Most Dystopian TL Possible

I'd think a greater Asian war which after running out of hi-tech weapons in the first few months/campaigns reverts to 'peoples war' with human waves of light infantry. Countries/regions not involved would have to struggle to keep tens/hundreds of millions of refugees from overrunning them.
Australia would have to mobilise just to survive, and that would suck.
 
I'd think a greater Asian war which after running out of hi-tech weapons in the first few months/campaigns reverts to 'peoples war' with human waves of light infantry. Countries/regions not involved would have to struggle to keep tens/hundreds of millions of refugees from overrunning them.
Australia would have to mobilise just to survive, and that would suck.

how would any greater Asian war start with a POD 3 years out?
 
I'd think a greater Asian war which after running out of hi-tech weapons in the first few months/campaigns reverts to 'peoples war' with human waves of light infantry. Countries/regions not involved would have to struggle to keep tens/hundreds of millions of refugees from overrunning them.
Australia would have to mobilise just to survive, and that would suck.

Other then such a war being implausible with a POD no earlier then 3 years ago I did say no massive disasters....
 
Did I misinterpret the question, does the dystopia have to exist now, after 3 years?

As for a great Asian war, apparently (out of the mouths of several uni lecturers/experts) the Communist govt of China stakes a lot of its legitimacy on sustained, rapid economic growth and without such growth fears major political upheavals. So a worsening of the current recession may provide a spark for war, lashing out like Argentina in 1982 and Iraq in 1990. If history has taught us one or two things it is that war is shit, and shit happens.

While this would be a disaster for those concerned it wouldn't be for me, just a slide into a dystopic existence.
 
In the past three years? The easiest way is through natural means; either disease or natural disasters.

Disease being ruled out, there's still the Yellowstone Super-Volcano Nuclear Autumn scenario, but that's probably struck out by the spirit of the OP rather than the letter.

I'd say? Peak Oil. Maybe some sort of hyper-isolationist takes over Saudi Arabia and stops exporting?
 
wtf is up with ppl on bashing the bush administration!? its really beginning to get on my damn nerves!

i digress, the most dystopic TL is a massive tie between...



OTL & TL-191

in all seriousness
 
How about something SARS or Avian Bird Flu linked?

But that still violates the OP.

Now , if this is about getting a dystopic world within two centuries of 2006 , its far more doable.

Here's an idea : Pratical Genetic Engineering of humans suceeds wildly by the mid 21st centuries . Anyone who can afford to do so are out getting enhancements . Unfortunately , in the past 50 years , middle classes in many parts of the World have shrunk dramatically . Enhancements are hence only limited to the rich given the prohibitive cost of Genetic Engineering.

During this time , a Bio Tech company created by a biology PHD Graduate from MIT who did not kill himself as a 16 year old teenager in 2006 monopolizes the Genetic Enhancement Industry much as Microsoft does with computers today, only without an Apple to counterwieght it.

As a result , Genetic Engineering prices DOES not fall within a generation. Soon after , global warming and massive climatical upheavals lead to a further polarisation of the Rich and Poor. The flooding of Mumbai and Shanghai in 2074 triggered a global depression wiping out the Chinese and Indian Middle classes, as well as that in the rest of Asia and even the whole world. During these two decades, only Children of the rich can afford enhancements , say about 1-2 % of the Global Population.

As a result , sucess becomes more and more determined by birth - children of the rich and intelligent are likely to have their intellect, beauty and physique enhanced , making them more sucessful in life, along with their advantaged background.

Global Politics has shrunked into how American politics might look like if we had 8 terms of G.W. Bush policies and politics. As a result , nothing is done to remedy this intellectual inequity. Social mobility almost becomes non existent , and society stratifies into a permemant airstocracy.

After several Climatical wars, the World accidentally colaces into a few Super States, from the USAA ( United States of All America) , East Asian Union , India , EU ( Russia up to the Urals, with disputed borders with the Chinese ( East Asians ) along Siberia.

Plus , slightly smaller powers, like a smattering of African Blocks , Super Iran , Israel , Super Indonesia and Maybe the Southern Cone + Brazil and perhaps Japan . No small states are left.

In the chaos of the wars and climatical crisis , a Post-Industrial Neo Feudalism develops . The Invention of Agriculture skyscrapers makes cities self sufficient , while refugees increasingly are forced to swear some sort of binding contract with the Enhanced elites of the world . Since Humans don't like to share, the De Facto Global Aristocracy keeps prices of genetic enhancement deliberately high.

The Super States evolve into Despotic Monarchies or quasi- democratic Oglicarchies , or in some cases semi Juntaship dictatorships.

There you have it - a post apoclyptic , Cyberpunk Dystopia !
 
