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MasterCaneman -> RE: I hate to be the bearer of bad news but.... (5/2/2013 12:38:18 AM)
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ORIGINAL: MAINEiacMISTRESS
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ORIGINAL: MasterCaneman
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ORIGINAL: DomKen
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ORIGINAL: MasterCaneman
News Flash! Life On Earth is dangerous! Nobody gets out alive!. I like to think that all the things that should have killed off the human race instead makes us stronger. Besides, there's like 7 billion of us here, nature is gonna have to really do some heavy lifting to get us all. We are the bipedal mammalian analogue to the cockroach.
There is pretty strong genetic evidence that our species was once reduced to perhaps less than 10k individuals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory
Another major catastrophe and we could easily go extinct. For instance if the yellowstone volcano goes it could kill most everyone in the central US and Canada and put enough dust into the air that there would be not enough sunlight or warmth to grow any crops for 5 to 10 years worldwide. There might be some survivors from something like that but it is entirely possible they'd be too scattered to save the species.
You are indeed correct. I'm aware of the Toba Event, as well as the Lesser Dryas, which is suspected of exterminating the Clovis people from North America 13K years ago. And if Yellowstone does go, the casualty list would be astronomical, as well. But remember that the first two occurred when the worldwide population of H. Sapiens was only in the neighborhood of some hundreds of thousands to perhaps a million.
While population density and the dependence on global networks to deliver food, medicine and fertilizer would be crippled or eliminated would result in a catastrophe of Biblical proportions, the sheer momentum of the numbers of people present today would ensure a sizable population of survivors. Even if the event killed off 75% of humanity, it would still leave over a billion to carry on. Even 90% would still leave 700 million or so, an ample genetic pool with which to carry on the species.
That's assuming they all know how to make FIRE without matches/lighters, and know how to hunt (assuming the game animals haven't perished too), forage for food without eating something poisonous, find clean water when it's all polluted by the disaster.
We've LOST a lot of the survival skills that took millions of years to learn, passed down from elder to younger, generation after generation.
This is why I say leave the last "natural" cultures alone to live free as they see fit instead of converting them to modern ways of life (to live in poverty, debt, and alcholism). We may NEED them and their survival skills someday.
It's funny you should mention that. In addition to being a kinky gentleman, I'm also what you'd call a "prepper" of sorts. Growing up in and serving in the military during the Cold War reinforced my belief that I'd need to know some of those very things. In high school (SLC,UT), we even had a class called "Utah Wildlife & Survival", which taught us teenage idiots how to make fire, find and purify water, etc, etc.
There are a host of folks who adhere to these practices today, in most every nation on Earth. And to be honest, a lot of those skills aren't that hard to learn, either. Hunting? I honestly believe it's prewired into our psyches. The only limitations are the available technology, and even after a disaster of that magnitude, there will still be a vast array of resources available. It's not that hard to sharpen a stick, and basic foraging, while not recommended for a beginner, isn't all that hard to do.
In some ways, the prepper movement is very similar to the D/s scene. There are various assignations used to describe the individuals level of commitment, expertise, and experience. These range from everyday folk who make sure they're prepared for the next regional disaster(bedroom players) to the hardcore survivalists with the fully stocked and fortified retreat with a bazillion rounds of ammo and ten years worth of dehydrated food (High Protocol 24/7).
And this isn't exclusively an American phenomenon. There are groups and individuals all around the world who subscribe to this philosophy. Yes, I belong to an online forum dedicated to that 'scene' as well. And like I am here, I fall somewhere in the middle of the pack in regards to skills/equipment/experience/motivation.
In summary, after an event like that, there will be people who will be able to do all those things and more. Granted, it would be akin to Mad Max in some ways (until the fuel stocks ran out), but I'm trying to make the point that we will survive (as a species, if not as a culture/civilization).
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