What do you think of when you think of "post-apocalyptic"?

Who would you be and what would you do in such a world?

I think of a lot of deserted places, people striving to survive, very little hygiene.

Honestly, if an apocalypse would come, I pray to God I will die and not survive to see the post apocalyptic mess. I really can't picture myself as anything but dead in such a world anyway. I'm a small girl, with 0 survivaling skills, so I'd probably starve to death

I'm always so entertained by the whole "post-apocalyptic" genre.

I mean, by definition, isn't the apocalypse supposed to be the END of everything? If anyone is left at all afterwards, then it wasn't really the apocalypse! So "post-apocalyptic" societies or worlds are impossibilities to begin with.....

I find them weirdly hopeful.

I know they're supposed to be depressing, typically, but....

The whole CONCEPT is optimistic. You're envisioning a possibility where the "end of everything" isn't actually the end of everything. Where there is hope. Where people are actually trying to rebuild. Where life goes on, even after it was supposed to stop. Where the death of everything doesn't necessarily mean everyone dying.

It's so sweet....


Any kind of role I might have would depend HUGELY on what sort of "apocalypse" it was, and how destructive/apocalyptic it really was, and.... I adapt to the circumstances I find myself in, so trying to figure out what role I'd end up in would be impossible to ascertain ahead of knowing what those circumstances were.

@Akili Li:
That's very interesting. I also really like post-apolayptic theme, but for me it's actually very pessimistic. I see it as "Oh, you've somehow survived? Then it's time for very slow and very painful death.". It's really hard to rebuild something. Well, I guess it also depends on the kind of apocalypse... But if it would be for example a nuclear one, then I see absolutely no hope.

As for my role, if I'd survive... I've spend a lot of time learning chemistry and physics. In post-apocalyptic world there isn't much technology left and even if there is some, it might be hard to do something more with it, so I guess my knowledge might be very valuable.

Sane. Post-apocalyptic stories are some of my favorite and the general vibe seems so mysterious in general. I think of the apocalypse as a total break down of global society and natural balances. Zombies, radiation, and chemical poisons are usually some of the first things that come to mind as far as the causes of societies breakdown.

Oh, you mean the reality version of it? You can look at any country trying to recover from a massively scaled conflict or disaster and see it there...
I'd be one of those super pragmatic folk who're going around trying to organize a line of people passing useful construction material from the rubble to the designated group-shelter building site, and assessing where the best places to dig latrines would be (since making sure not to foul the water source is going to be my prime concern, honestly), and where we can dig to bury the bodies that would inevitably turn up in the course of trying to salvage useful materials, and seeing if anyone is any good at sketching so we can make a record of what we know about the corpses we find, in hopes of identifying them much later when the actual rescue troops arrive... Most of the people who're trained in disaster relief seem to focus on taking care of the injured people, so I'm assuming someone else will already have that part covered.

I think of the fallout universe. lol. Where everything is horribly irradiated and it's really surprising that anyone is actually alive.

If I survived to that point I probably wouldn't last very long at all. I have so many awful health problems I wouldn't last very long without modern healthcare. Or air conditioning. lol.

If I did get past that point I would probably spend my time learning as much as possible. Go to the libraries and read everything about building, agriculture, things like that. And attempt to preserve the knowledge as well.

Oooh, do you have a good memory? Trying to memorize as much stuff as possible before the books fall apart? That'd be useful. I don't think I could bear to watch as all the books succumbed to mold or become rodent-nest-fodder or were eaten by termites, but it'd be good to have somebody trying to stave off the worst of that.

I would probably be a jack of all trades, since I study survivalism.
I would of course hoard remaining books and knowledge and rewrite them as a scribe.
I have learned how to make books with leaves and twine, just need to figure out how to make ink that can dry and stay on the parchment I make.

I would do woodworking and make musical instruments and wool cloaks. So I would have to find some sheep somehow.

I would learn how to be a story-teller and entertain everyone to keep their minds off the current state of the world.

I would give people massages to help their bodies destress as a trade, since there would be no laws telling me I couldn't. I know enough to at least help people relax.

I would learn to pickle foods, and make jams and jellies, and how to use salt to preserve meats and stuff.

I would plant fruit trees everywhere I go.

I don't have a great memory at all. But if I find something interesting I can remember it better. I feel like I would remember survival tips pretty good since they would help me survive. lol.

It would be so sad to see the books go through all that. The knowledge must be protected!