# Do you want to survive the apocalypse? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 9, 2014, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161 "2014-08-09T13:04:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/1 "2014-08-09T13:04:26Z")
The Earth is about to to hit by deadly space rays. A mysterious stranger tells you 99% of humanity will die. He asks you if you’d like to survive. If you say yes, you, your partner, or if you are single, your best friend, and your up to three of your children or nieces/nephews will safely timeskip 'til the danger is all past. The DSRs affect all populations equally, so to put it in perspective there’ll still be around 3 million Americans, and 12 million Chinese running about. What do you choose? Also, would it impact your choice if it was known that the surviving 1% all made the choice to survive. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/2 "2014-08-09T13:48:21Z")
I’m not on any medications that would go stale, and the one I am on would be easy to find. If I really need it at all. The grid would go down for sure, but a diesel or gas generator would keep me going for years. If not indefinitely. Plenty of diesel in storage tanks. Or go with LP for that matter. Plenty of that stored too, though I know little about the transfer process other than a truck fills my tank a few times a year. Eating canned and dried food would suck initially. I would have to relocate to do proper subsistence farming. I’d consider southern California. Though it might be too crowded/dangerous with others that are living hand to mouth. Not that electricity is really a necessity. Sure would be nice though. I would work on setting up solar/hydro power for my group. Shouldn’t take too long, and while I wouldn’t have the internet to figure it out, I do have some books on it. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/3 "2014-08-09T16:30:41Z")
I am too old to fear the apocalypse. I saw 1950 and most of you will see 2050 (or an apocalypse), and I would not trade places with any of you. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/4 "2014-08-09T18:13:14Z")
My money guy suggested we buy gold - like krugerrands - and keep them in a safe at home, to use when America collapsed. I told him, (1) there’s no reason gold will be worth anything, food and water will be, and (2) if gold _was_ still a medium of exchange, I’d need weapons to defend it, which didn’t appeal to me. My wife and I decided we’d rather not be bit players in “Mad Max - Arkansas” and preferred to die. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/5 "2014-08-09T18:48:13Z")
Sure, I want to survive. It would suck, but it’s not like being dead would be any better. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/6 "2014-08-09T19:46:10Z")
I just really, really like living. I like feeling the sun and breeze on my skin, I like breathing. And I always want to see what comes next. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/7 "2014-08-09T20:13:25Z")
I’ve no interest in surviving an apocalypse, and would just kill myself if I did anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/8 "2014-08-09T20:18:37Z")
I’m with **Der Trihs** on this. For me, my life is given meaning by my civilization. As a survivor, I’d be shoved behind a plough and worked to death. No books. No media. No parties. No Kit-Kat bars. (Egad!) I’m getting up in years anyway: they’d probably just decline to feed me, and I’ll die anyway. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/9 "2014-08-09T20:23:17Z")
> [@seal\_cleaner](#): > > My money guy suggested we buy gold - like krugerrands - and keep them in a safe at home, to use when America collapsed. I told him, (1) there’s no reason gold will be worth anything, food and water will be, and (2) if gold _was_ still a medium of exchange, I’d need weapons to defend it, which didn’t appeal to me. My wife and I decided we’d rather not be bit players in “Mad Max - Arkansas” and preferred to die. Can I have your stuff? I’m in N/W AR also & that makes lugging the stuff to my place a lot easier. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/10 "2014-08-09T20:29:42Z")
Got my guns, ammo, Spam and water. Good to go! Bring on the zombies! ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/11 "2014-08-09T20:31:57Z")
I’m game for being saved, especially since it sounds like this apocalypse might not be as bad as some options. Deadly space rays should leave a minimum of collateral damage compared to options like nuclear war or asteroid impact. Why would it be a negative to know the other survivors chose this too? Wouldn’t survivors tend to self-select for people who could cope with the apocalypse, making it a good thing? The only scenario I see being negative is if the alien is only asking assholes if they want to survive, but his statement about ratios of people suggests that he’s not. ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/12 "2014-08-09T20:43:08Z")
Yup. Want to live. Gonna need to repopulate the planet. There will be plenty of hot young vixens needing breeding. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/13 "2014-08-09T20:46:53Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > I just really, really like living. I like feeling the sun and breeze on my skin, I like breathing. And I always want to see what comes next. This is how I feel. I like existing. It’s fun. It’s exciting. It’s certainly a lot more interesting than the alternative. I don’t quite understand why random selection or self selection would make a difference - what negative traits would a self selected population have? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/14 "2014-08-09T21:29:07Z")
Sure, I’ll stick around. But I will keep my suicide pills with me at all times. I like feeling the sun and the breeze on my skin, but I don’t have a lot of tolerance for pain. Modern medicine and convenience provides a buffer against pain. I don’t know what kind of person I would be if I had to endure teeth aches and broken bones just by gritting my teeth. So my first task post-apocalypse would be to raid my local pharmacy and grab all the pain-killing drugs I could find. I’d also grab all the anti-histamines because I want to enjoy post-apocalyptic living without the fear of hives. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/15 "2014-08-09T22:13:12Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > Can I have your stuff? . . First come, first served. Alas, I don’t have very much that would be of any survival value. Lots of books. It’d be nice if they went to a good home. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/16 "2014-08-09T22:18:26Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > But I will keep my suicide pills with me at all times. You have suicide pills? What are they, and how did you get them? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/17 "2014-08-09T22:33:28Z")
My life would be hell without air conditioning, and certainly a 99 percent dip in population would destroy civilization and electrical production. I’ll check out with the 99 percent. Boy, the Koch Brothers and the other 1 percent are in a for an interesting post apocalyptic world, which probably involves manual labor. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/18 "2014-08-09T23:00:22Z")
An apocalypse like that? Sure, I’ll take my chances. It’d certainly be a lot more interesting than the one shown in The Road, or even post Global Thermonuclear War _(although Mad Max did look sort of fun in a brutal lawless kind of way)_ ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/19 "2014-08-09T23:13:42Z")
> [@toofs](#): > > Yup. Want to live. > > Gonna need to repopulate the planet. There will be plenty of hot young vixens needing breeding. But what if the gender ratio is still roughly 50% - 50%, or, if, there are significantly more men than women? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161/20 "2014-08-09T23:30:11Z")
It would depend on which 12 million Americans would live, and where they were. If they were representative of the total population, virtually all of them would be in cities and have almost no usable skills for creating food, clothing, shelter. They would probably have a difficult time finding even the people nearby, much less anyone else. A lot of people would die within the first year, I would presume, due to starvation, cholera, exposure, untreated medical conditions, and going crazy. It would be really fucked up. Maybe if I were younger, but I’m not capable of grueling physical labor any more. Still, no more traffic jams, that would be nice. Not worth sticking around for though. I think I’d pass. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-to-survive-the-apocalypse/695161.md?page=2)