How to Survive the Apocalypse

For fun this week I wrote six simple rules for surviving the apocalypse. Now this list is not for a specific type of apocalypse (Zombies, Natural Disaster, Disease, ECT…) but for the general rules that I have observed from Science Fiction stories and movies.

1. Go north, not south.  This is a common factor in most apocalyptic movies. Nothing likes the cold, whether it’s diseases or zombies. Remember to bring a coat!
2. Get lots and lots of Gas. The number conflict in most survival movies is that they run out of gas. Doesn’t matter so much what you’re driving but how much gas you can put in it.
3. Arm yourself, duh!  The biggest danger for the apocalypse is other survivors. Don’t let yourself go unarmed making it easy for people to take your supplies or maybe even eat you,(like in The Road)
4. No you can’t come sorry. Four people you don’t want to bring with you. Handicap people, Old people, Kids, and the sick. Trying to protect the weakest link is always a recipe for disaster. I know that sound cruel, but if you bring them you both will die. Also don’t travel with too many people.
5. Keep moving.  If you stop to hide, its enviable someone will find you because they will think to hide in the same place you would.
6. Don’t trust people you don’t know. If you see someone in trouble, sorry it’s the apocalypse, don’t help them. Why? It’s probably a trap and even it wasn’t you don’t want to bring attention to yourself. It’s not worth the risk, that person is probably going to die anyway.

 

So that my list. If I could say one thing about the surviving the apocalypse it would be that compassion gets you killed quicker than anything.

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Dumb or Faster?

I hear a lot people complaining about this generation being too involved with the internet.  That everyone is “plugged in” and never has time to be “in the moment.”  When people say this I usually reply by saying “what? Sorry I was just checking my Facebook.” Everyone who thinks were becoming isolated robots, whose relationships come down to how many times we comment about our friends on Facebook, needs to calm down. It’s a natural part of our human race becoming more efficient, as is older generation unwillingness to adjust. For example I cannot spell well. This is a result of years of spell check and never needing to know how to spell words longer than eight letters (I’ve used it twice since writing this.) Older people would say that were becoming dumber as a result of technology, but these are the same old people who ask me how to log on a computer or how to send an email. Most of what kids are learning today in schools are on the computer, because of that were becoming faster and more proficient year after year.

If you have been reading my blog, than you know I like the idea of Technological Singularity. It’s going to happen (I believe) it’s just a matter of time, and the best thing you can do is try to keep up with the changing times.

My Top Ten Science Fiction Worlds (I would want to live in)

Order does not mater

Children of Men- No more plane rides or movies being ruined by babies screaming for the entire duration! And I think it would be kind of cool to be part of the last generation alive (pretty selfish thought though.)

Star Wars – This is a no- brainer. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…. would be sweet; Light Sabers, the Force, speed of light ships taking you planet to planet, and blasters that are so much more complex than real guns but don’t work as well. The Star Wars universe would be without a doubt fun to live in regardless of the Empire controlling everything. I would love wearing robes all the time too. (If I was stuck in the prequel though, I would shoot myself in the face with a blaster.)

Inception – I hate how I can never remember my dreams, let alone control them. Inception among friend’s dreams would be a great practical joke too.

Wall E, The Space Station- So I know were supposed to think that sitting around in hovering chairs all day, being fat and have robots do everything for us is a bad thing, but something about that is appealing to me.

Fifth Element/ Total Recall – Space stations and exotic women (you know what I mean.)

The Garden Spider Robot– Robots can do anything that you want them to. Like The space station in wall- e, I don’t see this as a bad thing.

Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead- The zombies are stupid and slower than old people driving in the rain. This world would be easy to survive in and killing zombies has become part of the modern American dream.

The Matrix/Tron – You can do anything your heart desires to program.

Avatar (Pandora) – I love James Cameron but i didn’t like this movie. I’m not impressed by 3-D, in fact I hate special effects when it’s computer graphics. But that being said, I thought James has always made convincing worlds for his stories to take place in. Pandora is one of the most colorful and lively planet ever conceived.

And Water World- Seriously? No not seriously.

Spider Robots, we should trust them but we can’t.

M.C Sloane is a new science fiction writer to whom this blog is dedicated to. Her latest title The Garden Spider Robot, takes place in the not too distant future, where Spider Robots are used to fix things that are too small of a problem for the owners to do themselves. Then one day the Spider Robots take manners into their own hands. Due to advancements in their programming they are able to fix problems not just in their backyard but everywhere else. People try to shut them down but can’t and people begin to panic, but really all the Spider Robots are doing is fixing everything.

I enjoyed the story because I could relate with my computer. I’m constantly just clicking yes to my updates ( iTunes, anti-virus, web browser, ect) most the time I don’t even read them but once I notice that something on my computer has changed without my permission then I’m worried that something might have gone wrong, that something might have been deleted without me knowing. Most time I trust that whatever my computer is doing it is for the best but sometimes I feel betrayed when it acts on its own.

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Do you think like a scientist?

  

      I was watching Charlie Rose last week and his guest was Linda Randall, Harvard professor in theoretical physicist. At first I watched because she was an attractive intelligent woman, but then I found what she was talking about was very blog-able. She was promoting her new novel,  Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World (Harper Collins, 2011.) I haven’t read it (yet) but, what I got from the interview was two things: one is that uncertainty should be met with excitement (not fear) because not knowing gives you the opportunity to learn. Second is that if we applied the same logic and reasoning from science, to everyday life, making sense of life would become easier. I found these ideas apply to science fiction.

 

      As readers, viewers or any form of  audiences of science fiction, we need to take the strange (unusual, futuristic, alien …etc.) worlds that science fiction writers create and apply it to ourselves. This is why I love science fiction; the complicated realms that writers create are like complicated math problems (I failed psychics in high school) that we have to solve if we want to know what the writers are saying.

This post is pretty abstract. I hope I made myself clear, did I?

http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/123

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http://therambler.com/2011/04/19/stories-storytellers/science-fiction/