Thoughts about Adaptability

Children have a natural instinct to try things. Then we learn what is acceptable and what isn’t. Does that mean that if a comet or asteroid smacked into Earth tomorrow, only the more adaptable of our children would survive? Oh, and maybe the survivalists would survive, for a while anyway. I’m not talking the gun-toting-want-to-kill-the-police kind of survivalists. I don’t think they would survive long. I’m talking about people who stock up on everything they might need in case something like a comet or asteroid hits the earth. Our survival in such a scenario depends on how flexible our thinking is. The child’s mind is the most flexible. That’s because society hasn’t had a chance to hem it in yet.

 Surviving an asteroid strike would also depend on location, the farther you are from ground zero; the better off you will be, unless the strike induces a volcanic reaction from the earth. Then your survival would also depend on how close you are to the various volcanoes of the world and the various fault lines. I’m not talking about how close you are to the strike, assuming you survive the strike, who among us would be able to survive mentally? What would be our reaction to such a thing? Would all of our infrastructure be gone? I’m not sure. I have read a little on the subject, but would there be any survivors? I think some of the animals might survive; they haven’t altered their basic instincts the way humankind seems to have done.

 Have we really done that though? Have we changed our nature from when we were hunter-gatherers? Isn’t our aggression towards each other just the same old primal instinct to keep our own resources to ourselves? Isn’t that why we have trouble getting humanitarian aid to other countries? I think it is.

 Of course, this is all just speculation, but the standard human is a selfish creature, basically, and that is where survival will work. The selfish gene survives. The question is would the average person know how to survive without our infrastructure? The earthquake in Haiti would argue not. Some people survived and picked up and moved on, but the majority seemed to wait until aid arrived, and here I am discussing the uninjured. Some went into the fields and got to work with the farming while a lot stayed in town waiting for aid. That’s why I think people in urban areas might be in trouble. I’m not sure I would be able to survive, as I am not a farmer. I might be able to grow potatoes though and I think I would soon learn how to barter. Money would be useless, we would return to a system of bartering to satisfy our needs. The barter system is probably the highest form of human development and we have lost it. Cooking would be my downfall; I am not much good at it. My older brother and sister would be better at that sort of thing than I would be.

 Perhaps we would form into family groups or clans as our ancestors did. That technique served well. People without families would have problems, unless they swore allegiance to a family that was willing to take them in. We’d take in my brother’s friend, if he asked; I am sure of that, simply because it would make sense. He knows construction. That could be a valuable commodity. Some families might band together, which is how the great clans of the Highlands in Scotland amassed power.