When the
mental clock of the human race began to tick backwards things were just as they
were before the change. But, slowly behind the scenes, something was happening to
the internet. Connections began to be lost more often, and the rate was
increasing year upon year. It was becoming very annoying, more annoying than
pop-up ads. Soon the problem got worse. People lost data, because they put all
their fate on the cloud. IT engineers couldn't explain it, but a number of
hackers found out the truth and tried to publish it online. But by then, the
mid-2000s, the loss of data and connections was so frustrating in some places,
people there stopped using the internet altogether. Slowly, the people of the
world were removing their electronic umbilical cords of information reverting
back to a pre-internet world. A few (mostly hackers and geeks) remain faithful
to their main fix in life by 1983.
During that
time, as cloud computing became impossible; computers became larger and thicker
to include more internal storage function. With more space needed for larger
hard drives a few sacrifices had to be made, such as built-in webcams. Mobile
phones gave up been computers and became just… phones (with optional text
messaging). The cause of the devolution of information technology was caused by
the mass of data that was collected during the years the clocks run forward. As
information technology “dumbed down” there was a mad rush to rescue that data
before they became inaccessible. This resulted in a huge demand for physical
media (CDs, floppies, tapes, etc). This was particularly true for large files,
such as movies and music. With diminishing bandwidth, what was left of the interment
was becoming a former shadow of itself, mostly made up of text, forums and
low-resolution gif graphics. It seemed that the record and movie industry had
finally licked piracy (they only now sell bootleg copies in market stalls or in
pubs).
With one of
their main sources of income gone organized crime and terrorism fell since the
US began dismantling the internet. The Islamic fundamentalists could now only
preach through official channels, such as radio, TV, print or (the most censor-free
means) public gatherings. Unfortunately, after years of racial profiling
because of their words (and actions) of hatred towards the West, the crowds they
were getting wanted to beat them up. After a large attack on the US in 2001,
the people of the muslin world decided that these who were tarnishing their
religion’s reputation in the world must die. With help from the US and few
other western powers, the people of the Middle East rooted out troublesome preachers
of hate in a large violent war, which eventually ended with the establishing of
a pro-western leader in Iran in 1979.
With no
internet, it was now harder to sell products outside a person’s country, meaning
a slump in global trade. Only large corporations could sell products across
borders without trouble. This state of affairs (fuelled by angry former online
retailers) causes a worldwide desire for countries to restrict foreign imports.
Not only this gave foreign goods an air of wonder (due to their fewer number
and price), it also boosted native manufacturing. People were buying more
locally-made stuff. By 1967, for example, 97% of all cars in the US were
natively built. Globalization was reversing. In 1955, as a symbol of the end of
globalization, the last large container ship was scrapped.
Meanwhile (with
diminishing trade outside their borders) China and America’s economies stalled
and began to reverse, slowly decreasing. With industry requiring less and less
power, China began demolishing a coal-fired power station every week. America
did the same (but in a much slower rate). Wages began to decrease and the cost
of goods increased. By 1970 a TV costs as much as a small car. The rising
prices causes many people to return to repairing broken or worn out things instead
of just throwing it away and buying a new thing. People were beginning to
become more self-efficient and some turn to farming. But, to the many who were
use to rising living standards (and wages) it was unthinkable situation. This
causes massive riots and protests in all industrial nations. China witnesses a
large one in 1989. The UK in 1984, 1979, and 1973.
In Russia,
things got so bad during the 1990s that a more militaristic leadership was
instated in 1991. With the call for invading Eastern Europe to stimulate
economic growth, Russia built up a stockpile of weapons (mostly taken
secondhand from unstable African nations). This move stimulate the US to
stockpile weapons for a possible war against Russia. In 1989, the invasion
happened… without bloodshed (except in Romania). The Americans (and other
Western powers) stopped them in the middle of Germany. It was a stalemate. A
stalemate that will last for 40 years, with each side working out how to break
it. The solution both choose was nuclear weapons. If one can’t have the other
no one can have it. During those 40 years, scientists worked on their nation’s
nuclear program for better defense systems. But it was in these programs that
people started to notice something happening to their brightest people… they
were slowly losing their knowledge. With no microscope or imaging technology
able to detect the microbe that was causing it, people couldn’t explain what
was happening. But whatever it was, its effects were devastating. By 1950, humankind
had lost the ability to manipulate genes, create human offspring outside the
womb, build and fire rockets into space and how to solve a Rubik’s cube. What
was going on? The very religious say it was God’s punishment for humans
rebuilding the Tower of Babel, and their congregations accepted it.
With the
loss of relatively recent knowledge, a lot of people die of now incurable problems
and many secret initiatives by governments to encourage more breeding and to kill
off the elderly to reduce the burden on pension systems, such as legalizing
smoking in public places and introducing known hazardous substances in consumer
products, such as lead-based paint pigments and mercury. By 1959, the human
population collapsed from 7billion in 2011 to just 3billion. But, on the up
side, there was less pollution and more housing and empty land available. And
(with radical governments in the 1960s and 50s demolishing highways and
airports, and investing more in railways and public transport) the world was a quieter
place to live in. What could possibly happen next?
