zombies
Zombie movies have always intrigued me. Something that enrages a species to turn on itself. People don't do this because for the most part, people living in your society will fill a niche that may benifit you in some way. That and an established law enforcement will to some degree hold fear over the heads of the citizens.
But reading my latest book: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Succeed or Fail, zombie-like qualities aren't just things in movies. When resorces become scarce, it's not just the head hunters of the South Pacific that go hunting for people. It did happen in Easter Island once the forest was depleted and sailing to neighboring islands was no longer an option, lack of imports and a population that couldn't be supported by the amount of arable land on the small island. So shit hit the fan, people built fortresses for their only domesticated source of protein: chicken, meanwhile themselves living in wooden shacks. Death for many became imminent until enough were dead, dying or killed to support a smaller population.
Then, enter the Europeans who thought they'd help the resulting population by shipping half of them (1,500) off to guano mines in Peru. So you're either fighting for your life or shoveling shit for a living. Tough call.
But secluded islands aren't the only places cannabalism has occurred in the past. Of course there was the Donner Party in the 1840's who show proof of cannibalism. Women ganged up on the men. They always have the tighter bonds.
The area I'm reading about now is about the Pueblo and Anasazi from the areas that are today northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado, in the Chaco Valley and that good ol' Mesa Verde.
You know, the cliffdwellers.
Well, apparently as the forest was the Easter Islanders' limiting resource, so also did it seem to be for the Anasazi. What was once a Juniper and Pinyon forest, by 1170, became how you'd envision this area today: shrubby and dry. A drought right around this time also hit these people.
So no more trees and no more water, and no more land to cultivate because of increasing populations spells disaster. Inside houses are found smashed items along with pot-polished bones which assumes cannibalism. If that weren't enough evidence for you, there's feces also in the house with traces of human muscle tissue that is never present even if there is internal bleeding in the intestines. Along with these human remains were found headless mice in some human feces. Without pinyon nuts and deer for the regular sources of protein, people were resorting to almost anything. And in times of need, it's apparent that people will most definitely turn on each other.
In even more modern times, WWII, Russians resorted to the practice when secluded in Leningrad.
And what does it all come down to? Resources. The curious thing about human nature is that when there is an abundance of something, not a care in the world is given to its limitations; that is until its limits are visible.
A stupid example: you're over at a friend's. they offer you a beer. you graciously accept when you open the fridge to see a 24-pack waiting for you to grab at it.
Maybe you go over again the following week, the 24-pack's looking a bit meager, but the offer is still extended and you eagerly crack open another.
The next time you come around, you think you can just bust into that fridge and grab out the next party-time beer. Problem: one left. You think about it, but end up leaving it because your friend might be a little pissed when he goes to get their beer but its all gone. Not any time before that last beer did you really think deeply about the consequences of taking that next beer.
Then there's only one and not enough to go around.
If you're lucky, you've got a fistful of dollars and a means to get to a store.
Otherwise you're hosed and your friend gets to party without you.
I'm sure you can draw comparisons to the beer and slightly more life-giving resources.
Along with goods, space is another resource.
Being a cashier, I have a perfect example, although unfortunately, the rest of the populace might fail to grasp it simply because they don't have to deal with it.But here goes:
Every time I have an order, I'll scale the size of the order. Say it's a small order. I'll bag like I always do, but then I'll haphazardly throw bags into the cart because I know I only need to fit maybe 4 bags in the cart.
It's when you see a full belt that you carefully pack the bags together to allow for maximum use of the cart's volume. So when it comes to finishing time, you have all the heavy stuff on bottom and you can throw the eggs and bread on top that have been waiting patiently on the side.
But then there's the curveball. People with two orders who seemingly have one small order to begin with, you throw all their crap into their cart, 4 bags, get ready to yell "NEXT" when they inform you that they do, indeed, have another order that's even larger than the last.
FUCK. Now everything must be rearranged to accomodate the for the new groceries. Stuff pulled out, pushed around, held up while other stuff gets packed underneath.
