You’re not… I find myself being so dissapointed in the news because I want big, large change. I am eagerly awaiting the next paradigm shift, the next “internet” to happen to humanity. I think it has to be cheap space travel or everyone having amazing 3D printers at home so that “Stuff” is no longer valuable.
Yes, but Asimov’s works also tell us about the human condition, our potential for good if we only embrace our desire for knowlege above greed (imo).
I think you’re very right. When you hear survivalists talk about why they need their 80 guns and tons of ammunition and food stocks for when it hits the fan, you can definitely see something in their eyes that says, they will be fine, and you won’t, because they don’t need society coddling them, and then the REAL men will rise to the top.
For me, the idea is exciting, be it a zombie apocalypse, or a plague scenario wherein I and a few loved ones are survivors, or whatever, because I love the idea of a chance to start over, to rebuild something myself, from the ground up, my way.
With the added benefits of being able to pick up the hardware to do it, since it’s just laying around.
If I had lived 150 years ago, I would have signed up for a land rush. The thought of building up a house, a compound, and maybe even a small town, from the ground up, appeals to be a LOT.
Even better is the idea of making myself king.
NONE of this is possible today. And space is no good for me, as while I am smartish, I’m not an engineer, or a scientist, or a pilot. And now I’m sterile, and fat, so I’m not going to the moon, or Mars.
But if it all falls apart, I can finally see if I can do what I have invisioned and played out so many times in the past in RPG’s and video games…
There is a movie with Sylvester Stallon? I think. They dump his ass on what’s basically a planet sized garbage dump. I must say the idea of being able to build MacGyver stuff out of a vast amount of free junk greatly appeals to my engineering side, my DIY side, and my cheap side.
This. When I was a Christian as a kid, this pretty much sums up my attitude; I longed for the end of the world constantly because it meant going to paradise. And there’s a large chunk of the American population that sees the Apocalypse as both imminent and desirable, and who push an agenda based on that attitude; from Jerry Falwell trying to get Reagan to start a nuclear war because he and his followers will get sucked up into Heaven before the nukes hit, to Christians supporting Israel because it keeps the Jews in the proper location for their prophesied Apocalyptic slaughter.
I don’t think having apocalyptic fantasies is dependent on religious or political beliefs, though those beliefs will absolutely affect the narrative and circumstances of the fantasy. Regardless of what form the narrative takes, I think most apocalyptic dreams have 3 main plot points in common.
It’s the end of a world in which we feel impotent. The imagined disaster immediately removes all of our competition which forces us to become a new person - the person we’ve always been destined to be but have never had the necessary “push” to get there. Cue the montage as we turn our flabby bodies into fit athletic creatures who hit the books in the abandoned library at night (by candlelight) to aquire the skills we need to thrive in the new world.
we become superheroes. In these fantasies we can hunt and find plentiful food. We can cook five star meals by the camp fire. If people in our party our wounded we’re the ones applying the stitches and fixing broken bones. When we discuss new systems of leadership all the members in the group look to us for guidance. When the group is threatened we’re the ones who stand up to the enemy and protect those in our charge. Sometimes we dispense justice, sometimes we convert those attacking us to our way of thinking so they join the group too. But in the end, when people in our group look to us it’s with awe and reverence. We’re Kings!
World Building. Ultimately our microcosm grows and becomes the new world order. Our thoughts and beliefs are now the mainstream position and the default moral standard for the entire world. With us as the defacto leader the new world is peaceful and just and everybody lives happily ever after!
That’s ultimately the draw. Apocalyptic thoughts are an entertaining way to imagine a world where we overcome our obstacles to rise to the level of hero and enjoy the spoils of our victory. It allows us to imagine a world where our views prove themselves to be right. The reality, I know, would be very very different but that wouldn’t be much of a fantasy would it?
We know your attitude regarding religion, Der Trihs, but admit it. Even as an atheist, you still want to shoot some zombies, don’t you?
Regardless of religion, I think there is something in human nature that attracts us to “The End of The World!” I’m not sure religion plays that much a part. We are still fascinated by mass extinction events in geology. Boom! dead dinosaurs… new ecology.
Religion really doesn’t have to play a part in this. Sarah Connor didn’t pray to God to save her from Arnold Schwazenegger, after all.
I forgot about overcoming hopeless odds! This is the best part of the apocolypse! The zombies and the terminators that keep on coming forcing us to cope with our humanity as we use our new found wits to conquer them all!
It’s like a video game - boom boom boom! Power up! And at the end, the princess is always in her castle!
Freedom; In the truest sense of the word. Assuming that I survive the initial issue, I have all the relevant skills to support myself. There is something very appealing about the idea of going out to a wild part of the country and just starting from the ground up without pesky fish and game, state police, and nit-picky ass rules about everything. While I love all the benefits of modern technology, I can do without them; and the true self determined freedom of the apocalypse scenario call s to that.
I’m indeed quite fascinated by apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic stories. I’ve no interest in settings where some hero fights his way to survival (Mad Max style, or zombie apo style, for instance). More in society crumbling (BBC’s Threads) or beginning to be rebuild (A canticle for Leibowitz) or relatively ordinary people facing the dire circumstances (the Road, already mentioned).
I don’t daydream about such an event, and have no fantasy of becoming some leader following an apocalyptic event. So, I don’t think it’s about picturing myself in such a scenario.
I don’t really know why I like those stories. A sense of doom is certainly a factor I enjoy in many novels, stories, movies, role-playing games, etc… (it might be individual or collective doom and obviously an universal apocalypse is the ultimate doom). I also tend to enjoy much more dark and sad stories than rosy ones.
That’s about everything I can think of. Not sure it helps.
I don’t think its about leadership with most people. Its about actual freedom, not the crap they feed us by our governments. We are not free at all… we cannot find a place of earth we like and just start building on it because ‘the state owns it’. We must buy it, and pay shitloads of money our entire life to have ‘freedom’… aka: a piece of land, a house, a car, food, etc… If we would decide: fuck it! im leaving. And we just pack our bags and start walking away without telling anyone, what happens? We get the government behind us and almost forcing us to our ‘home’ and asking why we just left. We can’t even decide to just walk on the planet without some sort of permission. A post-apocalyptic scenario apeals to me a lot in the sense that: there is no government to control us, there isnt an abundance of humans around us that creates an overwhelming feeling of suffocation, there are no laws that prevent us from anything. We are free to do whatever we want, wheter its walking in some direction we like or staying in an abandoned house and hunting or searching empty/raided malls and stores. I wouldnt care less if i was the leader or something, i have no intrest in controlling people… Humanity has been controlled for far too long by corrupt and wrong politicians and bureaucrats. Sorry for long post
note:18yr old that has been following the same routine and hates it. im an atheist, not a psychopath in whatever form Just need true freedom
For those of you who dream of this scenario, you seem to forget that unless the world is devoid of other people or you live way up in the mountains, there will be warlords and gangs of people who will cause you no end of trouble. Perhaps you can find a spot where there’s no one else for hundreds of miles around, but it’s more likely there will be murderous gangs to encounter.
The environmental movement also seems to have a fascination with the subject. There is something inherently thrilling in the idea that we live in unique times.
This. It’s an attractive fantasy of rugged individualism until a gang of brigands with more guns than you sells you into sex slavery or kills you for entertainment, in which case you would long for a stable government and less “Freedom”.
Just need true freedom