American futurologist David Mead claims that he was able to calculate the most accurate date for the end of the world. According to him, he thoroughly studied the Bible and Revelations from John the Theologian, carried out complex calculations, and deciphered a veiled message in the apostolic verse, which talks about the parade of planets in the constellation Virgo. Mead is sure that this parade is a symbol of the appearance of the Virgin Mary before the end of the world, and the planet Nibiru will destroy the Earth.
American numerology expert David Mead associates the coming apocalypse with the planet Nibiru, which, according to him, will block the Sun on September 23. Astraphysicists have already refuted Mead's statement. They claim that Nibiru simply cannot block the Earth from the Sun. Because it doesn't even orbit the star. According to scientists, an apocalypse can occur when the Sun “burns out” and turns into a Red Dwarf. But this will happen no earlier than in 5 billion years. However, there may be other reasons.
Contact with extraterrestrial life
This is the end: contact with extraterrestrial life.
The SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Life) program actively sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. However, scientists such as Stephen Hawking believe that this is an extremely dangerous activity that could lead to the destruction of all life on the planet. Just as the Spanish came to South America and destroyed the indigenous population, aliens coming to Earth could do the same to humans.
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Disable the robots' sensors - shoot them, smash them, cover them with dirt. Use holy water against demons from other dimensions. Destroy resources that are valuable to the enemy, but do not go too far - remember about the pollution of the sky in The Matrix. Go back in time (“Terminator”, “12 Monkeys”) or teleport a “hello” to our brothers in mind in the form of a nuclear warhead (“Battlefield: Earth”).
And most importantly, don’t forget: there are no unsolvable problems. Humanity can cope with anything - even the awakening of Cthulhu. It would rather destroy itself than let someone else do it.
The zombie apocalypse
This is the end: zombie apocalypse.
The idea that the undead will come back to life and kill all the living is obviously far from the truth. However, there are scientific possibilities for a zombie apocalypse, including brain parasites (like mad cow disease), nanobots, and neurotoxins. Any of these things can cause people to go crazy and start killing in a fit of mass aggression.
Apocalypse of John
The Revelation of the Holy Apostle describes the events of the “last day on all the Earth,” which John the Theologian saw in his vision. These are miracles and numerous disasters that await the inhabitants of the planet.
It is for this reason that all these events are called in one word - Apocalypse. The meaning of the word is so large-scale that such terms as post-apocalyptic and apocalyptic were formed from it. They denote genres of science fiction that feature cataclysms or describe a period of time after these events.
Earth Shift
This is the end: the Earth shift.
It has been scientifically proven that the Earth's poles periodically shift. Some scientists believe this could leave people vulnerable to deadly particles hitting Earth. It is believed that the same thing happened to Mars: it was blown away by solar winds due to its weak magnetic field. Scientists believe the same thing could happen on Earth.
Artificial intelligence
This is the end: artificial intelligence.
Computers and artificial intelligence have already taken thousands of jobs away from people, and this situation is only getting worse. Once computers become intelligent and conscious, then the predictions of Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking will come true: this could mean the end for humanity (just as cars became the end for the age of horses). The theory is that humans will either merge with the existing AI, or the AI will destroy humans in a global war.
Not-so-realistic apocalypse scenarios
But first things first. And we will begin with a critical analysis of the most popular (and also, at the same time, least probable) theories of the apocalypse.
Alien Invasion
According to the famous theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, as soon as intelligent alien life notices humanity, it will immediately wipe it off the face of the Earth. After all, this is exactly how people treat less developed creatures (animals) and this is exactly what happens in the event of a collision between developed and less advanced civilizations (for example, conquistadors and Indians).
At one time, the fears of the well-known scientist spread throughout the world's media, exciting the imagination of the general public. However, this theory of the apocalypse has a significant drawback. The fact is that Hawking proceeded from the assumption that aliens are somehow similar to people - and to people of the 15-19 centuries.
Of course, it is naive to pretend that we have already survived a period of merciless wars. However, as human civilization develops, it becomes exponentially less and less bloodthirsty.
Thus, there is a possibility that by the time people begin to explore other planets, they will simply forget how to fight and will behave quite peacefully. What can we say about a hypothetical alien civilization that can overtake humanity by billions of years in advance?
This opinion is shared, in particular, by Jill Tarter, director of the SETI research center, who considers Hawking’s fears to be in vain.
“An alien visit to Earth would mean that their technical capabilities are high enough to not require slaves, food or alien planets. I hope that extraterrestrial civilizations are not only more technologically advanced than us, but also more aware of the value and rarity of life in space,” says Tarter.
Of course, this does not mean that a warlike race of aliens will not someday appear in the sky and destroy us all. However, this means that Hollywood's favorite scenario about a bloody alien invasion has a chance of remaining just a screenwriter's fantasy.
