Questions tagged [civilization]
For questions about groups of societies and their defining characteristics and achievements.
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What would be left of a civilization founded in dinosaur times?
65 million years ago, a mass extinction event (likely caused by the Chicxulub Meteor) wiped out the dinosaurs, and their remains were hidden from us for millions of years.
Humanity was not around ...
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How long can the human civilization traces be detectable?
Suppose human race in its current state disappears at once, every human being, leaving everything the humanity has created. All the other forms of life remain.
How long will the civilization traces ...
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What is the minimum size of a self-sufficient industrial country?
Imagine there is a country in which there are all important natural resources (oil, gas, metal ores, wood, etc.) in their natural form and which lies in a temperate climate region. There may be some ...
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How long would it take to remove all trace of a civilisation, with malice and intent?
If you look at the history of the earth today, we've got quite a long timeline - about 4.5 billion years.
We've got a few hundred years of 'good' historical record, and it gets progressively more ...
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Interstellar war tactics with no FTL capabilities?
I have tried to conceive the most realistic hard sci-fi human/alien conflict scenario without invoking FTL magic. By realistic, I mean “War is the wrong answer but we do it anyway”. Diplomacy has ...
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How does a migratory species farm?
On a world I am building, the day and night cycle lasts 9 years, resulting in the majority of animals migrate across the planet. One of the problems that my sapient races (one on the out going night ...
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base-12 numeral system
What could drive a human civilization to use base-12 system? As far as I know there have been such civilizations and they probably used their phalanges to count (instead of their fingers). I have ...
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How many people are necessary to maintain modern civilisation?
Modern Earth; a series of connected events (natural disasters, mass migration, drug-resistant pandemic, collapse in biodiversity, armed conflict) have led to a significant reduction in human ...
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Only Three Books: Restarting Physics after civilization collapses [closed]
Global famines have dropped the population to 1 billion people and global civilization has collapsed. In an effort to save future civilization some time, you want to provide some information to kick ...
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Only Three Books: Restarting Chemistry after civilization collapses
Global famines have dropped the population to 1 billion people and global civilization has collapsed. In an effort to save future civilization some time, you want to provide some information to kick ...
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How far could civilisation develop within one lifetime - starting from nothing?
This question here asked if it would be possible to reach the moon within a lifetime for a civilisation starting with "nothing". The answer to that question, quite clearly, is: no way.
But ...
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What methods might an ancient civilization use to desalinate sea water?
Following on from my previous question here concerning the ancient civilization I have called the Androy and their struggle to survive terrible drought conditions on their planet.
After years of ...
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Humans born without legs: how would they thrive?
or, Anatomically Correct Weebles
A group of behaviorally modern humans was cut off from the rest of the earth-like planet millennia ago. (Myths hold that the separation occurred four to five ka BP, ...
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How would the relics of extinct human society affect future civilizations?
My story (same world as here) take place in a future Earth between 3 and 5 million years in the future. What kind of artifacts, if any, would civilizations from this era find from the now extinct ...
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What is the earliest that a civilization could develop airships?
Assuming a technological progression roughly similar to that of Europe in our world, what is the earliest that a civilization could have developed rigid-frame airships?
For example, one could imagine ...
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Can an alien civilization develop if it didn't have a sense of greed?
Let's say that an intelligent life form develops on another world. This species is somewhat similar to us, differing only in that it doesn't have a sense of greed like us (it's not part of their ...
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If dinosaurs had a civilization, how primitive must it have been to leave no trace in the present?
I am thinking of, yes, a simple story with intelligent dinosaurs, but I am not interested (And I sincerely prefer) that they are not sufficiently advanced in my history to be comparable to modern ...
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Warrior caste in an utopian society: what would keep them peaceful for centuries?
There is an Earth-like planet with human-like inhabitants. After almost destroying the ecosystem with weapons of mass destruction, toxic waste and such, the civilization changed to survive and an ...
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How "advanced" can a stone age society get?
I'm working on a world where, with very few exceptions, metalwork is not possible/unwanted, and I'm trying to figure out what major differences one might see in daily life, and what would be necessary ...
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Could a civilisation exist as 'space-nomads'?
In a civilisation similar to humans (although not necessarily humanoid) living on a planet the size of Earth, could the whole civilisation (no limits on size, although I was thinking a few thousand at ...
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On a planet without seasons, how would people track years?
On a planet without axial tilt and with a roughly circular orbit, there would be no seasons. The climate on the planet would be, as far as I can tell, exactly the same at any time of year, and the ...
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How can I have a permanent post-apocalyptic world?
I've recently been looking into post-apocalyptic settings for a possible novel. I like the feel of people trying to survive off of the land with nothing but the clothes on their back, or banding ...
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How advanced can a civilization get without zero?
More or less exactly what it says on the tin. Start with a group of cavemen on prehistoric earth, discovering fire, language, wheels, etc, and walk them along the path to civilization, but with one ...
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Can civilization development occur completely without faith?
Could a civilization grow or develop to advanced levels if they don't hold religious beliefs?
I have just watched Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Who watch the watchers" (season 3, episode 4). It ...
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How can we extinguish a supernova?
Assuming in a galaxy far far away there is a Type 2 civilization (currently on the verge of making the transition to Type 3).
Their scientists predicted that the star (red giant) they are orbiting is ...
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What early tools might be devised on a planet where diamonds were abundant?
It seems likely that if life evolved to the point of civilization on a planet where carbon diamonds were not a scarce luxury resource, but rather a plentiful mineral as accessible as copper or iron ...
