The Only Law

Apocalypticism is a belief that the end of the world is near and will come from a catastrophe, and while apocalypse is typically associated with religious eschatology, the science and technology sectors along with entities such as the Global Challenges Foundation have identified a number of plausible scenarios that might jeopardize life on earth. On that list of threats, all of which could trigger a slow or sudden breakdown of civilization, are solar storms, cosmic collisions, super-volcanoes, weapons of mass destruction, pandemics, artificial intelligence, geoengineering, climate change, and ecological collapse. Quite understandably, many of the people who acknowledge these threats are doing their best to brace for the worst.

Each year FEMA surveys the disaster “preparedness,” “resilience,” “attitudes,” and “behaviors” of American adults, and in 2020, 51% reported readiness for some type of disruption. For most that means an emergency plan and supplies to last several days, yet for others the readiness level is much higher. This latter cohort of preppers and survivalists (also called “doomers”) is rooted in self-reliance and emphasizes stockpiling supplies, acquiring medical and self-defense training, and gaining survival knowledge and skills. Doomers primarily prepare as individuals and family units, but others do so in enclaves like Survival Condo, a fifteen-story “geoscraper” located in rural Kansas that occupies what was once an underground missile silo.

Although research shows that in the immediate aftermath of a disaster people tend to join in “spontaneous prosocial helping behavior,” imagine the mathematically overdue eruption of the Yellowstone super-volcano, which by estimates would destroy two-thirds of the United States and kill five billion people worldwide. In what remained of the planet, I suspect a precept from N.K. Jemison’s novel The Stone Sky would apply: “Honor in safety, survival under threat. / Necessity is the only law.” On that broken earth, the not ready would not last.