Just wondering if you’d want to be around for the aftermath of a World War III or grand-scale bioterrorist attack? Would there be something worth living for?
Watching 99 red balloons go by…
- Jinx
Well, I think a lot of it depends on which one it is, and what the circumstances are.
Scenario 1- Massive nuclear holocaust. Civilization is in ruins. Cities and infrastructure are in ruins.
I may want to live beyond this. I would hope that I would see it coming enough to stockpile weapons and food for my loved ones.
Scenario 2- Bio Attack wipes out massive population, leaving behind buildings, equip, etc, but no people. See The Stand for details.
If I live, and if my loved ones live, this is my idea of paradise. A chance to carve out my kingdom. This would be great. If I live and my loved ones die… I would be sad, and would become a warlord until I managed to get more loved ones, if it were to be.
So, overall, yeah, I guess I would.
I’d want to survive. I’m a loner in general, so the people I’d care most about losing would be my family. As they are smart enough to take care of themselves, I don’t think I’d be paralysed with grief over the loss of faceless masses (especially the bigots and psychopaths).
I would mourn the passing of the light of civilisation from our grasp yet again. I would try to preserve as much knowledge as I could and guard it with my life. With all of my books, I’d be the equivalent of a small monastic order without the biased collection and preservation rules. I’d take on as many disciples as I could, charge them with the preservation of knowledge in general, and try to salt away the knowledge of the past like good back bacon until society was again in a position to stagger towards the light.
Oh, and a great book about biological warfare is Earth Abides. It’s an unknown classic, the best armageddon book I’ve ever read.
My ideal survivor scenario -
A tailored virus kills all men, except for me, by some wild geneic fluke. Then I become a precious commodity for all the surviving women. I am sterile, so I won’t be able to propagate the species, but I’ll keep quiet about that.
Otherwise, I’d just as soon be a greasy spot on the sidewalk.
So sort of a Hell comes to Frogtown kind of scenario, only without the squalling infants? Ok.
Nuclear? I’m not sure that I’d want to survive, unless I was far enough away from the actual impact sites. Disease? Sure - being a bit of a loner anyway, it wouldn’t stress me out too much to be part of a small group of survivors - though I wouldn’t want to be the only survivor.
Honestly, this was a factor in our deciding to live where 10 ka-jillion tons of bedrock (in the form of Short Hill Mountain) are directly between us and Washington, DC.
Not a BIG factor, mind you. But it was discussed.
Well, you could keep quiet about it for a while, and have a hell of a time for as long as it lasts. . .but once these women (who are bound to be in a pissy mood due to circumstances, anyway) find out they’ve been duped, the death they would devise for you would make death by radiation sickness look like a spa weekend by comparison! 
Mephisto . . . beyond the Thunderdome! Hell yeah!
Seriously . . . I would want to survive the nuclear war, ecological disaster, comet strike, or whatever. Perhaps I could help build a better tomorrow for the children of my fellow survivors.
And I wouldn’t have to pay off those college loans . . .
It would depend on the partciular circumstances, of course, but I’m basically a survivor, so yes I’d like to be able to live as long as I could.
I think the nightmare scenario for me, however, would be an On The Beach kind of thing where the nuclear/bio holocaust happened in a faraway place and slowly poisoned the earth to death over months or years. If it’s gonna end, I’d rather have it end quick than have to think about it for an extended period of time.
Yes, I figure surviving some kind of world-shattering event is about my only chance to ever become emperor of the world.
Absolutely. If it turns out to be some kind of sci-fi inspired frontier type society that emerges, cool. If not, then there will still be plenty of ways to get killed quickly. Why not check it out first.
Nope, I have no desire to survive after a holocaust. It’s not a death wish or anything like that, but the fact that I am a creature of comforts. The idea of trying to live when civilization as I know it is destroyed rather frightens me. Yeah, I’m weak.
Ooooh, FallenAngel, you stole what I wanted to say. Except for the wimpy, “There will still be plenty of ways to get killed.” I’m using the more manly, “You can always die.”
I’m with you here. I like electricity, hot & cold running water, flush toilets, modern medicine, the internet, ect. If civilization got set back too far, I have no desire to live there.
But, if we were only set back say, a few decades, I’d like to be part of the rebuilding process.
A vain fantasy I have though, is a horrible disease or bio attack kind of thing that threatens to wipe out humanity. Turns out I’m one of only scant few with natural immunity. I get to go down in history as the savior of humanity. Woo hoo!
This is one of those primal debates on self image and your place in the universe.
If I matter, and make a difference to the world around me then of course, I’d wish to survive and continue to make a difference. If, OTOH, I am a zero net effect living being then why would it matter if I lived or died? I’ve no death wish but hey, we are talking about surviving some kind of planet wide holocaust.
I hate being alone, it makes me miserable. Were I a survivor amongst other very few survivors, I would struggle to my last breath to find others like me. And, live with them. I’m no Jeremiah Johnson.
Cartooniverse
I’d say yeah, because I know a lot about plants, both food and medicinals, and how to grow them, so could be of some use to survivors.
And, I’m endlessly curious, with a documentary photographer’s eye, so I’d want to photograph what happened, for history’s sake.
I’ve been waiting for years…perhaps our oil-centric society will see it come about…
I’d like to be around…I’m damn useful building and fixing things and have a room full of survival equipment.
I actually was pretty sad that the Millenium turned out to be a bust - I was prepared for the worst.
But it would be a tight decision which guitar to bring along.
Maybe if we wind up in a Fallout type world…
But seriously, I used to be in Scouts and I like camping so I can see myself surviving handily. Most of the people I care about are the same. Heck, a good friend of mine is a gun nut so I’ve even got that taken care of! I just have to work out how to do a post-nuclear trans-pacific journey to get him here.
Hell, no. Count me out.
But Derleth is right: EARTH ABIDES is the best (almost-)end-of-the-world book ever written. Why hasn’t someone made it into a movie? Writen about fifty years ago, it would take only the slightest bit of updating.