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How could a society be based off of the rules/conventions of an RPG? [closed]
EDIT: I have since revised my question so that it [hopefully] more closely adheres to community guidelines.
I am trying to jumpstart a thought-experiment that would attempt to create a society whose ...
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Duplicating people to expand a civilization
Context
"God games" are organised, in which a hundred immortals participate. Each "God" are given an alternate dimension. These dimensions are all identical and contain an Earth where Humans didn't ...
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How would an intelligent race on a methane world achieve a fire equivalent?
Linked:
What would the conditions on a methane world be like?
What would animal life on a methane world look like and how would it evolve?
Background:
Okay, an intelligent race has evolved on a world ...
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What would be the energy requirements to run a world with an artificial sun?
What are the design requirements so an artificial Sun, which is basically a reactor using nuclear fission technology, can give enough energy to power the entire world? Especially on planets like Mars ...
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Food economy of pre-civilization carnivorous humanoids
Imagine a race of humanoids who only eat meat, and are unable to digest vegetables.
Is it possible for these humanoid to be able too create/gather enough food(meat) to the point that job ...
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How does a species who cannot distinguish left from right build their cities?
Fran is on holidays to planet Earth. She is having difficulty coping with the local geometry.
At this second Fran is thirsty. She can see a lemonade stand nearby. She knows a human would have no ...
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What sort of problem would drive a near omnipotent civilization to seek an "outside the box" solution?
The Setup
A while back, I read an article in which the author compared the rise and fall of civilizations in the universe to a forest.
In the forest, small plants come into being, grow, and die over ...
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Would a fighter pilot with an invincible space ship be able to conquer the galaxy?
Setting
Not so long ago, in a galaxy not too far away, there were two civilizations at war. Both were at war because the leaders of both wanted more and more power. Both were advanced and mined the ...
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Why would a civilization develop a taboo against a highly nutritious food that grows well in its climate?
A human civilization, civilization X, decides that food Y is not fit for consumption. Food Y grows well in its climate, is highly nutritious and tasty, and is not harmful to its inhabitants. Food Y ...
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Why would a civilization outfit buildings with separate portals for entering and leaving them? [closed]
Human buildings usually have one or more doors which combine the function of an entrance and an exit, emergency exits being the only notable example I can think of, albeit designed for contingency use....
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Is Honesty always the best policy? What could go wrong if a society valued honesty over every other virtue?
Let's say you have a culture which is pretty much like ours, except honesty is the highest virtue. In particular, being honest about something is always better than being dishonest, no matter the ...
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What are the primary triggers for the decline and fall of great empires?
Let's focus specifically on the devolution of empires. How is it that something so powerful falls?
The collapse of Rome, Byzantium, the Han, the Mayans and so on. What similarities can be seen in ...
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Why would a crash landed generation fall back to the stone age?
Background
In the mid 22nd century, a super plague has killed 99% of human life, many survivors are killed in the ensuing riots and fighting. The few billionaires that are hiding in their bunkers ...
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How do you tell time on a world with 9-year days?
On my world, the day lasts 9 years: 4.5 years of light, followed by 4.5 years of dark. The inhabitants of this world survive by migrating along the ring of dusk and dawn.
How do these people tell ...
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Can two civilizations on nearby stars develop independently but be at a similar technological level?
One thing that a few science fiction films seem to get wrong: it is extremely unlikely for two civilizations to evolve completely independently and yet be within a few hundred years of each other ...
user329
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How old do surviving children need to be to keep human civilization from failing?
This question is inspired by several similar questions on this site.
The scenario: at one moment, all people above the age X disappear without a trace. How low this X can be that human civilization ...
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Is it possible to rule a galaxy without mastering teleportation?
I would like to know if a very advanced civilisation could rule an entire galaxy without mastering teleportation or any other method that allows traveling faster than light (unless you give ...
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If a civilization could plant only three crops, which ones would cover all nutritional needs?
For example, beans and rice cooperate to make a "complete" protein, providing all of the amino acids the body can't synthesize on its own -- in fact, most traditional dishes that combine legumes and ...
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Why would a scientifically advanced future community believe in multiple gods?
Polytheism was a common form of religion in ancient times. People believed that different gods lived and controlled various parts of nature (ie the sun, the moon, thunderstorms), and praying to these ...
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How could a human civilization have happened to live underground, in Antarctica?
Let's assume a human civilization have been living for centuries, nay millennia, in a very large cave, not too deep under Antarctica - deep enough not to freeze, but shallow enough not to die because ...
user20952
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Could a civilization achieve spaceflight without inventing advanced weaponry along the way?
The question is fairly simple. Could a civilization progress so far as to have spaceships while still using swords, spears, and bows as their most advanced weaponry? (what those weapons are made of ...
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How would tiny humanoids progress in a much larger world?
I just recently started reading Gulliver's Travels. If you haven't heard of it, it's basically a story about a 1600's era sailor who gets stranded on various islands with strange humanoids. The first ...
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At what minimal technological level would the inhabitants of a binary planet system need to be to communicate with each other effectively?
In the event that both planets of a binary planet system were life supporting, and both ended up developing a sapient, tool using species, at what technological level would they be able to start ...
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Does a world with domestic flying creatures (eg: dragons) needs cars, planes and ships?
Suppose a civilization which had domestic flying dragons at ancient time, just like other common stories here. My question is: would that civilization have cars, planes and ships?
Initially, I think ...
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