And what is the point of aliens destroying humanity? Capture a planet for resources? But the Earth is one of many thousands of planets in the Milky Way! The resources it is rich in can be found in abundance in any other part of space. Consequently, there is absolutely no reason for alien creatures to attack us - it is much more interesting to simply watch the development of tiny angry primates trying to build their own civilization.
AI will destroy the world
According to the forecasts of many prominent scientists and experts in the field of robotics, in the near future, robots, computers and artificial intelligence will take away most of our jobs, radically change our society and become an integral part of our lives. But does this mean that AI will ultimately be the end for all humanity, as proponents of this apocalypse theory believe?
First of all, opponents of machine learning argue that due to the rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies, robots will eventually decide to destroy the “too flawed” Homo Sapiens as a species in order to create a new ideal world without people. And it is not a fact that humanity will find its own John Connor or Neo, capable of creating centers of resistance.
Well, or, at best, the replacement of people with machines will occur gradually: in particular, the philosopher Nick Bostrom, already known to us from his article on “The Matrix,” believes that full-fledged competition between “humans” limited by slow biological evolution and rapidly developing smart robots is simply impossible, and someday some powerful AI, in its desire to build up the planet with supercomputers and solar panels, will simply leave no room for humanity.
“Man is the most unreliable system. Today, hackers often turn to the principles of social engineering in order to gain access to someone else's computer. And if a manipulative hacker turns out to be a super-intelligence, then we can assume that he will easily use us against our will as his arms and legs,” says Bostrom.
But how likely is this scenario? Skeptics believe that not much.
According to doubters, robots will forever remain just a small addition to humans, and the technological singularity is just another “sci-fi scenario”, that is, an inflated soap bubble.
“Think of domed cities, jetpacks, underwater cities, buildings one and a half kilometers high and nuclear cars - all the futuristic fantasies of my childhood never became a reality. Likewise, there is not the slightest reason to believe in an approaching singularity. Just because you visualize the future with your imagination doesn’t mean it’s possible,” says Canadian-American scientist and science popularizer Steven Pinker.
More recently, it seemed to humanity that the road to the singularity would be direct and quite fast, but as technology developed, scientists realized that computing power itself is not magic dust that miraculously solves all problems. True intelligence is still more than the ability to think about a problem longer or at a faster speed than others. A dog that thinks faster is unlikely to be able to play chess, since intelligence depends on a number of other things, including years of study and experience, and it is not certain that we can shortcut this path for AI simply by increasing computational speed.
In addition, proponents of the singularity also tritely confuse having enough intelligence to complete a task with the ability to improve one's mind. Look at the best example of an intelligent system: humans. Despite thousands of years of development, it is still much easier for us to learn how to perform a specific task than to learn how to acquire knowledge in general. Learning a new language, in simple terms, has not gotten any easier; we are still unable to use the mind to improve our intelligence.
Although no one would deny that the robots of the future will surpass humans in efficiency in many industries, the likelihood of their uncontrolled exponential intellectual growth today looks very doubtful. Artificial intelligence is unlikely to improve without direct efforts on our part.
“A fundamental aspect of the limitations of Moore's Law is the fact that creating truly intelligent machines that can think like humans is impossible. Even if machines manage to think on par with people, they are unlikely to be able to understand and calculate our actions several moves ahead. Much of what we take for granted will never be understood by them.
Of course, when we talk about artificial intelligence, we imagine that such a system should magically appear on its own. But even if this happened, they would become our full partners in every area without exception, but nothing more,” says Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Academician and writer Douglas Hofstadter shares a similar opinion. He believes that technological singularity cannot occur, since the emerging relationship between man and technology suggests the development of a completely different scenario.
Perhaps we will have machines that demonstrate a superhuman level of intelligence - it’s just that most of their program code will have to be painfully written by us ourselves. If so, then the expected impact of AI on our economy and society will be much less dramatic than some predict. Not to mention the “robocalypse”, which, apparently, is not possible in principle without the direct participation of people.
Asteroid will crash into Earth
If a huge asteroid “pierces” the sky, humanity will definitely be in trouble. That’s why scientists are not lazy to monitor our rocky “neighbors” around the clock: programs like Spaceguard have been launched around the world, the sole task of which is to tirelessly monitor celestial bodies, identifying various potential dangers in advance. Thanks to this, today we have a fairly broad understanding of what and where is in the solar system and what threat this or that space object poses to us.
Frankly speaking, planetary scientists have actually already dubbed more than a thousand asteroids dangerous, which is why the media are often full of frightening headlines. However, everything is not so bad. The likelihood of such a development of events is actually much less than what the yellow press claims. Thus, one of the most dangerous asteroids called TV135, which flew near our planet in 2013 (and which will visit us again in 2032), has a probability of colliding with Earth of only about 0.002%!