It's a huge hassle.
But my point is that this too is human nature. Space is a resource that gets abused with all the rest.
When limitations aren't a forseeable factor, no caution is used.
But then something unforseen comes along and totally makes you rethink the way you were doing things. In the larger scale, we're talking things like drought or natural disasters, of course which momentarily open our eyes to the finite world that we live in.
It's kind of amazing that we actually do live in a society that denotes a small part of its conciousness to the thought of conservation and reusing resources. Although I'm fairly sure that it's not seen across the board. The only areas that it may be looked into, is where a profit might be extracted.
But as for now, fuel-economical cars might be the only conservative aspect about the oil industry, and this is only because it is a consumer demand. Even with harder to aquire oil, the hundreds of billions of dollars still being made isn't having anyone in power looking for other avenues of power for electricity, transportation, etc.
It's just like the beer. They'll wait til their last barrel til they start to ponder how else can they make their money. By then they'll be screwed.
They've spent their last dollar, they have no way to get to the store.
Let's just hope that they have some undiscovered wine lying around that may not have the same satisfying taste, but will still get the job done.
If not, everyone's in for a bad time.
It'll be the death of the party.
But reading my latest book: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Succeed or Fail, zombie-like qualities aren't just things in movies. When resorces become scarce, it's not just the head hunters of the South Pacific that go hunting for people. It did happen in Easter Island once the forest was depleted and sailing to neighboring islands was no longer an option, lack of imports and a population that couldn't be supported by the amount of arable land on the small island. So shit hit the fan, people built fortresses for their only domesticated source of protein: chicken, meanwhile themselves living in wooden shacks. Death for many became imminent until enough were dead, dying or killed to support a smaller population.
Then, enter the Europeans who thought they'd help the resulting population by shipping half of them (1,500) off to guano mines in Peru. So you're either fighting for your life or shoveling shit for a living. Tough call.
But secluded islands aren't the only places cannabalism has occurred in the past. Of course there was the Donner Party in the 1840's who show proof of cannibalism. Women ganged up on the men. They always have the tighter bonds.
The area I'm reading about now is about the Pueblo and Anasazi from the areas that are today northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado, in the Chaco Valley and that good ol' Mesa Verde.
You know, the cliffdwellers.
Well, apparently as the forest was the Easter Islanders' limiting resource, so also did it seem to be for the Anasazi. What was once a Juniper and Pinyon forest, by 1170, became how you'd envision this area today: shrubby and dry. A drought right around this time also hit these people.
So no more trees and no more water, and no more land to cultivate because of increasing populations spells disaster. Inside houses are found smashed items along with pot-polished bones which assumes cannibalism. If that weren't enough evidence for you, there's feces also in the house with traces of human muscle tissue that is never present even if there is internal bleeding in the intestines. Along with these human remains were found headless mice in some human feces. Without pinyon nuts and deer for the regular sources of protein, people were resorting to almost anything. And in times of need, it's apparent that people will most definitely turn on each other.
In even more modern times, WWII, Russians resorted to the practice when secluded in Leningrad.
And what does it all come down to? Resources. The curious thing about human nature is that when there is an abundance of something, not a care in the world is given to its limitations; that is until its limits are visible.
A stupid example: you're over at a friend's. they offer you a beer. you graciously accept when you open the fridge to see a 24-pack waiting for you to grab at it.
Maybe you go over again the following week, the 24-pack's looking a bit meager, but the offer is still extended and you eagerly crack open another.
The next time you come around, you think you can just bust into that fridge and grab out the next party-time beer. Problem: one left. You think about it, but end up leaving it because your friend might be a little pissed when he goes to get their beer but its all gone. Not any time before that last beer did you really think deeply about the consequences of taking that next beer.
Then there's only one and not enough to go around.
If you're lucky, you've got a fistful of dollars and a means to get to a store.
Otherwise you're hosed and your friend gets to party without you.
