Putting Civilisation Back together

Most of the Threads here seem detailed about initial survival after a situation X. This is all very well but while you might have initially survived, do you really want to spend your life in an anarchic environment? Eating game and living in a tent? So my question is after the initial event and survival how would someone go about putting civilisation back together? Can one person even attempt something on this scale? Can civilisation be put back together?

(This all depends on the type of situation X, but take the premise that it was bad enough such that there is no goverment and large scale anarchy and disorder)

Originally posted by kaos1911
So my question is after the initial event and survival how would someone go about putting civilisation back together? Can one person even attempt something on this scale? Can civilisation be put back together?

After you eliminate all the corruption, class bias, artificial laws, ad infinitum, Why would you want to put it back together?

Barbarism is the natural state of mankind. . Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph.

-Rober E. Howard

its possible, it would require leadership and educated people willing to help. Lets say situation X happened 85% mortality rate, the first initial step would to find survivors.
-------Ergent
2. establish shelter (or base of operations)
3. collect supplies
--------Vital
4. know the professions of each individual in your band. (doctors, engineers)
5. create a small substaining community
---------Progressive
6. establish regional communication and transportation.
7. contact other survivors
8. Peaceful negotiations.
9. Expand
10. Divide and conquer all who threaten survival?

easier said than done.

I believe that you will have those survivors who are Patriots and would want to rebuild according to our Constitution, and you will have those who will want power and try to run the show, If you havent seen it watch the movie "The Postman" with Kevin Costner that is a realistic movie set in a post situation x America. Allthough I would have rebuilt the Marine Corps before the Post office. Tac109 out

reply to post by LLoyd45



Have to agree with you here, Lloyd - why would we want to put it back together? I think that everyone's needs would probably be quite different from what they are now, for one thing. Right now, it's important to have a car to drive to work, where you stay for 8 hours or more a day.

If things fell apart, that would not even be on the "to do" list. The primary objective would be for shelter, food and survival. Safety would be another issue, especially if there are only 4 to 5 people banded together; there would be marauding groups of folks looking for food, shelter, etc. There is safety in numbers, so if you had more like 25 to 30 people, they could all defend themselves much better. As a result, staying hidden may well be one of the most important things.
Of course, if there's a breakdown of our electrical grids, we would have no technology and wouldn't be able to put civilization back together the way it is now.
Great post OP, thanks!

reply to post by forestlady

Have to agree with you here, Lloyd - why would we want to put it back together?

Civilisation gave us the pyramids, medicine, a man on the moon, satellites, steamships to cross oceans, planes to span the globe.

On a more personal level take this example: you are in a small community and one of you gets sick, for example Cholera, curable if you have the drugs but what if you don't how can you make them?

Or there is the other example you survive, make a small community, live out your life, and raise kids. But where are your kids going to learn medicine, mechanics, electronics etc. Are you not going to try to improve the world for the next generation?


[edit on 29-1-2008 by kaos1911]

[edit on 29-1-2008 by kaos1911]

reply to post by kaos1911


A good starting point would be to look at pre-industrial revolution society, where most goods and services were provided by a network of cottage-industries. Communities specialised in a particular trade or service, whether agriculture in rural areas, coal/ore mining, metalworking, engineering etc. It would depend entirely on the skills-base of your local community as to where to start.

Of course this would depend entirely on the severity of life in a post-x society, but if the basics of adequate food, warmth and shelter can be provided for, I don't see why civilisation wuld revert automatically back to the stone-age...possible late medieval at the very worst, owing to the knowledge base aquired by mankind since then and held in libraries (books will far outlast the internet which can be terminated in an EMP strike) At the very worst I can imagine society re-starting at the point where the steam-age began.

Originally posted by kaos1911
reply to post by forestlady

 

Civilisation gave us the pyramids, medicine, a man on the moon, satellites, steamships to cross oceans, planes to span the globe.

Civilization has also given us the horror of nuclear bombs, global warfare, racial genocide, mass pollution, and exploitation of the masses. I consider none of these great boons to mankind.

On a more personal level take this example: you are in a small community and one of you gets sick, for example Cholera, curable if you have the drugs but what if you don't how can you make them?

People have lived on this planet for millions of years without hospitals, doctors, pharmacists, x-ray technicians, etc. Most of your pharmaceuticals come from naturally ocurring sources in the first place, and believe it or not, there's even individuals that know how to use them.

Or there is the other example you survive, make a small community, live out your life, and raise kids. But where are your kids going to learn medicine, mechanics, electronics etc. Are you not going to try to improve the world for the next generation?

First of all why is it necessary that they learn these things? Is the idea to re-create all the problems we are experiencing now from our so-called technology? What's wrong with trying to live in-step with nature rather than try to overpower it?

Have we become so sheep-like that we must have collective leaders to shepherd us? Whatever became of the sense of pride and accomplishment we obtained from being independent?

[edit on 29-1-2008 by kaos1911]

[edit on 29-1-2008 by kaos1911]

[edit on 1/29/08 by LLoyd45]

I have to go so this is just a quickie.

Basically for civilization to even begin you need a surplus of food. That means organized farming. Even large-scale organized hunting like the Native Americans' system is inadequate for building civilization because the ratio of the amount of time and energy spent on food verses the amount of food produced is too great.

Start by creating a plow and you will also want to domesticate some draft animals. Then go on and make some pottery for storage and language for record keeping. Once you get good enough at farming to have a surplus of food you can start to support activities that do not directly produce food. That is where the engineers and doctors and educators come from. Don't forget to keep track of the time of year so that you know what to plant and when to harvest.

Around this time, you are going to want to standardize arithmetic, astronomy, and language into some system that can be taught to the next generation.

You have reached the tipping point where no amount of intervention can stop the continual progression of humanity towards what we have in the modern world. The reason is that you finally have the food to feed the people who have the ability to read, write, and teach about all sorts of things not directly related to survival.

Jon

reply to post by citizen smith


I agree, but I think that people would establish some sort of government to manage resources, and for mutual protection.

The nature of the sheer scale of 20th century mass-production methods would enable machine-technology to be rapidly established in the post-x society. You just have to go visit any scrapyard or poke around any abandoned vehicles to get your hands on a ready-made supply of standardised replaceable parts such as nuts&bolts, screws. washers, tubing, gears and gearboxes...and a whole host of other fixtures and fittings to cobble together basic mechanisms with a fair degree of tolerance-fit between the parts.

This could enable such things as crude steam-powered DC generators for small neighbourhood distributed-electricity-grids that would make for rapid stabilisation and advancement of living standards to an acceptable level. Or the building of basic mechanical transport to enable transit links with other community-outposts