It’s the end of the world as we know it….

Yes, yes it’s been a while. I know. Never mind.

 

Recently, I’ve been thinking along the line of Sci-Fi. In particular the sort of scenario is:

 

Mankind has started tentatively expanding out into the solar system. An impending extinction (or near extinction) level event forces the timescale, meaning there are a limited number of habitats/stations (O’neal cylinder type things) available – say enough for 5 million people total.

So. You have space for 5 million people out of the entire human population. How would you choose who gets to go and who doesn’t. How would you avoid what I think seems to be a nearly inevitable authoritarian regime developing in the habitats afterwards. And what if the extinction event wasn’t so bad – what would the survivors on Earth do afterwards to pick up the pieces and how would they view those that left – conversely how would those that left view the survivors.

It raises some interesting questions around human nature.

For example – in the “selection” stage assuming political, religious, sexual etc outlooks very similar to today I could picture the following sort of well… criteria I suppose.

Disclaimer: THIS IN NO WAY REFLECTS MY OWN VIEWS – This is purely speculative

So.. with that out of the way I could see the following criteria for a “western world” selection for what is essentially a new “Ark”

• No genetic conditions or diseases or recessive carriers of same
• No “below average” IQ’s
• No learning difficulties
• No mental or physical disabilities(1)
• No Sterile/Impotent people(2)
• No Criminal records (3)

There are also more that could be extremely poorly viewed around sexuality and religious leanings as well, plus I reckon it would almost invariably become corrupted with people being bribed(4) and quite possibly end up as what is considered the “Elite” of society, despite the fact that it would likely then no include enough technicians, engineers, medical, teaching, labour, workers etc.

It could all be handwaved away, with skipping over it all with a bit of “They all lived happily ever after” in the habitats and fast-forwarding along to where a robust, functional society has evolved in the habitats, but honestly I can’t really see it happening smoothly or even easily.

After all. Can you imagine the chaos if the news got into the general population that there were only so many places available and the elite were the ones going – whether this was true or not hoo-boy…….. I can see societies ripping themselves apart over it…. Possibly to the point of self-destruction.

Could be an interesting mine of ideas. But at the same time – I’m not entirely sure I’d be comfortable writing about it. Though it could be the basis for an interesting background, especially if the extinction level event didn’t happen as badly as predicted – Maybe the planet killer asteroid’s course was misplotted and it misses or something along those lines. How would various societies rebuild themselves?

 

Food for thought certainly.

TTFN

Ady

 

 

 

 

1. Yes, I realise the irony of this one when you consider such people as Prof. Stephen Hawkins
2. If you’re looking to the future of the human race you’re going to need to think about well… breeding stock…
3. Already proven that you can’t live within the “Social Contract” of society
4. Though really…. What use would money be unless a similar economy is setup up on the habitats/arks