Beyond Thunderdome

The Encyclopedia Foundation concerns itself with having all the knowledge of mankind, preserved for future need, in case civilization collapses. There are other reasons why such knowledge in such form would have benefit, but that is a large one.

It has been noticed by us that a large subset of people, principally in the Western World, have a fascination with “end times” or an “apocalypse” or some other type of societal collapse. It can be as little as a penchant for apocalyptic movies from “The Day After” to “28 Days Later” or it can become a hobby like “survivalism” (though “preparedness” is the kind word).

Most of those involved in “Preparedness” do not look far ahead, though they think they do. They look ahead to a collapse (or Zombie Apocalypse!) and they think that’s taking the long view, but they don’t look past their survival of it.

Consider a Survivalist. He has every bit of camping gear you can think of. Food stores for a year. Tools and fishing gear and guns and bow and arrows for when the bullets run out. He usually has at least a few books, but ones like “Improvised traps” or “Bow Hunting made EZ” (made up titles) or if he’s a bit more on the ball, “Five Acres and Independence” and stuff about animal husbandry, agriculture and canning.

All well and good. But in reading a blog article at the Long Now Foundation’s website, I had to smile when I saw that someone had wrote that these people almost seem to look forward to an apocalypse, like being “Mad Max” would be fun! I smiled because I know just what they mean!

Truth is, it would not be fun, it would be horrific. And truth is, pretty much any person you know who is into “Survivalism” or “Preparedness” is not going to have an easy time of it. Nor will his children. And definitely not his grandchildren.

Let us take the best case. The survivalist does not get killed in the initial catastrophe (nuclear war, massive plague, rise of the undead) and further, does not have his house over run and looted by the masses who failed to prepare, but are armed and desperate.

And let us further assume that he has seeds to plant, bows to hunt with, and that even more extraordinarily, he can actually do these things. Plant a crop. Raise cattle or even rabbits. And further, he can defend it against additional marauders that would still be out there.

So he is on a self-sufficient farm with his family. Now what?

Yeah, that’s right. Now what? Is that it? “One day son, you too will get to work all day in the fields, never knowing when you’ll be shot and ate, and we’ll find you a woman (who’s not a mutant!) so you can raise kids with no hopes and no future, too!”

For what they all forget is while hunting and gathering was probably a real blast when it was all we knew, and while plowing like a peasant with a yoke on your wife was probably something they were used to back in the day (well, the men got used to it!), most all thinking people wish a bit more. And 100% of the women do, as technology is the only reason they became free. And everyone would wish it much more if they ever were in a position to not have it!

No book or book set is going to get civilization back on track instantly. But it could manage a good start even in the first person’s lifetime, especially before all the leftover machines rust out. At the Encyclopedia Foundation, we are intending on preserving just those books. Books that would allow a future rebuilding, so that the survivalist’s great grandchildren have a better chance of visiting the moon, than they do of worshipping it!