Zombies! discussion
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Would civilization survive a Near Extinction Event if so than what would it look like?
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I don't think it would be better. I think you'd end up with feuding warlords. The average person would be living a near slave-level existence, only surviving at the whim of such warlords and their henchmen.And, if someone did rebuild a small town that wasn't like that, I recall a line from an Eagles song:
"Call some place paradise, kiss it good bye."
I go back to my credo -- might makes right. That's why religions have "almighty" Gods.
Randy wrote: "I don't think it would be better. I think you'd end up with feuding warlords. The average person would be living a near slave-level existence, only surviving at the whim of such warlords and their ..."I also told my son that I didn't think that it would be better and that we'd likely have to deal with self appointed leaders aka bad guys with a good opportunity to become Kings.
I imagine that as time professed civilization would regress further and further back. I say this because it would have to deal with things like nuclear plants melting down, out of control forest fires, no government assistant programs like FEMA or nonprofit organization like the Red Cross to help them with fresh water/food/shelter.
Many books/movies have covered the fact that staying in cities can kill survivors through diseases like cholera outbreaks.
Ya know my answer to this is easy, check out Jeff Horton's titles about how a solar flare wipes out all our electronics and we are thrown back into the dark ages. Yes, I believe we would be thrown that far back. This world has become way too dependant on electronics and the new generation doesn't seem to have patience for things. Everything seems to have to be done quickly, right away, and almost, for them. The percentage of survivors would have to have some knowledge of survival in the outdoors. How to build, find and dig for water (and filter/boil it for drinking), hunting and growing food will be essential. And most of all defending these needs. Learning to fight will be extremely important cause there most likely be some one left that thinks they are above everyone else and have a greedy mind set. As for nuclear power plants, they would melt down and other industrial areas could break down and contaminate things so maybe the percentage left won't have any chance unless they find a spot in the world that hasn't been tainted by these places. So boat building might be something to learn as well.Anyway, definitely check out Horton's titles. I think he paints quite a realistic vision of the world thrown into these dark times. I highly recommend his titles.
As for mankind returning to farming, it might help survivors who know the locations of their local seed banks.Here is an article listing the top 15 world wide, but more are being created world wide every so often.
http://www.agprofessional.com/news/Up...
Heck Bill Gates is now getting in on the action
http://www.globalresearch.ca/doomsday...
I once read a post apocalypse book where the survivors came across a government created "Ark". In the ark they had seeds for simple crops, basic tools, and an illustration instruction book.
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First of all, we have social media. And many, many smartphones that are connected to that social media. It might take a while for credibility to arrive if suddenly our Facebook and twitter feeds are announcing the zombopocalypse, but with police and news feeds added to the mix, people would be alerted quickly.
Second - we have a LOT of zombie movies, and TV shows, and podcasts, and, of course - books. We all know to shoot for the head, right? It's pop culture now. Sure, there will be a few of the stunned who don't realize right away what's going on, but my guess is that people will lean towards overkill rather than underkill. People will isolate themselves, and keep connected to the aforementioned social media to find out symptoms etc.
Third - here in Canada we have a pretty common sense military. It's not as big as some, but they can be really effective if they want to be. And as much as I hate to admit it - not all officers and government officals are complete and utter morons. In fact, we've talked about the zombie apocalpse in Parliament... Anyway, I don't think it would take them weeks and weeks to mobilize, and I also don't think it would be practical for them to keep it a secret for too long. Nor would it be possible - people talk.
Fourth - I think essential services would be high on the priority list for protection and maintenance. Water, power, gas, natural gas and, yes, the internet. I would be surprised if they managed to keep it up in isolated areas, but I think they'll have people working in shifts in very well guarded facilities.
Fifth - I think we'd lose a lot of the fools in the first little while. Hald of my facebook friends would be gone, guranteed, because they don't have the sense God gave a gnat. I don't think they deserve to die, but I think it's likely. These are the people who can't deal with a hair dryer crisis, I don't think they're going to be able to cope with zombie hordes.
Sixth - I think we'll lose about 25% of our population, and then we'll learn how to deal with it. During WW2, countries had to learn to function effectively after a dramatic loss of population - which is why former "helpless housewives" were churning our bombs in the factories. People who don't have practical skills right now will learn them out of neccessity.
Seventh - I think in a crisis is when people start to surprise us. Yeah, I still totally think we'll lose some peole to sheer stupidity, but I think we'll also see a lot of people step up to the plate and do what needs to be done. They'll do it well, and they'll do it creatively, and they'll be effective and useful.
Eigth - I think mostly what we'll lose is the chaff. Right now we're a very bogged down society with an entertainment focus. We don't have to do the heavy lifting of life anymore just to survive, so we've all turned to figuring out ways to amuse ourselves. Instead, we're going to all be working, and working hard. We really will all have to develop new skills, because there isn't going to be a priority on McDonald's and WalMart. We're also bogged down in administration and paperwork. I think it'll still be around, but it's going to be lessened considerably.
Wow Elizabeth, you put a lot of thought into this. Thanks :-) I will reply later when I'm on my desktop. You have made some interesting points.
Mod
Hmm.....quite children, isn't that one of the signs (seals) that the apocalypse is near?!#1 False Prophets and false Christs (Matt 24:5). #2 Wars (Matt 24:6,7). #3 Famines (Matt 24:7 ). #4 Pestilence (Matt 24:7). #5 Great tribulation (Matt 24:21,22). #6 Comet Disturbance, Earthquakes (Matt 24:29). #7 Signs "When the lamb opened the 7th seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw 7 angels who stand before God and were given 7 Trumpets" (Matt 24:30).
#7 quite children and well behaved in-laws
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LOLIt's been over 30 minutes so we might have been "Left Behind" by now. :-)
On the car ride we got into a discussion about how mankind would rebuild a "Better" society in the aftermath of a Near Extinction Event (NEE) using only what is left and still functional in a post apocalypse world (what can I say, we are both science fiction readers).
We both agree that rebuilding an already existing city would in all likelihood be more taxing to the small amount of survivors than rebuilding a small town.
We also agreed that the survivors could not rely upon current means of travel, energy, technology and modern medicines for more the a decade tops. Because many of those items require maintenance, time and resources that would dry up and or make them unpractical past that time frame.
So that conversation got me thinking about starting this thread.
Take a few moments and ponder the questions below.
I have deliberately not named the NEE so that all kinds of NEE could be played around with.
So here are the general guidelines
*Taking what we (our society) currently have, and are currently using nation/ world wide as your starting point.
*How far back do you think our societies would fall? (Bronze age, stone age, iron age or none of the above provide your reasons)
* How quickly would we fall ( right a way, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years and so on).
* Where would you start to rebuild?
* Try not to stack your rebuild expert teams. I know it'd be much easier if we could pick our survival buddies like a fantasy football team. But think about this like only 9% of the worlds population survived, you might get lucky and have a neighbor or two that you know, but you're not likely to have a nuclear scientist around to keep the local nuclear plant from melting down, kind of thing.