What disaster could wipe out civilisation worldwide, but allow for immediate rebuilding? What would be the side effects?
For a story I have, modern civilisation must be destroyed by a worldwide disaster.
The objective is roughly something that:
- Could be man-made or aided (if not now, maybe in the future)
- Decimates, but not eliminates, land-based life
- Directly destroys most buildings and technology, traces ok
- Allows survivors to rebuild over hundreds or thousands of years
- Doesn't affect the inhabitability of large parts of the world long-term
Something like nuclear war would be inappropriate, as it have too much widespread long-term impact. However, if floods could have worldwide impact then that would work.
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1 answer
I can think of a couple options:
Gray Goo
An unstoppable swarm of nanites, or maybe even larger (e.g. insect-sized) creatures that destroy all non-bio-associated metal, would probably do the trick. Ancient stone buildings (and wood buildings with all wood joining) will mostly be unaffected, but many modern buildings will collapse, and the economic disruption (especially because this will take out pretty much all transportation) will lead to mass starvation. Wild animals, however, will be almost entirely unaffected, and the only plants that will be affected are those that were in human-built structures or otherwise depended on humans (e.g. for cultivation).
Massive storms
A biblical, world-wide flood most likely would have affected an Earth that is very different from today's. Much deeper oceans, much more sub-surface water, much shorter mountains. Repeating this on modern Earth is probably not practical (not to mention all the Christians you'll upset because it would be God breaking a promise). However, you might be okay with some sort of planet-wide storm. Buildings are built to withstand wind, but if you throw in enough debris that you're effectively sand-blasting everything over a long period of time, that might have the desired effect. If your "sand" (which can be any loose objects that break or wear down buildings) supports plant growth, the biome should be able to recover. Hard-core survivalists will probably be able to weather this, although I'm not sure how much plant or animal life you'll have left.
Plague
Any sort of medical what-have-you that kills off most people will satisfy some of your points. Whatever happens, you'll most likely have some survivors (at least, readers aren't likely to question that). The main problem here is it doesn't satisfy your criteria of "directly destroy[ing] most buildings and technology" (emphasis added). If you've killed off enough of humanity, nature will do the job for you in a few hundred years, but it sounds like this isn't what you want.
In any case, I suspect a key part of your regression is going to come from economic disruption. This works well, because it will tend to kill humans, and only humans. Most wild animals are not dependent on humans and would get along just fine without us.
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