Ever feel like life is a video game?

[entirelyturbo]

Not in a good way either. Sometimes I feel like everything in my world is nothing but a meaningless image and the people I encounter nothing but a bunch of mindless AI drones.

It amazes me how people can just go through their lives working, sleeping, having so-called "fun" when all they're doing is wasting their money and endangering their health, and not wonder why. I run into people like this a lot at work, a lot at school, in grocery stores, when I'm out, etc. etc. No matter what they do to themselves to act different, they just blend in and lose their identity entirely.

It goes so far that when I drive down the road, sometimes it seems like everyone is driving a white Camry, all of them lined up in a grid going the same speed. I feel like I'm the only one who's different, blazing my own path through the mass of mediocrity and ambiguity.

Am I the best person in the world? Of course not. But if I may toot my own horn, I think I have a very individual and different view of this world, more so than most, influenced little or not at all by others.

I choose my friends very selectively, because I do not befriend one of these drones. There has to be a mutual recognition and respect for our unique and special opinions and beliefs. I frequently find that I do not associate with the most popular people, but I do associate with those that are intelligent and just choose to be themselves.

Why did I post this? Because I wonder if humanity is doomed as a species because of their unwillingness to expand their horizons. I profess to be a Christian, but I'm really going to put my faith to a challenge and see if I believe because I really do believe, or because I was just brought up in a Christian household.

Discuss, please. I actually want this to become a big thread where we put the best of our minds forward to have a meaningful and intelligent discussion. My mind needs some stimulation!

[THAWA]

I'm willing to bet that for every 10 people you see there is at least one person thinking exactly like you. You can't have a different or individual view of the world because no matter what you are doing nothing but copying others before you. Sure it's not a common view but it's sure not different. I think people need to stop trying to be so damn different all the time and segregate ourselves even more.

[evolutionmovement]

The majority is for all intents and purposes alike. Most are different in the same sense that one white '95 Camry has beige interior while another is gray and they both have different serial numbers. They were designed as societal maintenance - not advancers. The problem is that they've taken over the system and are trying to also be the advancers. Misapplication - like using a go-cart to haul construction equipment. One of the reasons for ancient Athen's long golden age (and the subsequent Roman empire which cribbed its ideas and combined it successfully with the militaristic attitude of the Spartans) was that they allocated resources to those who could best make use of it while not wasting on those that offer little chance of returning anything to society. What if we just shot criminals and losers instead of spending money on them and then allocate the freed-up resources to people who are trying to come up with revolutionary solutions to environmental problems, for instance? Oh, what the hell, you've read my book, suby! I'm repeating myself yet again. Of course, there's a Catch-22 to this if moral superiority is to be maintained and that's why the Evolution Movement in my novels fails. I purposely took my views to the extreme and took them down to demonstrate this, but that's more apparent in the sequel (more plugging ). Also, as the late Frank Zappa said, "People are people and they are basically bad."

Steve

[Yukonart]

Aldous Huxley comes to mind. . . .

Seriously, I have these thoughts a lot. Many times I question my own motives in life, only to find that one can't (in practical terms) spend every minute of every day in the persuit of improvment and advancement. Time MUST be taken for self-sustinence and reflection. Only by taking time for this can we be sure that the path we blaze is the best one.

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once and awhile, you could miss it."

I was actually driving to work from south Everett (about 12 miles) when I noticed myself sizing-up people in other cars and trucks. Not in a street racer way, but more in a perspective way. I would think to myself "I wonder where they're going.. . and why?" I'd look at their vehicles and make blatant attempts to discern what kinds of lives they lead. They say you can tell a lot about a person by what they drive, the condition it's in, and how they drive it. While there is much truth to that, it's not a very scientific method. Still, it makes a person wonder about some things.

1. In this day and age, many of us spend a lot of time behind the wheel. Some of us work to maximize enjoyment out of that time, many do not. . . . . is that sad?

