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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 3939543" data-attributes="member: 19675">Just thinking like an Illithid for a second...Wouldn't that affect the taste?Point taken, but having lived there, I wouldn't exactly call Manhattan, KS highly populated.Its true that a lot of tech types live away from the cities, but I have to ask how much of a difference that will make.  I'd imagine that most of those guys are fairly well removed from the entry-level tiers of their professions.Generally speaking, people tend to specialize their skillsets to advance in their profession.  My Dad, an MD specialized in Allergy/Immunology is technically qualified to do all kinds of medical procedures...but I wouldn't trust him to do brain surgery or a boob job.  I'm a JD/MBA, but I've concentrated my skills in Entertainment/IP/Marketing...you don't want me handling your criminal case.An engineer who designs dynamos might have a vague recollection of the formulae & processes used to purify the metals and create the alloys, ceramics and plastics used in its construction, but could he come up with the info to rebuild the factories neccessary to make them (including the physical plant)?  Or where to find the raw materials to use in the factory if they managed to rebuild it?  Can they operate the oil well to get the petrochemicals refinery producing again?More to the point, would that engineer have the skillset to survive the collapse of civilization?  Hunting?  Gathering non-poisonous flora?  Agriculture?  Self-defense from predatory humans (and, given this is a fantasy world, humanoids & demihumans)?I mean, I was involved in Scouting for years, and the amount of wilderness/survival training I've retained into my adulthood wouldn't fill a thimble.Undoubtedly, there are scientists & engineers, etc., who have those kinds of skills, but I'd wager that they are few in number and widely dispersed. I have to question the phrase "It is common knowlege."  I suspect that your experiences in the sciences may have colored your perceptions.I know a ridiculous amount of stuff about art, literature & music.  I'm often surprised how little people know about those subjects- even about stuff from their own lifetime, much less stuff from ages past.In contrast, I know a little about forging iron into steel, steam engines, and the like...but I don't have the knowledge to find the iron to make into steel.  I don't have the knowledge about how to create a forge that can handle those kinds of temperatures.I know even less about an internal combustion engine.  Yeah, I know it requires mixing fuel & air and controlled explosions, but I know jack about cams, shafts, gearing and all the details neccessary to make one, much less make one work.Now, I used to have a nice multivolume science & technology encyclopedia...but I've long since gotten rid of it.  A bright individual who saved such a thing could be a very important man post-ELE.But the question is does that person survive long enough to make a difference?</blockquote>

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