Evolution probably won’t weed out all diabetes. In my case, for instance, while I had a rather mild case of gestational diabetes, I was able to completely control it with diet. In a post-apocalyptic world, the normal human diet would have been sufficient to control that particular case of diabetes.
The problem is, I had a kid (despite modern birth control methods), and then developed the more severe case of diabetes that I have now. I might have been able to pop out half a dozen or more kids while still not very diabetic, and each of those kids might have carried the genes that affect one’s risk of getting diabetes. Evolution won’t work to eliminate a problem if the disease kicks in AFTER the disease-bearing person can procreate before getting sick and dying. So evolution won’t take care of things like age-related cataracts, for instance.
I was once a sharpshooter (NRA “Distinguished Expert”). I suspect I could retrain myself. However, I doubt whether a big supply of snipers would be required.
I can sail just about anything just about anywhere. Again, probably not a skill in high demand.
I remember reading investment advice: a sidebar column in Money Mag where several pundits were asked how they’d advise clients who’d just inherited $1M out of the blue (back in 1990s when $1M was still a fair pot of money.) Most gave the usual asset-class strategy advice, but Peter Lynch added a nice tidbit: take $10K, turn it into silver and gold coins – the cast off nasty ones, not collectors’ items – and bury it, as the last-ditch investment. These would be far more useful in a post-apocalypse economy than a diamond, since people would be able to value them easily, and you could get a loaf of bread or gallon of gas or whatever.
Well, I never inherited my $1M, but if I had my stash of coins, I’d dig it up and hie myself over to my brother in law’s rural property, which he could quickly turn into a fairly self-sufficient compound, plus the fact that he’s the kind of guy most folks don’t bother messing with. The trick would be getting there.
My computer programming skills, sharp as they are, wouldn’t amount to much. Nor am I a good negotiator. I’ve hunted, but I’d starve on what I could hunt – even back when there was more game (before the pheasants and partridge disappeared). Given proper direction, I can swing a hammer, so I could help with compound construction.
Oh yeah: if something’s broken, I can usually fix it. I’d probably end up as a tinker.
No, just out the gate. Why waste perfectly good ammo?
I can also play musical instruments and will be happy to get with the other musicians to play whatever folks want for the square dance or pot party or who knows what. Can’t do the chamber music, though, sorry.
I learn fast, so whatever needs to be done, just show me how, as long as it doesn’t take a young man’s strength or good knees.
Advanced first aid.
I could probably take out an appendix, if I had to. I can set broken bones and start IVs. I’m sure there would still be sterile supplies for a while. Then we’d figure it out.
I could also head up the Department of Common Sense, as the new goverment establishes itself.
I’m a pretty good cat rangler, too. Of course, we need pets and those slobbery dogs would have to work.
The only problem is, I’m old and would need to quickly teach my skills to someone younger.
If the Golden Girls cast away episode is right then I can employ the Rose Nylon method of sounding impressive boasting of survival skills I do not possess. This will rally the deadbeats to take care of what needs doing.
Or I could substitute TV with oral recaps of The Golden Girls and the like.
I can design and build low-tech, low-maintenance water supply and treatment structures. If there’s any left after the brewmasters get what they need, I’ll even share it with you guys!
Firefighter, EMT, worked on a farm for years, well versed in firearms.
I run a machine shop and know how to use tools a lot of people have never heard of. Forged some of our own too. The shop is a testament to my scrounging and hoarding skills.
I’ve had customers bring me a pile of parts in a box and ask ask us to fix it. So add me to the list of the guys working in the shop. Can we get the beer brewing guys to set up next door in the compound?
But you can make insulin, given some basic chemistry know-how, a lot of cow/pig pancreases, and a base to put it in. Probably not the greatest insulin in the world, but it might keep us pancreas-challenged people alive for a little bit longer.
So that’s my contribution: knowledge that insulin, unlike most modern drugs, can be made relatively easily. That, and I can cook well beyond the basics. I’m pretty sure I could figure out dry-cured sausages (good for preserving meat), yeasted bread, and some decent beer if I needed to.
Yes, I know. However, I somehow doubt that we’re going to have a surplus of cow/pig/sheep pancreases after the Hammerfall. The survivors would have to have a fairly large herd of whatever, and while of course the rest of the animal can be used as meat, it might be better to build up the herd for a while rather than killing one of them every month or so. I also think that we (or the other survivors) are going to have other calls on their time, and might not be willing to expend any time to keeping us diabetics alive. It all depends on how much wealth the community has in terms of animals and in time and other resources.
Eva and Victor Saxl managed to make insulin during WWII in Shanghai, China sufficient to keep a couple hundred diabetics alive until the end of the war.
A couple factors in their favor:
they had access to a medical reference describing techniques for producing insulin from animal pancreases
they had access to a laboratory
they had access to an ample supply of pancreas
they were able to utilize commercially produced insulin during their initial phase of experimentation in working out their techniques.
You will need a significant supply of animals. As noted, the animals could also be utilized for food, but this will not happen with lone survivors, you’ll need a substantial sized group to both maintain a flock/herd of animals and provide the resources/leisure time (aside from brute basic survival) to produce the insulin. It’s possible. It has, apparently, been done at least once.