2. Conversely, what is important to most people and why? Is it really important to me to have a sweet car? Would it really matter if I didn't? And why?

3. What do most people do with their free time? If being behind the wheel constitutes much of that time, then I MUST conclude that a good segment of the population spends this time sleeping.

4. Why is everyone in such a hurry? What are they trying to get to? Do they realize just how important some things are and aren't? Being in such a hurry, are they really rushing for something that will end up benefiting them?

5. Looking into fiction (say ST-TNG) is it really possible that humanity will ever evolve into a community where self-betterment will be the driving factor in our lives?

Granted, these are but a few of the things I think of, they are among the things I think of most often.

Individuality. How important is it? How much should one person try to be different than everyone else? At what point is the persuit of being different being just like everyone else?

[evolutionmovement]

Like all those alternative or goth kids back in high school - conformists in their non-conformity.

I think the key is to find your own path. Some people are meant to be individuals and others are not. There's nothing wrong with either - both types have their purpose. Like the saying, 'too many chiefs and not enough Indians', without conformists the individuals would go nowhere. There are people that serve no discernable positive purpose, but I believe them to be a minority not worth mentioning. I feel bad for people who slave their lives away at a job they hate, spending the rest of their time doing stuff they hate, or escaping from themselves otherwise. People spend too much emphasis on money. Take me for instance, I'm working towards ASE Certifications now as being a mechanic is what I want to do. Now I'm catching shit from people saying I'm too smart for that or whatever, but it's what I want to do, what I'm good at, and what I enjoy so how am I better than it when it seems I was made for it. Maybe I could make more money elsewhere in a more 'glamorous' job, but for what? Money isn't happiness, it helps a little, but not if it's all you have. Not to mention that there is money where I want to go. They need to teach people to find who they are in school and what they should do - not just make money and be miserable. I honestly wonder why there aren't more suicides.

"Cameron is so tight that if you stuck a lump of coal up his ass, in two weeks you would have a diamond."

Steve

[Yukonart]

Seriously. . . .

"Ferris Beuller's Day Off" should be REQUIRED viewing for all highschool students.

[BAC5.2]

I think I have a very individual and different view of this world, more so than most, influenced little or not at all by others

Why are you in school?

That's what gets me. We all like to think we are individuals and we'd all like to think we don't listen to anything that anyone says.

But here we all are, asking others for help on what to do with our cars. PURE influence. It doesn't stop there either. Family, friends, TV, News, a bad video you saw, a hot girl you thought about sleeping with.

Everything influences something, ignoring that is ignoring what is life. You piss in a stream, and kill a fish. Influence. Someone smokes to much crack and crashes into you. Influence. A disgruntled Taco Bell worker spits in your double decker taco supreme, and you get sick. Influence. Money. Influence.

EVERYTHING you do is a product of influence. From the clothes you wear, to the music you listen to, to the way you talk, the way you walk, your favorite beer, everything. Everything you do has a reason, and that reason is based on something that influenced a decision.

Cause and effect. The basic system that is life. Something happens because something made it happen.

[Legacy777]

A lot of good comments have been said. I tend to agree with most that has been said.

I myself tend not to want to conform to the masses, yet I feel like I "rebel" in a more subtle way.

I have no problem with variety of people out there, and you need that....you need leaders, you need followers, and people in between. I sure as hell wouldn't want a world with everyone like me.....we'd probably kill each other :p

Honestly.....you can learn a lot from humanity from the masses. I tend to like to just listen to conversations people have some times. It's really quite interesting to see how people interpret the world differently then you....even if it may be a distorted version in your eyes.

That is how you grow.....no one person knows everything.....and you can learn something from almost anyone.....regardless of how smart, conformist/non-conformist you think they are.

[G-reg]

You know like in computer solitaire....and sometimes you just can't win because your computer is a spiteful F-er...Yea that's like life sometimes…just kidding….well kinda.

