Questions tagged [civilization]
For questions about groups of societies and their defining characteristics and achievements.
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How to rock the universe without provoking intergalactic war?
Even in the distant future stupidly loud rock metal is being played and enjoyed by many humans, even those that finds it irritating still recognise it as a form of music alright... officially it's ...
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How Could People Utilize a Hypereutrophic Sea?
In a previous post I asked about the feasibility of connecting the ocean to a dried sea bed with hand tools and it was pointed out how environmentally disastrous this would be.
So the bronze age ...
user71781
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Why would a food that is harmful to the environment be widely consumed in a society?
In a previous question, I asked why a taboo would develop around a food that grows well in a civilization’s climate and has no harmful effects. However, I will now ask the opposite question: why would ...
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How could people travel from England to France with 17th century technology without using a boat?
This is a continuation of my last question about how long it would take the tunnel between the two countries to fall apart. So let's say that there's a group of people who have no more than 17th ...
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If it wasn't maintained for hundreds of years, would the Channel Tunnel collapse?
The title says it all. If it wasn't maintained for hundreds of years, would the Channel Tunnel collapse?
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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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How would a civilization adapt to handle a series of unkillable deadly people? [closed]
How would a civilization adapt to a typical video game protagonist? People who always seemed to win any fight in front of them, but where there was only one of them, or a small team?
Background. In ...
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Human uses for megafauna besides food or traction?
Ancient Man feasted on megafauna. From mammoths to every variety of deer and flightless bird humans have made the most of large wildlife, to the point of tragic excess. So what happens when the animal ...
user71781
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is it possible for a kingdom to live off of rice, beans, eggs, potatoes, and chicken, and general food from foraging and hunting?
my question is literally right there. the general amount of people is about 2500 people. 1000 are men, 1000 are women, and 500 are kids. whatever farm area amount is required, I won't mind. as long as ...
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What would people in early civilization with magical food source do?
So, on a large (20-25 000 km^2) island, there is a lake, and in middle of that lake is a small lake-island, where there is a city of 9 thousand Skrits. These poor folks built their city on top of a ...
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How can baseline humanity survive on its own in the future?
In the future, baseline humans are joined by gene-hacked humans, cyborgs, uplifted animals, and digital consciousnesses (synthetic or uploaded minds). Most states are either autopias (automated ...
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What species has the most chance of becoming the next civilised species? [duplicate]
I'm considering creating a world which take place on earth after all humans are dead/gone (we don't care actually). In this situation another/some other species develop enough to be a civilization.
...
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How would a medieval village protect themselves against dinosaurs?
In this world, dinosaurs are wildlife that usually don't bother people, but people still want to make sure they're safe from the occasional man-eaters or gigantic herbivores that want to eat their ...
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Manners Maketh Man
Working on the art book for my post apocalyptic world building project I got used to accompanying the introduction of each character or topic with a quote to set the mood and to emphasize how little (...
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Would separate species of sentient dinosaur cooperate?
I’m planning on writing another story as well, but I’m further into the concept of this one.
It takes place in a fictional prehistoric age that combines elements from the Jurassic, Cretaceous, ...
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How advanced could an underground society get?
To briefly summarize: former slaves to a race of flying dragon-like humanoids (I've made some modifications to them based on feedback, but the gist is more or less the same) have escaped into the ...
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How many towns could a smallish island have? [closed]
So basically for background purposes the story is set on an island so I don't have to deal with the rest of the world. But anyways, it is drawing on nordic and celtic mythology and technology, so ...
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Could a society of Kaiju exist logically?
I’ve watched a lot of people place their ideas here and receive feedback, so I’ve decided to take a try.
You see, I’m planning on writing a story focusing on the relationship between humans and Kaiju ...
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How can primitive human species create an underwater civilization and adapt to their marine environment?
Hopefully this isn't two separate questions - I do feel like they are interconnected enough that they can be counted as one. I'm wondering if it would be possible for primitive human ancestors.
Let's ...
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Speed of civilization change
Imagine one to three persons going back in time to a society like that of the Roman Kingdom (the period before the Republic), and they attempt to reform as well as modernize to an extent (up to the ...
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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 Would Civilisations on Different Planes of a Cube Planet Interact?
If there was a life-supporting planet that was cubical rather than spherical, would it be feasible for there to be a unique but similar civilisation on each 'Plane'?
I know that cube planets are ...
user69867
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What would nordic culture be like in a desert environment? [closed]
In my fantasy world ''Diggoran'' ( pronounced Die-Ah-Ran ) there is a currently unnamed Nordic Country comprised of 6 autonomous eco-political regions. This Nordic Country was initially and still is ...
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What is the most REALISTIC cause of a worldwide catastrophe/apocalypse in the near future? (next ~100 years) [closed]
Trying to figure out a post-apocalyptic scenario and looking to stay somewhat within the realm of possibility. Given how tech levels MIGHT be in a 50 years, what would you say would be the most likely ...
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Optimal geography for a thriving caldera centered civilisation?
What would be the optimal geography for a thriving capital, located in a caldera ?
I'm building a fantasy world with multiple intelligent species and civilisations. There is magic in this world, but ...