Ahh yes, I missed the bit about no super plague. How about just a small out break of SARS at the Hanoi 2006 APEC Ministerial Meeting. The flower of a generation of Asian and Pacific leaders lost! While creating a new, unstable Asia it also spurred substantial medical research etc
 
But that still violates the OP.

Now , if this is about getting a dystopic world within two centuries of 2006 , its far more doable.

Here's an idea : Pratical Genetic Engineering of humans suceeds wildly by the mid 21st centuries . Anyone who can afford to do so are out getting enhancements . Unfortunately , in the past 50 years , middle classes in many parts of the World have shrunk dramatically . Enhancements are hence only limited to the rich given the prohibitive cost of Genetic Engineering.

During this time , a Bio Tech company created by a biology PHD Graduate from MIT who did not kill himself as a 16 year old teenager in 2006 monopolizes the Genetic Enhancement Industry much as Microsoft does with computers today, only without an Apple to counterwieght it.

As a result , Genetic Engineering prices DOES not fall within a generation. Soon after , global warming and massive climatical upheavals lead to a further polarisation of the Rich and Poor. The flooding of Mumbai and Shanghai in 2074 triggered a global depression wiping out the Chinese and Indian Middle classes, as well as that in the rest of Asia and even the whole world. During these two decades, only Children of the rich can afford enhancements , say about 1-2 % of the Global Population.

As a result , sucess becomes more and more determined by birth - children of the rich and intelligent are likely to have their intellect, beauty and physique enhanced , making them more sucessful in life, along with their advantaged background.

Global Politics has shrunked into how American politics might look like if we had 8 terms of G.W. Bush policies and politics. As a result , nothing is done to remedy this intellectual inequity. Social mobility almost becomes non existent , and society stratifies into a permemant airstocracy.

After several Climatical wars, the World accidentally colaces into a few Super States, from the USAA ( United States of All America) , East Asian Union , India , EU ( Russia up to the Urals, with disputed borders with the Chinese ( East Asians ) along Siberia.

Plus , slightly smaller powers, like a smattering of African Blocks , Super Iran , Israel , Super Indonesia and Maybe the Southern Cone + Brazil and perhaps Japan . No small states are left.

In the chaos of the wars and climatical crisis , a Post-Industrial Neo Feudalism develops . The Invention of Agriculture skyscrapers makes cities self sufficient , while refugees increasingly are forced to swear some sort of binding contract with the Enhanced elites of the world . Since Humans don't like to share, the De Facto Global Aristocracy keeps prices of genetic enhancement deliberately high.

The Super States evolve into Despotic Monarchies or quasi- democratic Oglicarchies , or in some cases semi Juntaship dictatorships.

There you have it - a post apoclyptic , Cyberpunk Dystopia !

I like it! Begin your detailed TL and story immediately! I want it on my desk by Friday! :p:D:cool:
 
I would envision more of a near term approach. A series of natural disasters (gulf hurricanes and severe earthquakes in California and on the New Madrid fault) cripple the US energy supply, forcing rationing and a state of near martial law. The problem cascades worldwide as the US no longer has enough ports to bring in goods, especially oil.
 
Here are a few PODs that could certainly make things ugly for people in the ATL:

* General Pervez Musharaff is overthrown in Islamabad in December 2007, in the aftermath of the Benazir Bhutto assassination, allowing fundamentalist clerics access to nuclear weapons....

* "Strangelet" HADRON Disaster; on April 2008, subatomic particles cause a chain-reaction which simulates the Big Bang, setting forth the creation of either a small black-hole, a wormhole, et. al. wiping out most of France and Switzerland in the process...

* According to Steven Weber, a contributor to The Huffington Post (12/31/2007), the Internet was supposed to gain sentience in January 2008, with a warped idea of human behavior is based on the vast amount of porn, conspiracy theories, et al.

And no nuclear war, plague, or natural disasters involved!!!
 
wtf is up with ppl on bashing the bush administration!? its really beginning to get on my damn nerves!

i digress, the most dystopic TL is a massive tie between...



OTL & TL-191

in all seriousness
!!!!? I take it you have not read For All Time.
 
!!!!? I take it you have not read For All Time.

Yeah, I think FAT wins the all-time dystopic award. You lose track of how many places are destroyed by nuke, and how many nations develop nukes, and besides chew on this President Jim Jones, yes that Jim Jones and Bokassa, Emperor of France and importer of long pig.:eek:
 
wtf is up with ppl on bashing the bush administration!? its really beginning to get on my damn nerves!

Probably because the Bush administration is made up of the least popular people on the planet? That might be a factor.
 
Last edited:
Top