[Brat4by4]

I set my cruise at 79 going through the mountains in Virginia on I-77. That felt like a video game going up those hills... just hands on the wheel and passing cars, trucks, vans left and right. Turbo is so fun in the mountains. Especially when they add that truck lane and no one is in it and you pass all the people riding side by side in the left lanes. Of course, it's the kind of video game where you can't hit reset

[entirelyturbo]

Everything influences something, ignoring that is ignoring what is life. You piss in a stream, and kill a fish. Influence. Someone smokes to much crack and crashes into you. Influence. A disgruntled Taco Bell worker spits in your double decker taco supreme, and you get sick. Influence. Money. Influence.

Phil makes a good point here. I should not have said that I am totally free of influence from the outside world; if I was, I would be entirely detached from the world. I would not be here speaking English, using my computer, talking with others about similar interests. I would have absolutely no friends whatsoever, and my life would be completely meaningless. So on one side of the spectrum, you have those who are completely without identity, who blend in with the crowd, and when everyone disperses, no one knows who they are. They serve no purpose to society. Then, on the other side, we have those who are so consumed by their own individuality that they exist entirely independently of the world. They do their own thing, they associate with no one, and at the end of the day, no one knows who they are. They too are totally meaningless to society.

So let me revise what I said: I am influenced to be different from most other people in this world. When I see some of these dumb clowns in 87 Honda Civics with parkbench wings and melon launchers, wearing clothes 5 sizes too big for them and wearing necklaces that could be used as whips, playing 50 Cent-P.I.M.P. through their tape players , I am influenced by them to be different from them. I could easily decide to conform to their obnoxious antics and be accepted and liked. But I choose to look down on them instead and be rejected by them, and that's fine with me, because I don't like their lifestyle. But going by what Phil said, they actually serve me a purpose. They encourage me to make my own way in life and to be different from them.

Of course, there are plenty of car guys in this world who take their hobby seriously, every one of you included. We are not the typical car guy: we enjoy cars that aren't exactly the most stylish, or the fastest, or the most reliable. But we have an attraction to them nonetheless, and so it's human nature that we congregate on this forum, discussing them, offering advice and opinions. So yes we do influence each other, we do wish for each other's approval of what we do, and we want everyone here to like us. Still though, we are different from the masses, because of the type of car we drive, because we take our cars much more seriously than many other enthusiasts, and because we form a much tighter community than most other types of forums. This place really is special, that's why many of us are on here so much

Take me for instance, I'm working towards ASE Certifications now as being a mechanic is what I want to do. Now I'm catching shit from people saying I'm too smart for that or whatever, but it's what I want to do, what I'm good at, and what I enjoy so how am I better than it when it seems I was made for it.

Here is a prime example of individuality within our own group. I personally think that Steve is very smart and could be doing a job where he has to work less and get paid more. Sure, money isn't everything, but I for one would be disheartened that someone is doing less work than me and getting paid more for it. But he doesn't see it that way. He really enjoys tearing cars apart and fixing them, and he just wants enough money to pay his bills and be comfortable. That's what he wants, and that's what he's gonna get. More power to ya Steve, I encourage you wholeheartedly to go for it.

You can't say someone like this serves no purpose either. I received most of my automotive education from guys just like Steve who had been shadetree mechanics for decades and were intrigued by my eagerness to learn about how cars work. I can't tell you how many guys 30-40 years old say that I am so different from the average "punk-ass kid" who knows everything and wants to do it his way, and they want to tell me everything they know because they know I'm actually willing to listen. This goes to prove Phil's point again.

So like I said, I revise my previous statement to one that does not say that I'm nonconformist and different from everybody else; I just have an exceptional interest in bettering myself and being who I really am, be that just like someone else or completely individualistic.

[Legacy777]

Michael, I do want to caution you. You typically don't have people that are one complete side and not the other. They will be a mix of conformity and non-conformity. I honestly think this is very healthy. A good balance in your life is important...in all things. I also want to make mention about your comment about them being meaningless to society.