I'm sure you can draw comparisons to the beer and slightly more life-giving resources.
Along with goods, space is another resource.
Being a cashier, I have a perfect example, although unfortunately, the rest of the populace might fail to grasp it simply because they don't have to deal with it.But here goes:
Every time I have an order, I'll scale the size of the order. Say it's a small order. I'll bag like I always do, but then I'll haphazardly throw bags into the cart because I know I only need to fit maybe 4 bags in the cart.
It's when you see a full belt that you carefully pack the bags together to allow for maximum use of the cart's volume. So when it comes to finishing time, you have all the heavy stuff on bottom and you can throw the eggs and bread on top that have been waiting patiently on the side.
But then there's the curveball. People with two orders who seemingly have one small order to begin with, you throw all their crap into their cart, 4 bags, get ready to yell "NEXT" when they inform you that they do, indeed, have another order that's even larger than the last.
FUCK. Now everything must be rearranged to accomodate the for the new groceries. Stuff pulled out, pushed around, held up while other stuff gets packed underneath.
It's a huge hassle.
But my point is that this too is human nature. Space is a resource that gets abused with all the rest.
When limitations aren't a forseeable factor, no caution is used.
But then something unforseen comes along and totally makes you rethink the way you were doing things. In the larger scale, we're talking things like drought or natural disasters, of course which momentarily open our eyes to the finite world that we live in.
It's kind of amazing that we actually do live in a society that denotes a small part of its conciousness to the thought of conservation and reusing resources. Although I'm fairly sure that it's not seen across the board. The only areas that it may be looked into, is where a profit might be extracted.
But as for now, fuel-economical cars might be the only conservative aspect about the oil industry, and this is only because it is a consumer demand. Even with harder to aquire oil, the hundreds of billions of dollars still being made isn't having anyone in power looking for other avenues of power for electricity, transportation, etc.
It's just like the beer. They'll wait til their last barrel til they start to ponder how else can they make their money. By then they'll be screwed.
They've spent their last dollar, they have no way to get to the store.
Let's just hope that they have some undiscovered wine lying around that may not have the same satisfying taste, but will still get the job done.
If not, everyone's in for a bad time.
It'll be the death of the party.
6 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Dood, I just watched a special on the Sierra Nevada's and the treacherous time of the Donner Party crossing them. It said that they ate the dead bodies in their party when there was nothing left. Peeps that died from exposure from the cold. It said they and their descendants got a bad rap about the cannabalism when they were rescued. It mentioned nothing of like what you said that "women ganged up on the men." It said there were already like 9 or 10 dead peeps to have. Did that info board thingy say the women ganged up on the men? Crazy!
plus also when people have secured enough of the basics...food, water, shelter, and don't need to look for these things on a daily basis is when more civility and culture can be developed in societies, like art, education, invention, compassion. Not that those things can't be present in needy conditions, but generally, peeps need more security. Like Maslow says. It's interesting, for example though, how many times nomadic barbarians could take over or severely threaten civilized areas and nations...Rome, Greece, Europe, etc.
People do desperate things in desperate times. The Huns took over Rome because they were lacking food that Rome could provide.
And technology isn't always the limiting factor, the mayans held off the europeans for 200 years, even though they didn't have the food power like the Spanish.
Every society has a life cylce. A given area of land can only be utilized for so long. In cases of large cities, they require outside sources for food and trade. But if those alliances ever get severed, you're fucked. Like diamond said: imagine how long people would stick around in New York if there was no more oil coming into it. Subways and taxis aren't functioning, stores close. It's time to get the fuck out, and by whatever means.
I don't understand what the beginning of your second comment is trying to tell me, I don't remember saying anything against that. As for the "women/Donner" comment, I heard that from my professor who studies the region. But his information may have come from many years prior to that show you watched.
my second comment wasn't responding to anything in your post. just my random thoughts.
I think once people are beyond supplying themselves with their basic amenities, they look to increase their prestige. It becomes a one-up game of your peers. God, people are such assholes.
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