dude, wouldn’t it be amazing if…” so I wouldn’t put it past him.
I’m operating under the assumption that he was talking about intelligent life, as I am not entirely sure if the MCU actually has any sort of non-sentient animals. The rhinos in Wakanda are about the only animals I’ve seen, and given the Wakandans, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are sentient too.
Half of all life would also include the plants, as well as microbes. I didn’t see any trees turning into wisps of dust and smoke.
ETA2: we have about 200 grams of bacteria in our body. What happens when half of that turns to smoke inside of us?
ETA: Ninja’d
The dead rising from the grave, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… Mass hysteria.
Reminds me of the Life after People series, though not quite as bleak.
Half the people with specialty knowledge would smoke out, so a lot of the troubles mentioned in that series would come to pass simply because there aren’t enough people who know how to keep the processes running. Any artifacts housed in climate controlled environments, for instance, would be at risk, as would any complex support systems, such as refineries and flood control measures.
Kevin Feige states that Thanos destroyed half of all life, including animals. (Variety article)
I suspect civilization’s chances of survival depend on the government keeping populations under control, and people stepping up instead of freaking out. The world’s infrastructure can keep operating at half staff, especially with half the demand. Existing food and fuel stores could tide people over until production could be reorganized. However, that’s counting on people keeping calm and carrying on. If enough people turn opportunistic and regional warlords spring up, it’s downhill to Mad Max from there.
He took out two of my cats??!?
That’s it. Shit’s ON. 
I actually think that, disregarding the PTSD, society would bounce back rather solidly. Unless Feige included plants in his “all life” comment, in which case we’re fucked.
So Thanos is, in fact, even more moronic and his plan even stupider than I originally thought. Well, okay then.
Half the animals gone? Ecosystem will collapse, and we are fucked.
Couldn’t it be argued that most social support systems today are replacements of old it takes a village kind of approaches to bereavement? The world, at least the west, is so safe that when someone dies before their time (accidents, illness, violence etc.) you’re isolated from your peers who can’t relate to your loss. After the snap the whole world is your support system.
You know how statistics work. There is a chance the snap got all of your cats. Or none.