That's a fairly harsh statement. Again...it may be directed towards the complete extremes in your example, which may be close to being true, but if you were able to take a step back, and look at everything, I don't think it would be a fair statement to say they are meaningless and won't affect the individuals they are in contact with during their life time.

You also seem to be focussing a lot of your comments on the automotive realm and individuals in it. This is fine, but be aware there are people outside this realm, and some people may be completely different outside that realm or may just appear to fit/conform to the stereotypical "ricer" yet be struggling with their own identity and actually are good people.

This leads to my next comment, you said:

But I choose to look down on them instead and be rejected by them, and that's fine with me, because I don't like their lifestyle.

Why do you look down on them? Is it simply because of how their car is or how they dress? I think you can not like their car style, or their clothes...but to blanketly say you don't like them because of what they drive or wear is a little harsh. See my comment above about an individual struggling with their own identity.

I've got a lot of different interests and a know a lot of different people in those varying interests. They are all different people, and I think in general are "good" people, and provide me with something I can learn about them, which in turn I can use in my life to relate to others as well as myself.

People are so very different....and the more you meet, and approach with an unbias opinion of them....the better off you are IMO.

This definitely wasn't meant to smack down any of your ideas or opinions.....just merely some additional thoughts to chew on.

[evolutionmovement]

Not that fixing cars and helping keep people free - something of even greater importance currently - isn't noble in and of itself, but working on cars is just part of the plan - it's not that I'm lazy or selling myself short. Hopefully I'll sell my writing (especially screenplays) and some near-future real estate ventures with my family will help out, too. Eventually I want to build custom cars, but not have to kill myself to make money from it. If I could manage to be a millionaire, I'd give most of it away and start a scholarship program for women who have been raped or abused. Maybe an art/design school for kids who's parents pay by income. In my spare time between project cars, I'd like to do more woodworking, work on some wooden speedboats, learn to sew for upholstering things, garden, learn to cook well, build the sculptures I've been planning for years, and probably a dozen other things. Those are the ultimate goals, but I am satisfied with most of my life as it is, why kill myself for more material things? I've been to Italy, Greece, and Egypt on my own, did well at an excellent design school until I had to leave due to outside factors, written some stuff, and plenty of other things. I could die tomorrow and have no regrets...possibly just one, but that can't be changed if I live to be 120 (and I hope not!).

Everyone has different things they'd be good at and I think the fact that most people never find it (and are miserable because of it) is that schools don't expose people to anything or even bother helping them find 'it'. All they teach people for is so a few can make money and the rest can be productive enough to contribute to the tax base. I'm just lucky in that I've never had to be encouraged to find my own way and try things while others due to environment or natural tendencies need more of a push.

Steve

[Tleg93]

It sounds like someone had a bad day. The truth, as I see it, is that most people like to think they're different in a better kind of way and that makes them the same as everyone else, as was said. I would say, prove that you're different and do something that people will look at and say "That guy had a spark of genius". Thoughts are fleeting and insubstantial, just thinking "I'm different" is pure vanity and actually sounds pretty pretentious but you should express what you feel in order to gain understanding.

As far as people behaving like drones it would help to realize that most of us live in the modern world where there's a one-size-fits-all mentality underpinning many things . One thing I've always wondered is why do people feel the need to express their uniqueness through cars? I think it's mostly insecurity that rules such thinking but not always, alot of times it's human curiosity. It's not always that one feels that one is better and unique; I think it's more that one hopes one is. The truth is that, in the big picture, we're more alike than different. The stuggle has always been to stand out from the crowd and to distinguish oneself from others. There's nothing implicitly wrong with wanting to be unique but it is at the root of most of the problems in the world today when you throw fear, anger, the struggle to survive and lust for power into the mix. I hope people keep on trying to be unique, even if it seems repetitive, otherwise, we will become stagnant like the Alphas, Betas, and Deltas in the Brave New World. It's a double edged sword, on the one hand it comples us as a species and on the other it can impede us as individuals. One thing is for sure, you can't judge what's inside by the outward appearance of things. Doing so will only get you that rude slap in the face you get when you start looking only on the surface. It can really bite you so beware.

