There’s a spectrum here, but thinking about the more bad scenarios, the aftermath could be really chaotic, e.g. safety, crime, wouldn’t just be an issue but something like “warlords” might exist. You might have some sort of nominal law/government, but in practice, violence and coercion would be normal [1].
I think the experiences with hurricane Katrina’s breakdown is a good example, but this would be more severe. Chaos in Libya and other nations are other examples.
This seems cartoonish, but in this situation, the most impactful thing for the average EA to do is to involve themselves and gain position in some level of “government”, probably in a nontraditional sense[2].
Strong generalist skills, work ethic, communication, charisma, leadership, interpersonal judgement, as well as physical endurance would be important. This would be valuable because I think success, even local, might give access to larger political/power.
If this seems silly, the alternatives seem sillier? EAs trying to provision services (farming) or writing papers/lobbying without knowledge of the new context doesn’t seem useful.
Because I think some EAs are sensitive, I am trying to not show this, but I think movies like Threads or The Day After communicate the scenarios I’m thinking about.
I think some EAs with a lot of access/connections might get positions in the post-event central government, but this seems limited to those very lucky/senior (most government employees will be laid off).
Very bad societal breakdown scenarios
There’s a spectrum here, but thinking about the more bad scenarios, the aftermath could be really chaotic, e.g. safety, crime, wouldn’t just be an issue but something like “warlords” might exist. You might have some sort of nominal law/government, but in practice, violence and coercion would be normal [1].
I think the experiences with hurricane Katrina’s breakdown is a good example, but this would be more severe. Chaos in Libya and other nations are other examples.
This seems cartoonish, but in this situation, the most impactful thing for the average EA to do is to involve themselves and gain position in some level of “government”, probably in a nontraditional sense[2].
Strong generalist skills, work ethic, communication, charisma, leadership, interpersonal judgement, as well as physical endurance would be important. This would be valuable because I think success, even local, might give access to larger political/power.
If this seems silly, the alternatives seem sillier? EAs trying to provision services (farming) or writing papers/lobbying without knowledge of the new context doesn’t seem useful.
Because I think some EAs are sensitive, I am trying to not show this, but I think movies like Threads or The Day After communicate the scenarios I’m thinking about.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads_(1984_film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After
I think some EAs with a lot of access/connections might get positions in the post-event central government, but this seems limited to those very lucky/senior (most government employees will be laid off).