Wanted: Brainstorming Partner for Permanent Global Blackout

[Caitriona]

I have been thinking about that whole "people are forced back into the stone age by a cult" thing before, but that is not the road I will pick for this story. It doesn't fit my characters at all. But thank you for mentioning it!

 

[DHF]

And frankly Fallout has already cornered that market.

 

[Loren]

I have been thinking about that whole "people are forced back into the stone age by a cult" thing before, but that is not the road I will pick for this story. It doesn't fit my characters at all. But thank you for mentioning it!

Well there is always that outside inhibiting force.

 

[newjerseyrunner]

I'd combine two of the ideas that I've seen so far. The sun throws a fit and wipes out our current electrical infrastructure, which causes large-scale wars which destroy most of the non-electrical infrastructure. Then after that, the church condemns the lifestyle of old, citing it's downfall as evidence that god was angry about the technology. I would read up on the aftermath of the fall of the classical world in Europe. You could even have a figurehead that the religion blames: a modern day Nero. Even if some people work hard to maintain some stability, the masses act on fear. A person is smart, people are stupid.

 

[Caitriona]

I'm afraid as a total non-believer myself I lack the insight to write about anything that will involve a lot of religion. I simply don't have the ability to grasp the whole concept of belief in a higher power. If I were to write such a thing, it would ultimate turn out to be a statement against religion, no matter how much effort I would put into it to treat the whole topic respectfully and with empathy. It is just not something I can comprehend very well, which is why I abandoned that idea very early on and instead started looking for a strictly scientific explanation.

 

[CrackerMcGinger]

I'm afraid as a total non-believer myself I lack the insight to write about anything that will involve a lot of religion. I simply don't have the ability to grasp the whole concept of belief in a higher power. If I were to write such a thing, it would ultimate turn out to be a statement against religion, no matter how much effort I would put into it to treat the whole topic respectfully and with empathy. It is just not something I can comprehend very well, which is why I abandoned that idea very early on and instead started looking for a strictly scientific explanation.

Not really, all religion really is is a way to grasp reality without thinking everything is a coincidence, and those that think you are telling a story opposing religion are short sided or don't care to think from another point of view. All someone really needs to grasp religion even if they do not believe is an ability to broaden their perspective on things.

 

[DrStupid]

I'm afraid as a total non-believer myself I lack the insight to write about anything that will involve a lot of religion.

You don't need a religion. Ideology would be sufficient.
A nice option could be a situation where a minority profits from keeping electricity away from the public (but use themselves).

 

[DHF]

Not sure a religious or ideological ban would suffice for what the OP is asking. He/She asked for a world where technology was permanently disabled. If you had an ideology rise up that banned technology, many would follow but there are a great many that would thumb their nose at the idea and start to rebuild. Even if half the world is wiped out in the aftermath and 90% of the survivors believe in this anti technology ideology... that still leaves hundreds of millions of people world wide that would try to pick up where the world left off before the disaster.

 

[tobyr65]

Your loss of electricity is completely plausible. But not with your timeline. Regarding polarity shift: There is no evidence that a weakened magnetic field would result in a doomsday for Earth. During past polarity flips there were no mass extinctions or evidence of radiation damage. Researchers think power grids and communication systems would be most at risk. Unfortunately this is a millennia problem and your protagonist wouldn't be able to fix it. But maybe you can use it to help create your loss of power