Mathocalypse Now

One of the rudest awakenings of all time is discovering how dependent I am on my beautiful calculator. Once you take that away from me, I'm practically helpless. This is the case in IB math, which has just the luck to be my hardest class. My teacher opposes extensive calculator use on principle, and I have my first quiz tomorrow, which I will take without the aid of a calculator. When confronted with that bleak scenario, I discovered to my utter shame that I couldn't remember how to multiply on paper (Give me a break, I haven't had to in at least 3 years, if not more). This is when I realized that should humanity ever be robbed of its technology, its computers, its internet, and its calculators, it would be followed with nothing short of apocalypse.

 I can see it now, the horror when all the computers across the world collapse. The desperate hunt for information, only computers and phones aren't working, and news networks must resort to ancient tv broadcasting methods. National governments assume the worst and begin blaming old enemies, starting to go to war, but stopping once they realize they don't have weapons or tactical capabilities. The panicked go to gather supplies, but credit cards don't work and no one can withdraw cash from their accounts. People resort to stealing to stay alive, and violently defend what is theirs. There's nothing anyone can do about this anarchy, though, as hospitals and law enforcement can't function properly without their technology. Cities become battle grounds with tribal territories marked in blood. There may be an exodus of people to the countryside, but all of us have grown accustomed to the luxuries provided by our technology cushioned existence, and cannot survive for long. Fields are plundered, and soon people rely on subsistence farming to eat. Then the harvest is bad, and more bloodshed ensues. Then plague strikes, but we don't have the technology to develop a cure. Those who are left are reduced to nothing more than primitive beings, armed with a rudimentary intellect and thirst for survival. During all this, the paranoid who built underground shelters in the case of nuclear war have the last laugh, but not even they can last long, as they did not prepare nearly enough supplies, and die alone and forgotten in their tomb-like havens.

At this point, the issue of man vs. technology can only have one outcome: destruction of mankind. My calculator is only the beginning of the end.