I only recently got around to reading this, but I’m very glad I did! I definitely recommend reading the full paper, but for those interested, there is also this TED talk where you can get the gist of it.
In any case, the paper made me wonder about the possibility of having a sort of ‘worst case scenario bunker system’ capable of rebuilding society. I imagine such discussion was not included in this paper because it isn’t relevant to protecting against a “devastation of civilization” (death of at least 15% of world population) and is relevant only in near-extinction level catastrophes. Even so, I am curious to hear what people think of this idea and would love to read your thoughts.
To elaborate for clarity, when I say ‘worst case scenario bunker system’, I obviously don’t know specifically how this would work, but I am imagining some kind of really intense and massive bunker system, perhaps in space if not underground, that would have resources for people to stay alive as well as massive archives of information on rebuilding society. Then, there would have to be some system for choosing which people retreat to the bunkers during a disaster so that they would be qualified and well equipped to rebuild society. Additionally, it may prove wise to maintain a rotation of people (and other species) living in this safe haven so that it may be guaranteed ready at any given time. Of course, this all seems extremely difficult to pull off, but the stakes also seem extremely high. Additionally, perhaps if society is rebuilt from such a bunker after a global catastrophe, it would be rebuilt in a way that preempts the semi-anarchic default condition from the start.
I only recently got around to reading this, but I’m very glad I did! I definitely recommend reading the full paper, but for those interested, there is also this TED talk where you can get the gist of it.
In any case, the paper made me wonder about the possibility of having a sort of ‘worst case scenario bunker system’ capable of rebuilding society. I imagine such discussion was not included in this paper because it isn’t relevant to protecting against a “devastation of civilization” (death of at least 15% of world population) and is relevant only in near-extinction level catastrophes. Even so, I am curious to hear what people think of this idea and would love to read your thoughts.
To elaborate for clarity, when I say ‘worst case scenario bunker system’, I obviously don’t know specifically how this would work, but I am imagining some kind of really intense and massive bunker system, perhaps in space if not underground, that would have resources for people to stay alive as well as massive archives of information on rebuilding society. Then, there would have to be some system for choosing which people retreat to the bunkers during a disaster so that they would be qualified and well equipped to rebuild society. Additionally, it may prove wise to maintain a rotation of people (and other species) living in this safe haven so that it may be guaranteed ready at any given time. Of course, this all seems extremely difficult to pull off, but the stakes also seem extremely high. Additionally, perhaps if society is rebuilt from such a bunker after a global catastrophe, it would be rebuilt in a way that preempts the semi-anarchic default condition from the start.
Switzerland seems to have a bunker and archive system—link.