[akersten]

> Assuming antibiotics still work in 20 years and we retain some basic surgical skills

And what happens when the antibiotics and sterile surgical implements run out, due to the incredible industrial machinery needed to produce them having disappeared? "1600's Welsh countryside but with modern medicine" doesn't quite play out without the corresponding modern supply chain, at least for long.

[throwaway892238]

You don't need industrial machinery to produce penicillin. You can sterilize equipment a variety of ways, such as with horseshoe crab blood, fire, alcohol. Now, would it work well for 7 billion people? Hell no. I'm hoping the apocalypse knocks out a significant chunk of the population, and that at that point we can focus on sustainable, simple living, rather than industrialization.

[imchillyb]

> You don't need industrial machinery to produce penicillin.

Sooo. How are you going to grow enough of that, while /not growing/ any other type of fungus, mold, bacteria, etc...

There's a reason modern medicine utilizes things like cleanrooms and laboratories, instead of y'know a farm and a barn.

[throwaway892238]

I can build you a sanitized laboratory with 16th century equipment. That's the great thing about how much knowledge we have now: we can do more with fewer things.