What if Bitcoin Mining Stops?

I was wondering what happens if all bitcoin mining just stops. I read something on Quora about it, but it got me confused. Like, if we hit the 21 million bitcoin cap and all mining stops, is that the same as just pausing the current mining? Anyone got thoughts?

So, I gotta point out a flaw in that Quora answer... If all miners shut down, the mining difficulty wouldn’t just drop instantly. There’s that retarget every 2016 blocks, so it doesn’t just magically adjust. Plus, the difficulty can only change so much at a time. It’s coded that way. I remember posting the exact code line once, but yeah, too lazy to dig it up now. But you get the idea.

And also, think about this... If the internet goes down, miners can still communicate through other means, right? Like radio waves or something. Power issues are fixable too. The real threat to the whole system would be a complete lack of incentives for miners. That could mess things up big time, but how you interpret "lack of incentives" can vary. Still, I think we all agree on that.