One of the bigger writing projects I have on my hands is a shaggy dogish end of the world saga about two guys making a cross country road trip just a few days before a meteor kills everyone. I’m aiming for a realistic vision here without all the killer robots and zombies. Just a look at humanity when all hope has been totally lost. By and large most of the story is pretty fleshed out in my mind; though I have come up short of some of details that might make the world’s predicament a bit more believable/entertaining.
Say a meteor was approaching the Earth and was set to strike in a week. How do you envision people reacting? How would you react?
I personally think most people would choose to spend time with their families. I think the end of the world would be a lot more low key than people often make it out to be. I envision our cities might be filled with rampaging IDs; people doing what they’ve always wanted without fear of the consequences, but I think this would be the exception. I can’t imagine there would be very much looting or any riots. Why bother? You have seven days to live…are you really going to break into a Sears and start stealing kitchen appliances? Or even a big screen tv for that matter? And why would anyone but the most aggressive people waste time on violence?
Now I do envision people letting animals out of zoos, giant explosions, and people blowing up trucks filled with Ruderbacher Popcorn to replicate the ending scene to Real Genius, but nothing too malicious from the masses.
Personally? I’d spend time with my family, friends, and having some fun with my car and other vehicles. I’d probably find a nice resort with a pool and spa to make my own. Also, I think I’d probably start a bigass bon fire someplace
I would spend a large part of that time trying to figure out if the cataclysmic event being anticipated was, in fact, legitimate. Especially at first. I would spend a few days doing nothing but researching it until I was completely convinced that this was definitely the end of the world.
That’s some really interesting questions - what would the reaction of most people be, and what would MY reaction be. Seven days, eh? Well, I’ll tell you two things I’m NOT doing - going to work or paying my bills.
I think there would be any number of people who simply wouldn’t (can’t?) believe it. I have a friend who told me a story from his youth in Northern Ontario. He says a large spaceship came and hovered over the town he lived in for the entire afternoon. Everyone in town saw it. Most people weren’t looking at it or discussing it in any way - they decided they couldn’t deal with a large spaceship hanging over their town, so they just negated it in their brains.
Another whole bunch of people would spend the last week in church. Another bunch would take to the roads to try to get away from other people. The area where the meteor was to land would be abandoned in a bloody, riotous fashion (there would be no calm, orderly evacuation). Extraordinary circumstances create extraordinary actions - whether they would be good or bad, I really can’t guess.
I like to think I’d spend my last week doing things that I love to do, with people I love.
First off, to me, the end of the world is different from the end of humanity, or even the end of all life on earth. To me, the end of the world is some kind of cosmic catastrophe like the sun exploding and physically destroying the planet.
Now, the end of humanity? I can imagine all sorts of things: a particularly-bad plague, or too much pollution, or robots that rise up and kill us all. It might not even particularly damage the rest of life on earth.
I secretly suspect that the end of humanity will be due to some embarrassing mistake like accidentally turning the wrong valve at the sewage works, and everything is so crowded and cross-connected that klutzy failures just keep spreading.
I doubt you could go to a resort because who would be working? Maybe you could go on a road trip if debit cards would continue to work and self serve gas stations didn’t run out of gas too quickly. I’ve been to most places I’ve wanted to go within driving distance, except mainland Mexico, but if no one is working at the taco stands, what’s the point? Money would be worthless, you might be able to score some drugs, but prostitutes wouldn’t be working either, except for maybe crack whores. I’d probably just hang out here and drink a lot and do fun stuff. Which is not a whole lot different than what I usually do, only I’d be working at it a lot harder and the whole timescale would be drastically compressed. I’m thinking a week long BBQ at the beach. Hopefully electricity continues to run for the week (how long does the electricity keep going without anyone working at PG&E?) so that I can keep plenty of fatty meats and beer cold.
Maybe I’d go and squat at Oprah’s house and generally annoy her for a week.
it would certainly be a whole lot different If i alone was going to die in 7 days, because all goods and services would still be intact and I wouldn’t have to worry about that stupid concept called retirement.
I think it depends on how many days are left. If there were 1 or 2 days left, sure I’d spend all of that time with the family. If there were a week or two or maybe more, I just might go to work because no matter how much you love your family, spending so much time together all at once is going to drive all of you crazy.
Of course, this is assuming the meteor will totally destroy the Earth. If it wasn’t inevitable, I would probably loot for food (assuming I couldn’t buy it) and set up some sort of living center with a group of people (oh and gather guns for the upcoming zombie apocolypse.)
Oh, I’m right with you there. I DO, however, imagine a few jaded, workaholic inidividuals would go back back into the grind though, not knowing what else to do with themselves. My story has a few scattered taxi drivers and a bus driver that is picking up fares.