I think that the community’s decision of whether to even attempt to make insulin would depend on how many diabetics are in the community, and how vital those diabetics are. I’m 56, I have other health problems, and I’m not fertile. While I have some useful skills, I would imagine that I don’t really have unique skills. IF there are other diabetics in the community, who are young and fertile and healthy apart from their diabetes, then I think that the community is more likely to decide to devote time and resources to make insulin. If the community is 10 people, and we have five goats, and I’m the only diabetic, then I’d say my chances of getting my insulin are pretty low. The community is going to want to build up the goat herd, the other folks are not going to want to use up a goat a month for me.
I chose goats because they are smarter than sheep, and because they can be used for meat, dairy, leather, and fiber. I would imagine that goat insulin works as well as any other.
I have a dreadful suspicion that more than one goat per month will be required. I don’t know how much insulin you can get out of a given animal pancreas.
In a group of 10 survivors I’m not sure they can save even one diabetic. A community of 1,000 might be able to support a few, provided they have a sufficiently large herd of animals. I also suspect it could be refined from hunted animals like deer.
Also, all the “home brew” insulin techniques seem to require a test group of rabbits or dogs or the like, which is an additional group of animals to keep alive.
Ex-SCA members of 20+ years so we’re actually in pretty good shape.
Between my wife and I we can do pretty much everything needed to stay alive. Provided the raw materials we can do everything from spin thread and make a needle, to built shelter and cook rough for 50+ people.
Neither of us are hunters but we know how to trap small animals and fish, including making the traps and fishing tackle from scratch. We have a fairly good idea of edible native plants.
Might not be terribly comfortable at first but pretty sure we could survive.
The reason humulin was invented was because, eventually, diabetics become desensitized to animal insulin, or they become allergic to a particular animal.
Humulin is made using E-coli that has the insulin producing gene inserted. Not something that could be done on a farm.
That said, any type IIs would be eating a healthy diet and working hard, so, for most, insulin wouldn’t be required.
I’m a mechanical engineer in pretty decent physical shape.
I have a few firearms and a lot of ammo. I have reloaded pistol ammo with my father for years. I’m a pretty good shot with shotguns, a decent shot with rifles, and an excellent shot with pistols.
I have quite a bit of fishing tackle and have done a lot of fishing.
I have a good set of hand tools and have worked with metal, wood, and some plastics to build shelter, furniture, and vehicles (can’t build a motor from scratch but I can fix one). I have played around with stirling engines before, but never built one from scratch. I have done small engine repair for weed eaters, lawn mowers, and things of that sort and done repairs on cars before. I can weld, but not that well.
I have extensive brewing and distilling knowledge and quite a bit of experience with brewing (very minor with distilling). Large amounts of beer, mead, cider, and wine and a very small amount of distilled spirits have left my house in the last few years, all of excellent quality.
I have some books on beekeeping and have looked into it a little, but not that much. I’m also not allergic to bees and willing to get stung a few times to get honey.
I have some chemistry experience and knowledge and a collection of practical chemistry books from a few decades ago. For that matter, I have textbooks for metallurgy, chemistry, wilderness survival, and a few other odds and ends (I doubt we are making jet engines anytime soon).
Bolding mine.
I think you unintentionally made my point. Evolution/natural selection/crass survivalism will eventually eliminate all diabetics. Wouldn’t it follow that diabetes would become incredibly rare, and unlikely to be passed on in that scenario? This should follow for many other maladies that we currently treat with “maintenance medication” wouldn’t it? Meds run dry, those people start to die off.
I’m only making this point because in the TV show “Revolution”, (a post-apocalyptic show) the “R” is dropped from the title during the intro momentarily, implying that a lack of all modern technology would somehow act to improve humankind on a more basic level.
My opinion, we’d be trading physical survivability for intellectual ability, and that’s not such a good thing long-term. But I do think that humans would eventually start to progress via natural selection towards a more physically fit bunch.
An interesting question might be whether those physical failings would re-manifest themselves in time? Once we re-establish modern medicine, would we start caring for those diabetics etc. again so that the issue is evidenced to be a basic flaw in our genetic code rather than an intermittent “irregularity” or “mutation” that can be evolved out of? Or would there be no diabetics to care for - them having all died off, unable to pass on the genes?
Well now this is a hijack. I’ll throw this out there, if anyone’s interested and responds, maybe we can start a different thread.
I am a pretty good shot with a rifle and shotgun, and know my way around a pistol.
I am really good at all kinds of navigation and orienteering. With GPS out, I can make a good scout for as long as my body holds up. If we are far out in the woods, I can get us to the nearest town without ever being in sight of a road.
I can also garden pretty well, and I have good camping skills.
My wife can cook and sew. She can make clothes from templates that she has.
I share my home with a fellow who stocks his pantry and freezers like he’s expecting an apocalypse any day now.( I’m not kidding, I had to institute a ‘turkey Cap’, - no more than three!)
Everyone else might be drinking their own urine, but we’ll still be eating roast turkey dinner at my place!
He’s not a survivalist just an odd duck!
It’s not a skill, I realize, but it ought to win me some friends, wouldn’t you think?