Humanity has been around for quite a while now and a lot of things have been done and re-done there's no escaping that fact. Fortunately and unfortunately, we have a short attention span as a species and what old today becomes new again in few years.

I think that one big reason for conformity, norms and standards comes as an extension of natural selection. As an example, nature tends to weed out differences\mutations to simplify reproduction and adaptation. If everyone and everything was different imagine how difficult it would be to, say, communicate or even go buy a screw. Everything from manufactured goods to smoke has an underlying order to it. It's a balance between chaos and order but even the chaos has order.

[Tleg93]

Worrying is like a rocking chair,
It's something to do - but it doesn't get you anywhere.

Life is like an ARTICHOKE- you strip away a few YEARS, you peel off an ILLUSION
or two, and what remains is ESSENTIAL...... THE HEART

People will forget what you said.
People will forget what you did, but
People will never forget how you made them feel.

[Legacy777]

People will forget what you said.
People will forget what you did, but
People will never forget how you made them feel.

This really is true....even if it's deep down in themself....

[legacy92ej22t]

Damn Scott, that's a very profound statement. Did you come up with that or are you quoting someone?

I tend to think of myself as an onion, ya know, layers....









Oh and if you peel me I'll make you cry.

[Tleg93]

I'd like to claim ownership of that but, alas, it's a quote . I don't even remember who said it. It's just something that always stuck in my head, cuz it's true. Oh, I never got to say it before but my answer to the post topic is, yes, I've felt that life is a game, maybe not a video game, but a game nonetheless. It would be nice if life was like a video game.

1.) You'd get multiple lives. (and be able to pick up where you left off)
2.) You'd get codes and walkthroughs.
3.) You could get shot like a hundred times and just go grab a bottle of painkillers and a hemostat and you'd be patched right up.
4.) You wouldn't have to do certain things at work cuz you could just tell your boss you haven't "leveled up" enough.
5.) You could actually save your progress and just jump off a cliff or do something crazy to see what it's like and then simply re-load, all would be forgotten.
6.) There would be constant music playing in the background.
7.) You could drop all your stuff, import yourself back in and have twice what you had before.


On the downside, you could just be walking along and life would just lock up and you'd have to reset and start all over again, having to do the same thing over.

Just trying to throw a little humor in this dark discussion.

[Tleg93]

Damn Scott, that's a very profound statement. Did you come up with that or are you quoting someone?

I tend to think of myself as an onion, ya know, layers....









Oh and if you peel me I'll make you cry.

Do you make people's breath stink when they eat you?


Life is like an ice cream cone; if you don't eat it fast enough it'll melt all down your arm.

[Legacy777]

Do you make people's breath stink when they eat you?

I don't know if stink would be the word I would use....I could think of a few more colorful ones

[entirelyturbo]

This definitely wasn't meant to smack down any of your ideas or opinions.....just merely some additional thoughts to chew on.

Not taken that way. I wanted this to be a discussion and expressing of opinion, and that's exactly what's going on. I'm enjoying reading everyone's responses.

Michael, I do want to caution you. You typically don't have people that are one complete side and not the other. They will be a mix of conformity and non-conformity. I honestly think this is very healthy. A good balance in your life is important...in all things. I also want to make mention about your comment about them being meaningless to society.

That's a fairly harsh statement. Again...it may be directed towards the complete extremes in your example, which may be close to being true, but if you were able to take a step back, and look at everything, I don't think it would be a fair statement to say they are meaningless and won't affect the individuals they are in contact with during their life time.

