Postman V.s. Waterworld Vs Mad Max vs etc...

I always liked the Omega Man. But I suspect we will go more towards the "Escape from ..." (NY, LA)

The Stand

"Should the human race not be extinguished by a nuclear war it will
degenerate into a flock of stupid, dumb creatures under the tyranny of
dictators who rule them with the help of machines and electronic computers.
This is no prophecy, just a nightmare." -- Max Born (Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists, November 1965)

As one of the dozen or so people in the country that saw "The Postman" in the theater ... i'm going chime in it's behalf. I see that scenario as most probable, the idea that people will respond to the cultural breakdown in differing ways, each suited to their particular geography and associations. There are likely to be Aryan fuckups spouting their racist crap as a means of unifying a small cadre of dangerous people. There will be others that use a more co-operative model. In the short term the thugs will appear to have the upper hand, but with time the co-operative model will win out ... the new tribalism, based on the system that worked for people for tens of thousands of years.

literary suggestions ... "Good News" by Edward Abbey, "The Fifth Sacred Thing" by Starhawk, "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn ... others?

End of the world, huh...? Well, my personal favorite would probably be the one we're currently living in...

As for speculation; at first a simple economic collapse which sets of a "chain reaction" of similar collapses (thanks to how we have everyone's economies wired into everyone elses.

Then, those who have the resorces and facilities to do so will then be in even more immedate positions of power over folks who desperately need their specialized services to maintain even the last shreds of lifestyle to which they were once accustomed to.

And, of course, once the economic systems collapse, there would be no education, no "commerce" to speak of, and there would be a great deal of slavery being a new "socially acceptable" form of currency... (After all with our now over-burdened Earth's population, what greater "renewable resource" would there be?)

Beyond that, I'm just not interested in speculating - it's too depressing.

Self-sufficiency folks... Self Sufficincy...
(and don't skimp on your defensive strategies, either - just do everyone a favor and don't use landmines or booby traps which might kill children, k? Be more artful than that - learn real tactics...)

I figure too the Restart of the World would be a mix of western plains indians and nomadic mongolian horsemen w/ of course the futuristics who refuse to let go of old ways-horse driven car parts.
Tribalism would be wide spread though I suppect some will never want to let go of city living.

Myself personally I'd prefer the tribe life with cooperation being the rule not the last resort...like now.

I found "Always Coming Home" by Ursula LeGuin to be a really interesting a plausable vision of the future - 50,000 years ahead.

The Hayao Miyazaki film, Nausicaa is an interesting perspective. Set 1000 years after the toxic destruction of global civilization, most of humanity is living sustainably but nature has responded to the radiation and toxicity by mutating drastically and spreading a deadly jungle over most of the world. The question of how to live in harmony with nature is brought to new levels.

Great film with a not so catchy name.

Whaaaa... you all should know, that none of the movie scenarios will play out. George Carlin had it right - - "Pack your bags, we're going awaaaaaaaay!".

Look, it's basic biology. Either we get it right, and do so in the next few years, or we go extinct. And turn most of the planet into a sand-dune in the process. Not much fun, and not even as amenable to life as the mad max / dune movies. So sorry to rain on the parade, but we need to set aside fiction and get to work on our reality, and like, now dudes.

-D

By "what's your favorite", do you mean which do we hope for or which do we expect?

I'm hoping for Ecotopia
(www.amazon.com/gp/product...835-3991828

but expecting Soilent Green (www.amazon.com/gp/product...835-3991828

I hate to say it, but I see what's going on right now as the beginning
of the end of our world. It may not be as spectacular as some
Hollywood production. And much of the chaos is hidden from us.
This is coming from someone who is not necessarily a person
who is suspicious about every little thing in our government.
But when we're lining up at a gas station to buy gas for 3.03
because it's the cheapest we've seen in weeks...something
is up. Several people I know are already feeding vegetable
oil to their cars. I think we should just be mindful that if we
don't all be proactive, the end of our world (as we know it
now) could be here. Are we ready for that now??

vixen

well I wanna say Mad Max, with the world situation being so fragile and unstable today.
Once the oil runs out (and it will) the economies and stock market will go up in smoke.
Also the threat of a few nukes going off paints the same sort of scenario as in the opening scenes of Mad Max: The Road Warrior.
I like to think things would change for the positive but I just don't see it happening.
Global Warming is very real and so is pollution.

funny i was just fascinating about the post man movie last night... seemed pretty close to what i would imagine...
In response to the original post.

End of the world? Nah, fuel won't get us, war will. If we don't go nuke Iran or N. Korea and start WWIII, we'll go Blade Runner, and head for the stars on something like ion drive. For terran based travel, we'll go hydro, electric, or bio.