How to knock down humanity?
I'm looking for the perfect kind of apocalypse that not only can kill great parts of the people on Earth leaving the survivors spread in little primitive groups across the world ,but can also avoid the possibility of humanity arising again too soon.
I need something that other than killing people, something that can also destroy the memories of the survivors and leave no signs of the past civilizations. All modern buildings have to be taken down, no books remained and nothing digital, even wild tribes in Africa and isolated isles have to become more primitive than they are.
I want the few survivors to return the technological level of 400000 years ago or before hominids first started to make sharp sticks and throw them at each other.
To obtain this state, any means necessary as long as it respects the known laws of physics, the only thing excluded are aliens.
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1 answer
I believe that an EMP attack would do what you want. 8-10 bombs launched on scuds from container ships and set off in low earth orbit, evenly spread around the north and south hemispheres, would take out all the infrastructure that we depend on.
You could expect 75-90% of the earth's population to be dead within a year, the survivors spread out and isolated, living at a hunter gatherer level, and not much chance of rebuilding for a long long time.
This also avoids any radiation so no worries about leaving the land unlivable for years. Only the electronics would be destroyed.
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