#Microblog Monday 213: The Future
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So I should begin by saying that I spent a chunk of the summer reading an “end of the world” trilogy (The Last Policeman — so good!), which thoroughly freaked me out. The world was ending. People were awful, making the end of the world even worse.
And then the Guardian ran a piece about the super wealthy preparing for this inevitable event: “The Event. That was their euphemism for the environmental collapse, social unrest, nuclear explosion, unstoppable virus, or Mr Robot hack that takes everything down.”
It’s less about the tech itself and more about predicting how humans will behave. It’s about people thinking how to continue to survive when the fragile social rules that govern are world are useless. The article (and that book series) will terrify you, but it will also make you think long and hard about how we’re treating each other in the here and now.
How do you think people will behave after a world-ending event? Will we bond together, or will all hell break loose?
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11 comments
Fascinating question. I think that people who already live their lives out of a sense of connection will honor those bonds that they see and feel — in other words, they will help others.
And people who live their lives from a sense of superiority or other disconnection will continue to live as though others are just and obstacle to get what they want. Which, as they will see, is ultimately folly. (insert Titanic metaphor here)
I think we’re in a form of that happening right now. While certain entities are intent on tearing us apart and pitting one human against another, there have been so many more of the unlikeliest people from the unlikeliest places who have risen up and come together to create bigger groups of “us”es and a lot fewer “thems”.
What Lori wrote. 🙂
My knee-jerk reaction is that all hell will break loose, but I think the answer is more complex. Even the nicest, most well-intentioned people are capable of horrendous acts, so I wonder if their base instincts will surface when faced with certain doom or survival at any cost. Likewise, I think even the most selfish can surprisingly muster up some humanity and risk all for another. So…hell break loose, yes, but who wreaks the havoc…we’ll have to wait and see. LOL!
Agreeing with all the above.
And not surprised the wealthy elite are preparing. My question to them is what happens when everyone else finds you? Are you ready for facing the mob?
My first thought was that all hell will break loose, as seems to be the case in a lot of situations over the past few years. But after reading comments above, I realize that while disasters seem to bring the worst out in some, others rise to the occasion.
Pretty sure all hell will break loose. I can’t see our society as a whole bonding together. I imagine mass hysteria and every man for himself type thinking.
I’m pretty pessimistic and think all hell will break loose. Reading dystopian novels always freaks me out. :/
I would like to think along the lines of Lori’s post, but I’m a little more pessimistic too. And yes, there’s been an influx of rich Americans buying property in NZ as a bolthole. I’m not xenophobic, but I’m not sure how I feel about that. I don’t imagine they would be welcoming to commoner Kiwis like me.
Maybe some of both-?
It’s really scary to think about.
This is what I liked about World War Z – the book, I haven’t seen the movie. Putting aside the gross zombie stuff, it was a fascinating thought experiment about just that – how people might react to a massive disaster, in this case set out like a massive world-wide horrifying epidemic disease. And not just about individual mettle/grit, but also about social organization, cultural attitudes and beliefs, as well as economic power.