If anything ever went down in terms of collapse and society, I would think that the biggest concern would be my own neighbors in search of my stash.
No. 20410 - ZebusVampire - July 7th, 2012 - 12:19 AM
That's actually exactly what I think of. I have kind of pessimistic view of humanity in general. Basically watch the film Idiocracy, and that's what in a more serious manner I imagine happening. I mean, it just seems to me that such a huge proportion of the general public are just completely useless (Not to sound TOO self-sentered), they have no survival skills or instinct, most are not trained in any skill other than driving through McDonalds and watching Television. Let's not even go there on combat and tactics.
In a more realistic manner I don't so much shit will hit the fan, as a ruling class or non-morons will ascend and just control the other 90%. A much, much more dark version of the 1% bullshit you hear about in the United States. By then I also believe there will be enhanced robotics, so the future that I see because of monitoring technology will be some sort of bastardized combination of the properties Minority Report, Blade Runner, iRobot, In Time, and with some Terminator thrown in for good measure. That will be in the 'civilized' sectors, that is if governments can even maintain control, I reason that eventually control will be given over to large corporations that are privately owned, an Oligarchy. I would surmise the rest of the world being left in squalor in a Mad Max/Doomsday scenario.
The transition of course will be a hardcore cultural revolution similar to what China went through, but it will make it look like a cartoon tv special. Eventually mixed race people will be the majority, and not to be all Manson but I wouldn't be shocked if anyone of any specific race was hunted to extinction, if not breeded out already. In short, an Orwellian nightmare.
I'm not much of a tinfoil hat, regardless of what my post says, I just think that is the most likely collapse of society.
The one that I'm actually afraid of happening in my lifetime is just an accident. One lone wolf nutjob that somehow gets his hands on something like a manufactured super-virus, or a dirty/nuclear bomb of some time and detonates it, leading to a (very) short period of war between all of the heavy-hitters. Though honestly I think at this point we're all aware of the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction, so I would think it would be more like a conventional WW3, very similar to WW2 with most 1st world countries holding back nuclear weapons and relying on more conventional arms.
The other one I think could realistically happen is not from some purposeful attack but something like a real deal supervirus epidemic, something like the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina in the USA but multiple several dozen times over. A disaster that is just too big for the government to get a handle on fast enough. I think that just like we saw in New Orleans, people would very quickly revert to an every man for himself anarchy, and considering how many firearms are readily available here....it wouldn't end well.
When I indulge in those scenarios I always end-up picturing a massive technology fail scenario. Then start assessing what I would do for food/clothing/surviving winter.
Discussing this with some people around me made me realize just how out of touch a certain portion of the population is... They would have no idea how to grow food, hunt/trap for meat or butcher anything they would have caught. It made me sad to realize how many people don't even know the basics of their own continued survival.
No. 20412 - GoetIncubus - July 8th, 2012 - 1:55 AM
>>20411
It's a adaptation thing, I think - we've adapted to a new niche where our current environment doesn't require us to have these skills, and often doesn't support us being able to continually practise those skills as well - instead, we have the option of using social/work skills in a job to earn money which can buy us food. We're only out of touch because so many of us don't need to be in touch to continue our lives. Yeah, in a situation where all of our technology fails, many of us without those skills will die out - but then, it's a pretty unlikely event in the first place.
I generally think of society falling apart and rules no longer being enough to keep people in line. All hell breaks loose and the city/cities are no longer safe to live in.
That's when I figure it's just a bunch of people killing each other, and I get the fuck out of dodge back to the farm and do what I can to not die/protect it.
I generally think that the population is separated by too many degrees on the whole from what they eat, where it comes from, that kind of thing. I like to think growing up on the farm took away some of that, but even growing up in a farming community where you'd think people who aren't even on a farm would know what's what... but nope. The moment you get into a big city, most people are oblivious.
No. 20415 - ZebusVampire - July 9th, 2012 - 12:06 AM
I agree/disagree at the same time. In the same vein as the obligation I think citizens have to know proper care/use of firearms just to be responsible, in general people should have the skills to defend themselves and other, and fend for themselves. Why we don't teach such things in school is beyond me. I had the benefit of having an outdoorsman Dad (Eagle Scout/Order of the Arrow) who taught me to shoot and survive, as well as encouraging me to train in martial arts. Then of course I took my own initiative in learning other 'skills' like reading military manuals and other materials on everything from booby traps to lockpicking to counter sniping to explosives and poisons. It didn't take a supreme amount of time.
Sometimes I get a superiority complex when I look at the 'public' and how lazy/worthless they seem to be. Trust me, if shit hits the fan the prepared will like mentioned, get the hell out of dodge, while the rest kill each other and reset the environment for the rest of us.
"The Gene Pool really needs a healthy dose of Chlorine"
>>20415
Yes, the public has to display a certain amount of responsibility to achieve/obtain certain rights and objects. But what I'm getting at is that I'm not sure they would maintain those responsibilities if they no longer felt the need to.
I think the problem with a lot of rules is that they only work so long as people believe that they should be/will be enforced or followed. What happens when you take away the will or need to enforce those rules? What happens when people slowly come to realize that there are no longer any immediate consequences (if any at all) stopping them from doing whatever the hell they feel like doing?
Plenty of people have the skills needed to defend themselves, yes, and many people currently exercise caution with some of the more dangerous things they know how to do/could be capable of doing. I'm more worried about what happens when people no longer care to be careful, and how that effects the world after.
>>20420
Sadly you don't have to worry about it. It's already here. I feel like I'm sounding like such a pretentious douche in this thread, but my faith in humanity score is at an all time low. Most of the people I see just float through life just consuming resources without contributing anything to well...anything.
Many of the problems we face as a world society are reprecussions of a lethargic, "whatever" attitude. I know there are international posters here, but it is especially bad in the United States. We worship technology and the dollar. No need to hunt for food when there's a drive through every 100 feet in every city. I could elaborate but you get the point.
Really in a Shit-Hits-The-Fan scenario I'd be hardly concerned at all unless I encountered a mob. Most people to me are no more a threat than childern.
>>20422
I don't know, I think that's a dangerous assumption. Maybe people aren't dangerous now, but they can easily be dangerous when something finally threatens them directly.
For now, it's easy to be absent and to let someone else handle it. I don't disagree with how people are, especially in North America. It's VERY easy to just coast along and not get involved in any deep kind of manner. To just let shit happen and pretend that life doesn't go beyond your little circles of friends and consumption. But it's so easy because right now, no one really is force to go beyond that, or at least so I believe. As soon as that pressure is on, I'm pretty sure a lot of people would become very dangerous very quick, ESPECIALLY if they have never tested their limits physically and morally. They lack appreciation for what they have, feeling they have nothing; but I think the most dangerous people are those who feel they have nothing to lose.
>>20423
I can see how that makes sense, but I'm perhaps over confident in my ability to survive. It's pretty widely held adage in most forms of combat that nothing is more dangerous than a novice, because of how unpredictable they are.