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Civilization on an Earth-like planet without using waterways for transport
On Earth, civilization grew up around river valleys. Rivers are useful as a water source, a food source, and a waste disposal system, but their most important function to a civilization is enabling ...
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What secular civic space would pioneers build for small frontier towns?
I am thinking about a part of a world with a lot of small towns on a frontier, like the early colonial era in the Americas, or pioneer days in the American Midwest, and later the Great Plains and the ...
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What reason would a hidden, deep ocean society have to come up to the surface of a post-apocalyptic Earth and claim the land for themselves?
This is strictly Earth based. Would it be possible for a society to develop their own civilization underwater (nothing fantastical like Aquaman or whatever, but more of a grimy, hardscrabble existence ...
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In what sequence should an advanced civilization teach technology to medieval society to maximize rate of adoption?
If a small group of an advanced civilization got stranded in a medieval-like society on another planet and they start to interact in a peaceful way, what would be the first technologies that they ...
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Earth like planet, more surface area under water?
Planet: earth like, half the radius of earth, gravity is .7g.
Assuming this is possible and humans live on this planet, would it be possible to have 90% of the planets surface area be under water? ...
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How long would it take for all evidence of humanity to be erased from Earth? [duplicate]
Suppose that due to nuclear warfare or some deadly disease, the entire human population of earth died off in the near future. All humans gone, but most of life survived, including domesticated animals....
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Is development of technological civilization without ecological damage possible?
A god once created a beautiful planet and populated it with all kind of plant and animals. He brought up humans, because no world is complete without them. But then he paused. Not because he needed a ...
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Units of measurement, especially length, when body parts vary in size among races
Historically, units of measurement are often based on sizes of body parts. Probably the most obvious example would be a "foot" literally being based on the length of someone's (or everyone's, or ...
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Departments of an Uplifted Galactic Government
One of the gods in the universe stumbled across an species with potential and decided to uplift it. Instead of uplifting over the course of a couple thousand years, the god decided to do it in one ...
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In a 'Zootopia' situation who's in power, the Elephant or the Mouse?
Imagine a situation kind of like Zootopia with many different creatures all living in one environment, some significantly larger than others. These species aren't necessarily furries like in Zootopia,...
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What is the smallest land mass to develop human civilization? [closed]
(Related to this question about the smallest land mass to support a civilization, possibly dropped in fully-formed by magic or advanced technology. This question is asked in response to comments there ...
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What is the smallest land mass to support human civilization?
Let's say we have an Earth-sized planet and the same general solar activity and climatology. However, the continents are much smaller, and it's effectively impossible to accomplish travel between them ...
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Could a large enough semi isolated population keep up with Eurasia in technology? [closed]
Could a semi-isolated country island about 3,000,000 square miles and 1000 miles south of India avoid becoming a colony and develop into a rich and strong modern state today?
They have about the ...
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In a future post-scarcity civilization, how would evolution change humans when survival is no longer a challenge? [closed]
Let's imagine a post-scarcity society where everyone has unlimited access to food, energy and the aging problem has been solved so people are practically immortal.
Now my understanding is that, our ...
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How could an armless race establish civilization?
A race of humanoids with only legs, prehensile feet and a mouth equipped with two rows of teeth made of magnetite, which they can magnetise using their natural electricity generation. How could such a ...
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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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What jobs would people work in a frontier railroad town? [closed]
What would people do in 1860s railroad towns?
In a place similar to frontier America, it seems towns are built around very clear purposes. A majority of people would follow the town specific ...
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What would be left of a modern city 50,000 years from now?
I've seen questions here about what cities would be like after being abandoned for a thousand years, but what would be left after timescales of tens of thousands of years? Ancient settlements like ...
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How would a plan to bootstrap civilization after a full collapse look like? [closed]
Provided civilization collapses, as it probably will sooner or later, how could a plan to bootstrap it after look like? A satellite system that provides information at the right moment (after cities ...
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Which branches of civilization deserve an overseer? [closed]
In my story's political system, which is in medieval setting, the ruler of the country has a council, which is made of six people from the kingdom's six states. I would like them each to oversee a ...
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Would a life form with the intelligence of a human but without an appendage for manipulating its environment be able to have advanced technology?
On another planet there is a life form that has the same level of intelligence as humans on Earth, but it has no appendage to manipulate its environment. It has similar social structures to humans ...
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Could Giant Ground Sloths have been a good pack animal for the ancient Mayans?
In my world, the Mayan Empire expanded into the Caribbean and met the relict ground sloths of the Caribbean. In this same world, the Mayan empire saw the use of these creatures as useful domestic ...
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How can I establish a nationwide combat training program for a country without causing economic or political instability?
I am the dictator of a nation with a population of 350 million people. In order to keep our nation strong and independent, I have decided to institute a nationwide combat preparation program in which ...
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How would a Type I civilization not cook itself?
A type 1 civilization is defined as a civilization that can utilize the maximum amount of energy equal available to its entire planet, roughly 1017 watts for Earth.
This is equal to the amount of ...
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How would react a medieval magic world to the arrival of an Interstellar colony? [closed]
Edit (I rephrase the question a bit to try to not made it opinion based)
A space colony comes to a planet who is pretty similar to how fantasy's worlds tend to be represented.
The space colony is 44%...
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