Worst case survival scenario

Scenario:-

The world has been hit by a cataclysmic event.

Of the worlds population only 6.5million have survived spread across the world.
Of this 6.5 million 55% are under 18.

The governments around the world have stated that repopulation of the world has to begin immediatly and all those who are able to have children must go forth and start repopulation.

Obviously this now has morale issues.

however specsis survival is number 1 priority.

In this scenario what do you think is acceptable? whilst also bearing in mind that specsis survival is number 1 priority.

Do you think it is possible that human moral standards would lower to enable repopulation?

Do you think any Government legislation covers this subject and repopulation after a cataclysmic event?

Would our Animal insticts suppressed by years of social hierachy reappear?

how long would it take before law and order were brought back?

Obviously we will all have personal views on society as it is now...However in diffrent circumstances could you encourage people to repopulate the earth?

What age limits would we be able to deal with coherently as a race of intellignet beings?

Personally i find this subject hard to broach but hey i think it is worth disscussing.

IMHO i think that regulations would have to state that law as it stands now would be diffrent not nessacerily to my beliefs however i could see a government allowing people of the same age to repopulate.

this is a very sensitive subject and please treat this with respect as i feel this is a valid discussion.

I've tried to put this in the best way i can.

Thinking about this maybe us here on ATS could put together some survival and ground rules together!

There are enough of us to decide upon a meeting place after any event were we can sort out our own future....

Just a thought

First of all, if that level of cataclysmic event ever occurred - government would cease to exist as we know it and the ability to communicate such an edict would never reach the survivors even if some branch of government did survive and remain functional.

We would likely return to our agrarian roots and our innate instinct to survive would take over. There would likely be chaos and anarchy as people lacking the survival skills would attempt to take advantage of those who did.

Ultimately we would segregate into almost tribe-like units working together to provide for survival and protection. Ultimately men and women would pair off and procreate - it is in our nature to do so.

Please never lose sight of the fact that humans are, after all, still just animals.

This post sounds like your trying to explore some sort of dream or fantasy to me.......!

If the "cataclysmic" event that you describe had occoured and only 6.5m people were left alive out of the current global population then IMO this would pretty much be an ELE......!

In the case of an ELE.....do what the f**k you want because there ain't gonna be any one around to stop you....!

I suggest go back to your fantasy idea and stop trying to draw members here into inappropriate procreative suggestions.....

MR

reply to post by kozmo


My sentiments exactly. Initially, we'd be driven by the instinct to survive. After a period of "stabilization", the instinct to procreate would take priority. The OP, in a way, implies that repopulation would be a difficult feat to accomplish. I postulate the opposite. Human kind has the innate ability to reproduce like mice in a corn field. Well, not exactly, but relatively quickly in the whole scheme of things, especially if we're starting with a base population of 6.5 million people.

Of course, the pace at which the species could return to current population levels, is entirely dependent on the nature of the de-populating event. For instance, if it were a disease, the survivors' ability to reproduce may be affected. In a case where women were affected to a much greater extent than men, the repopulation period would take much longer. If, however, we're left with a base population with relatively equal numbers of males and females, human kind, IMO, would make quick work out of repopulating the planet.

Great thread!

Chances are everyone would be infertile, starving to death and trying to avoid the concentration camps to be frisky for any reason.

To be honest i stated in my original post that this subject is sensitive!

This is not a sick fantasy and is not one i or anyone should want to imahine!

I have a daughter of 2 and one on the way!

I take offence to the statement earlier!

I was provoking a stream of thought because i think that in the days, months, years after such said event life would be very different.

Regardless of what you may think i delibrately put in the figures to provoke a response because it is a subject that would become highly likely!

I would like to think that i would take my morales with me into such a future.

However if the population required teenagers to procreate then the elders would have to educate and encourage survival of the human race!

I dont however think it gives adults the right to abuse there new found trust

Well here I was hoping this was a Thread about survival and some ideas on what people would do if they survived an ELE... alas no
My thought would be that we would all be a little concerned with surviving the days as they go for a long while before there would be a concern about procreating
I would imagine this would be well after said event took place otherwise how else would they know how many people actually survived... this would take quite some time to establish I would imagine
I say give another species a chance to screw it up... we had ours

Honestly, I do not believe a rush to repopulate would even be on anyones mind. Dense populations would gravitate to certain regions around the world. Eventually communication with spread between these areas and the start of modernization will start all over again.

Perhaps this time we won't # it up.

AAC

[edit on 21-2-2008 by AnAbsoluteCreation]

So gravitational movement of population that is cool so localised government as an interim,

Repopulation would be high on the agenda because as stated earlier the chances of specisis survival would be slim.

Like stated earlier cancers and infertility could be a problem straight away however might only become a problem further down the line....

Modernisation would be important but with a declining population the future would look bleak!

anyway i was provoking thought. Obviously this is a difficult subject however i think it merited discussion

6.5m survivors would probably be an extinction scenario. Whatever wiped out the preceding 6 billion humans would be bad enough to eventually claim the rest in the coming weeks or years etc.

There'd be no government at all, even statehood would be abolished, and anarchy would take over. Technology would be sent back to the stone age. None of the basic things we take for granted today, let alone things that are needed to sustain any sort of rapid population growth.

Complete societal collapse, really. Moral issues would be a second thought, even a distant memory of the old formulated society. You only need to be stuck in a broken down train, or somewhere without power and you'll quickly see that people default to a 'me, me, me' mode.

If I were one of the 6.5m survivors, I'd want to be as far away from the rest as possible, because they'd be trying to take my stuff... Unless I could be Grand Emperor or something

Humanity would get by. Six and a half million people is a lot. From what I understand, human beings emerged from a mutant hominid population of only a few thousand or so on Africa, and we got along just fine.

In any case, the goal for a long time would simply be survival, and that has very little to do with how many people are in the total population, but rather the knowledge and skills of the people who are around. So there would be no pressing need to hurriedly repopulate the planet. What would be the advantage?

reply to post by ian990003100


6 million people is a damn good population. More will be born than die off so eventually the population will grow, rather than shrink. Remember, the fewer the people, the easier to conform/control them.

AAC

Fair points all of them

So i guess that everything we have learnt of the last millenia would have been for nothing and at the end of the day we are just animals who when push comes to shove will revert back to times we thought we had left so long ago...

Personally i would like to think that if 6.5million people survived and migrated to were the largest populace is then a leader would emerge and lead us back to great heights!

i think repopulation regardless would still be very important but obviously would have to be controlled!

The human body is able to adapt to all sorts of scenarios so i wouldnt automatically believe exticntion would happen!

I would promote repopulation from all however would set up some kind of elder council to ensure match making for a broad gene pool and would ensure like for like.

Obviously to broaden the gene pool the human specisis would have to behave animal like and maybe proquire many partners to ensure a larger gene pool without forgetting how far civilisation had come before the catastrophic events and would intend to get back to normal pocreativity once the population had hit 35mill +