# Why does post apocalyptic fiction assume the power goes out? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919 "2010-12-12T21:45:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919/21 "2010-12-13T15:33:57Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Saw a silly example of this in an episode of CSI… In my watching experience it happens more often than not. I blame Se7en. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919/22 "2010-12-13T15:49:55Z")
I can’t vouch for its accuracy but according to the show _Life After People_, the Hoover Dam hydroelectric station is automated to the point that it would keep generating power for years with no human operators. Supposedly it would only break down because it has no automated system for clearing debris from its intakes - they’d eventually get plugged up and stop the water flow. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919/23 "2010-12-13T16:21:11Z")
Moving from IMHO to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919/24 "2010-12-13T16:26:26Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > In my watching experience it happens more often than not. I blame Se7en. \*The X-Files \*did it first, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919/25 "2010-12-13T17:41:44Z")
This device was used to great effect in _Dies the Fire_. When “the change” occurred, it wasn’t just that the power went out. It was that electricity just plain stopped working. No generators. No batteries. Nothing. That brought it to a whole 'nother level. (The fact that human nerve impulses are electrical in nature was sort of hand-waved away, but it was okay in context) > [@Pushkin](#): > > Have any zombie films really covered the period when society really breaks down and we can expect normal service to not be resumed? Maybe not zombie films, but countless works of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction have. That’s the main theme of many of them. > [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](#): > > \*assuming people (or zombies) keep their leights/refrigirators/tv’s/etc turned on Speaking of which, another one of the details that makes The Stand such a stand-out (ha!) in the genre is… When the people of Boulder are about to get the power plant back online, they send patrols around to all the abandoned houses to turn off and unplug all the electrical appliances and devices so they won’t all come on all of a sudden, draining the power supply and potentially causing fires. They’re also prepared for the likelihood that there will be some fires. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919/26 "2010-12-13T18:21:18Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Maybe not zombie films, but countless works of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction have. That’s the main theme of many of them Of course, I’m not sure why the two got conflated in my head. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919/27 "2010-12-13T18:39:46Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Stephen King’s book _The Stand_ gave a pretty comprehensive look at exactly how the people in that fictional world would behave in the immediate aftermath of society’s breakdown, including the failure of the power systems. I don’t know if the miniseries version covered this also (haven’t seen it). He didn’t discuss the Internet, though, because the book was written in the pre-Internet era. In the miniseries they manage to get the power plant running - but I cannot imagine where they got the fuel. I think the writers may have overlooked that (unless I’m forgetting something). I think they kept Vegas going as well - that’s powered by the Hoover Dam, isn’t it? In the BBC series “Survivors” (also a superflu apocalypse, and really very good), there’s a band of survivors that hole up on a sustainability farm, complete with wind turbines (there was probably also solar, but not much was shown). There’s also a coal mine, but I think that was going to power more domestic furnaces. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919/28 "2010-12-13T18:49:15Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > This device was used to great effect in _Dies the Fire_. When “the change” occurred, it wasn’t just that the power went out. It was that electricity just plain stopped working. No generators. No batteries. Nothing. That brought it to a whole 'nother level. I’ve heard and read basic synopses of the basic idea of this, and have been curious about it, but one thing makes me leery: Is there any credible reason given why the movement of electrons simply stops? Is there any follow-up on the vast, horrific consequences this would entail for everything in the universe (not just nerve impulses, every chemical reaction depends on interactions between electrons)? I just don’t think I could enjoy a story based on completely hand-waving away a fundamental property of the universe (at least, not without a REALLY good explanation). ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919/29 "2010-12-13T20:03:15Z")
**Ogre** –The book never gives any kind of real explanation of how it worked or why it happened.\* It works precisely because it’s never explained. The characters in the book have no idea of what the fundamental basis of The Change is. They’re just dealing with the consequences. And as far as I can tell, there is internal consistency as far as what things still work and what things don’t. So it’s easy enough for readers to say, “okay, we don’t know what the heck is going on, but let’s see what these people are going to do about it.” And that seems to be enough for most readers in this case. Come to think of it, The Change is a kind of MacGuffin. It drives the action. What it actually is isn’t that important. I found the hand-waving part. P. 43 of my paperback edition, snipped for conciseness… _“Juney…Juney, if I didn’t know better, I’d say someone, or some One, just changed the laws of nature on us. As far as I can tell, explosives don’t explode anymore. They just burn, sort of slow…Shit, you’re the one who believes in magic! But this…it’s like some sort of spell… \ Well, the sun didn’t go out,” Dennis said…“and humans are powered by oxidizing food and our nerves are electrical impulses…maybe some quantum effect that only hits current in metallic wires, and fast combustion?” Juniper snorted. “Does that mean the dilithium crystals are fucked, Scotty?” Dennis was startled into a brief choked-off grunt of laughter. “Yeah, that’s bafflegabic bullshit. I’m no scientist…We don’t know what happened; all we know is that it did happen…”_ - I believe the question gets more attention in later books, but I’m not sure. The later books are completely off the rails anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919/30 "2010-12-13T22:53:18Z")
It was pure Alien Space Bats. In fact I think Stirling even mentioned ASB’s at one point. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919/31 "2010-12-13T23:05:55Z")
All I know is that it’s the same phenomenon that… …sent the island of Nantucket from AD 1997 to 1250 BC. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919/32 "2010-12-13T23:28:42Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > In the miniseries they manage to get the power plant running - but I cannot imagine where they got the fuel. I think the writers may have overlooked that (unless I’m forgetting something). I think they kept Vegas going as well - that’s powered by the Hoover Dam, isn’t it? Yeah, in the book the “bad guys” managed to have electricity because they had all the tech guys and engineers, who were able to maintain the power grid in the Vegas area. It’s been at least a decade since I read the book, so I don’t remember if King mentioned the fuel source or not. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919/33 "2010-12-14T03:32:31Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It was pure Alien Space Bats. In fact I think Stirling even mentioned ASB’s at one point. Don’t tell me you actually kept reading the sequels? I think I got halfway through #5 before quitting in disgust. ---
**Author:** ![oliversarmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@oliversarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliversarmy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919/34 "2010-12-14T05:23:15Z")
To the OP, because engineered systems really do need humans to keep them going. Most power plants are controlled by SCADA systems, but those systems tend to ask a lot of questions. If no one (by that, I mean human) responds, they may continue to function for a bit, but they will eventually shut down to prevent damage to whatever they are controlling. I’m not an engineer, though, so take my take with a grain of salt and welcome the comments of a true engineer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-post-apocalyptic-fiction-assume-the-power-goes-out/563919.md?page=1)