I’m thinking there might be a trickle down effect of terror from the NASA, to the Governement, to the people. If NASA were to become aware of a bigass life destroying meteor that was heading towards us, I imagine they would be the first to quit there jobs. Not taking NASA’s actions lightly, memebers of the government from all ranks would begind to abandon post and soon the rest of society follows as they see the status quo get shot to hell around them.
Do you really think people would react differently to Ground Zero than they would any other place? We’re talking about a meteor that’s sure to kill everyone. I would think if someone told me a meteor was going to crash into my backyard, instantly vaporizing me, and then shortly after eradicating all life on Earth, I wouldn’t find much of a point getting all stressed out about dying a minute or two before everyone else.
And then you’d smack yourself on the head for spending your last days on Earth with your nose in various newspapers, magazines, articles and newspapers instead of finding someone to make hot monkey love with .
Soldiers on a battlefield might think an announcement of IMPENDING DOOM might be an act of psychological warfare from their enemies and continue to fight.
I’m talking about the end of all life on Earth.
Who would be working to keep me out of a Resort? I figure I grab a brick someplace, wind up my pitch, and proceed to rule Kissimmee’s Gaylord Palms with an iron fist.
I have been wondering how people would aquire gas and how long elecritcity would continue to run. Or radio/tv stations for that matter.
Your take on money and drugs is interesting. I’ve already figured money would be reduced to toilet paper after the announcement of IMPENDING DOOM, but I never thought that drugs would become the final currency. That’s an interesting take.
If everyone on the planet knew that the end of the world was coming in 7 days I’d have serious doubts about there being much left on day 6. Civilization rests on people doing their jobs and who the hell would work their last week on Earth? People in this small town freaked the hell out last winter when a power line was hit.
Me, I’d gather my family and friends and drive to Montana to live out my last days in peaceful nature.
Given a week’s notice, and assuming that it is 100% guaranteed, things would fall apart almost immediately. People would stop going to work. All of the available food would be looted and no more would be on the way. After a few days, there would be people starving. The government would attempt to deploy the National Guard and whatever other resources it could call on to bring food to the starving, but that food would be stolen too. A good number of people would welcome the meteor as it will put an end to the pain of starving to death.
People would steal TVs and everything else. The meteor won’t make people any smarter. They will see an opportunity and take it, even though it makes no sense.
I think there would be lots of violence. Once someone starts something, others will follow and things will spiral out of control. I can kill people and rape people and get away with it? What’s to stop me? Oh, someone might shoot me. Big deal. I’m going to die in a few days anyway.
A lot of people would try to get out of the cities because of the violence but they’d get stuck in traffic or run out of gas (and there won’t be much more gas available). Now they’re away from home and have to break into houses to get food. So even those of us who mind our business and try to spend the last few days with our families will find ourselves pulled into the abyss.
It’s gonna suck because people don’t often act rationally, especially under extreme stress. Or maybe I’m just a pessimist.
I think people would actually be trying to get away from Ground Zero. There’s the intellectual knowledge that everyone everywhere is going to die, then there’s the fear in your gut when you find out that YOUR CITY is where the meteor is going to land.
I think that there probably would be a lot of people who do keep on going to work, too, because they just have nothing better to do.
I’m not one of those people. I would do what I do whenever I have a week off from work - work on the house. Pointless, yes, but it’s what I like to do.
I think people dont have enough faith in mankind i honestly dont think there would be that much riots. Who would loot food? Who would die starving? No one, who doenst have at least a week supply of food at there house? I honestly think mankind would be pretty calm.
I’m with Gus Gusterson. There would be nothing left by day three or four.
Everyone and their uncle will be out looking to settle grudges, or to simply spend time with families.
Me? I’d be reading and hiding in my apartment. But part of that is that the people I’d want to avenge myself on are either dead of old age, already, or several hundreds of miles away.
I agree with the violence part, especially rape. I figure I go buy/loot enough food, as well as enough guns/bullets, to keep my family from being vulnerable, then drive to some nice desolate hilltop and wait for it.
Montana’s more than one tank of gas away, so that won’t work.
I wonder how the Left Behind bunch would react? Being slammed by a meteor doesn’t seem all that rapturous to me…
Not sure, but you can bet that the last post on the SDMB would be somebody bitching how they probably would have screwed up the new Hobbit film anyway, so the world might as well end.
My luck, I would finally hit the Megabucks slot machine for $17 million here in Las Vegas - 12 seconds before the world implodes.
I would assume that there was at least some chance of survival, after all what is there to lose. Based on that I would try to gather all the food, guns, supplies, etc that I could and try to get it moved to some place where, assuming life for me and mine did go on, there would be some expectation of being able to scratch out a living afterwards.
A deep, dark cave sounds like a good place to wait out a month or so. Maybe somewhere in the south where the weather could be expected to be not so cold when the diaster induced winter came along.
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