I know it's a harsh statement, and I do mean it for the extreme examples. Most people at least serve some purpose at ONE point in their lives . I am not claiming myself that the world would be lost without me, I'm pretty much just a regular 20-year-old that works his ass off, loves cars, and wants to f*&k everything in a skirt . But I have not imposed any special needs over on society, I don't have 50 girls impregnated with no way of supporting them, I'm not in $20,000 worth of debt, and I don't try to screw everyone over just to get a little extra for myself. I know some people like this, unfortunately, and these people get on my nerves a bit.

You also seem to be focussing a lot of your comments on the automotive realm and individuals in it. This is fine, but be aware there are people outside this realm, and some people may be completely different outside that realm or may just appear to fit/conform to the stereotypical "ricer" yet be struggling with their own identity and actually are good people.

Understood. Peer pressure is an amazing thing. So many people do things that they would never do under any other circumstances just because their friends are watching. There are a lot of good people out there who are just mixing in with the wrong crowd, and eventually they will understand that.

Why do you look down on them? Is it simply because of how their car is or how they dress? I think you can not like their car style, or their clothes...but to blanketly say you don't like them because of what they drive or wear is a little harsh. See my comment above about an individual struggling with their own identity.

I look down on them because all too often, these people perfectly fit the stereotypes that they set examples of. Yeah, there are probably some guys out there who rice their cars out, dress like thugs, etc. that are probably intelligent, cool guys. But most of the time, they're dumb kids who have no idea what they're doing with their lives, and just follow in their buddies' footsteps because they have no identities of their own. And personally, I don't feel like hanging around them to find out which one they are, because their outward appearance drives them away from me. It's a sad part of human nature, but we will always quickly sum people up from our first impressions, namely outward appearance. It goes both ways too. I have just as many times mingled with someone who had a nice car or whatever, and looked like distinguished people who had some knowledge, only to start talking with them and learn they're ricers on the inside...

I'm also just using the car thing as an example. Whether you're into horseback riding, bungee-jumping, playing Pokemon games , whatever it is, there are people out there who take their hobby seriously, are very knowledgeable about it, and are generally good people with good social skills, and there are people that think they can do everything and just shove right into a hobby or other avocation for the fame and glory, ruining their reputations and making things harder for everyone else. There is a "ricer" for every hobby IMO .

I am a very opinionated and judgemental person, so I understand that this is more or less my view and in no way do I think the world should operate like this. But I still do grow tired sometimes of people who do nothing but use up resources and make no attempt to better their own situations or others around them.

[Tleg93]

One of the reasons for ancient Athen's long golden age (and the subsequent Roman empire which cribbed its ideas and combined it successfully with the militaristic attitude of the Spartans) was that they allocated resources to those who could best make use of it while not wasting on those that offer little chance of returning anything to society.

Steve

Ramble on:
The thing is, you never really know for sure who's going to return what to society. The fathers of the bomb have returned a perpetual nightmare to society, does that make them more deserving of the resourced they consumed in creating it? Has the power of the bomb made us safer? Now I'm not trying to say that we should give crackheads the wheel but maybe keep an open mind that people can rise out of poverty to do great things. While Rome was succesful in the sense that they had longevity it's a stretch to use them as a template for what a succesful society is. Rome simply took what it wanted and they murdered and enslaved all who stood in their way on the path to empire. Is that the kind of legacy we want and who is it that decides who has what chance of giving back to society those things which the group deems is necessary to fulfill the objectives of a given society. If the romans possesed nuclear weapons it's hard to imagine what the world would be like today.

It's true that class stratification is one of the key identifiers anthropologists use to identify a civilized society but I feel that we should give other as yet unforseen structures a chance. Let the ancient past stay in the past and let's try to see a new way of living because it looks to me that in our current mode we have, at most, 3 or 400 years before all of our resources will become pretty darn scarce.

Ramble off:

For my part I've had to claw my way along. I've never had any help.

[evolutionmovement]

On the contrary, I believe the Roman empire is a key thing to remember as we are following very much the same course today. Did you know that the Roman army travelled with engineers and workers used for the purpose of what we today call 'nation building'? Not that I necessarily meant to use Rome as a template, more Athens, who Rome took their inspration from (but who were not as inspired themselves). Athens was not a militaristic society as Rome, although plenty of fighting got done just the same (the whole problem of having a human society). Of course, women and everyone else should have equal rights under the law - an idea too advanced for Athenians at the time.

But you are absolutely correct to ask the question of who gets to choose. I say let people choose for themselves. There are a huge percentage of people out there that gladly sacrifice freedom for comfort and so I say that we should let them. In return for steady repetitive employment where they don't have the stress of changing job tasks and guaranteed housing and medical care, they lose the opportunity for advancement and chance for great success. Their children would not inherit the same position and would also be free to choose (which could cause problems in successive generations with empathy for the lower class taking precedence over sense, but whatareyougonnado?). I just need to come up with a better description than 'protected indentured servant' to sell it. The housing will be large apartment complexes in central locations to cut down on deforestation (and to let much of it grow back) and otherwise reduce the pollution associated with the logistics of a spread out population. Those that choose freedom will be free to fight their way through life like most of us and in turn be free to fail. There will also be financial incentives for people who have less kids until the population has fallen to a more reasonable level.

This is a basic overview of the plan the Evolution Movement cult in my books has. They're my views, but I make the cult the 'bad guys' as a point that no plan can be perfect when implemented by humans with all their greed and insecurity and that any revolution requires the rejection of positive intentions to overthrow the status quo. Therefore any revolution will in some way have to be hypocritical and in the end invalidate in some way their own beliefs. I hope this all makes sense as I'm a little buzzed right now...

Steve

[Legacy777]

I look down on them because all too often, these people perfectly fit the stereotypes that they set examples of.

Yeah I understand where you're coming from. Honestly...it's the reason I've stopped hanging out with a lot of the subaru guys here in Houston. I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt.....now I just grow tired of the same persona, and don't give a shit.



This may be an aside or a slightly different angle on things....but I guess it sort of pertains to human nature and those with the will and determination will rise to the top under extreme circumstances...also could pertain to the nuclear bomb discussion.

This discussion is more or less my fascination with a post apacolyptic society. How do you personally handle situations of great stress and hardships? Do you fight back with everything you have, mind and physical strength, or is it more difficult to recover? Have you given thought to what you would do if you if you lived in a "Mad Max" society?

I'm not saying I dwell on this subject or anything, I just find it fascinating in the terms of how humans would deal with this....and honestly....you can break the response down to a basic human response. Fight or flight. Again there are definitely in betweens, but those are your two basic sides.

If you relate that sort of mentality to today's society....it's still there. You still have those that will rise to the top, those who deal with things differently then others. The main point with the post apacolyptic society is you've accelerated and pushed those "stress" limits far higher and outside the "normal"

Think of it as getting test data. Rather then testing something inside it's nominal limits, you increase the forces to accelerate a failure, and determine what samples out of your test data are stronger. That make any sense......I know what I'm thinking, but not sure I wrote it out correctly.

[evolutionmovement]

I think all the time about what it would be like if the infrastructure collapsed, say from a rampaging virus I have the dubious immunity to. If it happened overnight, most panicked people would head for the supermarkets, but I would head for sporting goods for fishing supplies and weapons to eat fat people if I need to. I could live off mussels at the end of my street easily enough, but something more is needed. My kayak is also free so I can get around by rivers here easily. If I could get some stability, I'd try to find some welding supplies and collect materials to convert to a steam car. I could fuel it with anything that burns and collect water from rain and distilled water from the estuary here.

A small part of me almost longs for such a situation as I feel I was made for a different time and that such a test is what I was made to excel at. That specific part of my being serves little to no purpose in everyday life today and so is neglected and nags me because of it.

This is an interesting thread.

Steve