In addition, if something deadly really gets in our way, then scientists, without a doubt, will find a way to avoid an unenviable fate. Why am I so sure of this? Because since ancient times we know that our objective reality “works” according to clear, strict, unchanging rules. This allows us to predict the “behavior” of things and change it as we please. A flying asteroid is the same as a launched soccer ball, changing the trajectory of which, with proper effort, will not be particularly difficult.
Thus, as long as the physical laws remain unchanged, an asteroid apocalypse certainly does not threaten us.
Rise of the Dead
In principle, even the very idea of the corpses of living beings rising from the ground with the help of some magical power frankly “smacks” of science fiction. But even if we admit the possibility of such a development of events, then for humanity the dragging dead will not pose a particular problem.
On the Internet you can find many suggestions as to why the zombie apocalypse is initially doomed to failure. Hypotheses range from the laws of thermodynamics (in cold climates, walking corpses will simply freeze to the ground) to the laws of the jungle (the risen dead will be fed to dogs). However, the most realistic argument of opponents of the zombie apocalypse is that zombies are a completely unarmed enemy.
It doesn’t matter how fast they run or how painfully the dead bite. History shows that in the event of a clash between people with weapons and people without weapons, the latter have virtually no chance of survival. But zombies cannot use even improvised objects for defense!
Of course, you personally, unlike 10% of the world's population, may not have any weapons at all. But the military definitely has it. And you can be sure that they will use it to the fullest, destroying all the dead almost immediately after their uprising.
The earth will change magnetic poles
It would seem that the Earth’s magnetic poles are a rather highly specialized topic. However, from time to time she manages to capture the minds of the general public.
To be fair, let me first note that the Earth’s magnetic poles do migrate. Moreover, over the past 150 years they have already “traveled” more than 1,100 kilometers - and according to ESA calculations, someday the poles will change places. But why should we care?
Paranoid people have different opinions. Thus, some believe that a change in the poles will lead to the mass death of important species of living beings, for example, birds, which rely on magnetic fields during long flights. In turn, this will lead to an uncontrolled proliferation of insects that will eat all our crops, which is why we will all die of hunger.
Others go even further and argue that changing magnetic poles will make our planet vulnerable to dangerous solar radiation, much of which is now bouncing off the Earth's magnetosphere. As a result, all living things will be literally scorched from the face of the Earth.
However, this is nothing more than a hypothesis, with which skeptics also strongly disagree. They believe that even if the geomagnetic poles of the Earth change places, this will in no way affect the life of mankind.
Firstly, changes in the Earth's magnetosphere are not momentary. So, according to physicists’ calculations, the duration of the current pole change should be from 100 to 1000 years - both people and other living beings will have time to adapt to it in such a long period of time.
Secondly, switching of magnetic poles has already happened before, in the past. According to available calculations, the last time the Earth’s poles changed places was 780 thousand years ago, and there are no archaeological finds that would indicate the mass death of living beings. Moreover, most animal species that exist today have successfully survived more than one such geomagnetic rearrangement.
So the hypothesis about the apocalyptic consequences of changing the Earth’s magnetic poles, although it sounds colorful, nevertheless, it remains in no way supported by facts.
Supervolcano eruption
Theoretically, a suddenly awakened supervolcano would not only destroy everything nearby, but also release such catastrophic amounts of carbon dioxide, sulfur, ash and ash into the atmosphere that it would change the climate, disrupt food chains, start causing acid rain - and lead to a mass extinction of everything. alive.
Of course, this doesn't sound very reassuring. But the fact is that here, too, the yellow press somewhat exaggerated the problem in order to attract the attention of naive ordinary people.
As an example, we will take the Yellowstone Caldera - also known as the Yellowstone Supervolcano. Many people imagine it as a huge boiling reservoir of magma. But this is nothing more than an exaggeration. Most of the crust beneath this caldera—like any other supervolcano—is solid, with small pockets of magma making up just 9% of the rest of the structure.
Although estimates vary, scientists believe that on average the volume of magma must be at least 50% of the total structure of the volcano for us to talk about some kind of global danger.
In addition, although no one denies that a supervolcanic eruption will not end well, tectonic processes, as in the case of asteroids, are tirelessly monitored by a huge number of very smart people. Therefore, if any danger really threatens us, we will know about it many, many years in advance - and we will definitely have time to take the necessary measures.
So the eruption of a supervolcano will not take us by surprise in any case. And if so, it means that humanity will have time to prepare - and, most likely, will survive the hypothetical apocalypse.
World War III
Considering the madness that has been going on in the political arena lately, it is not surprising that global nuclear war now seems like the most likely way to end humanity's life.
Fortunately, the modern world is significantly different from the world of the first half of the 20th century, and these changes make the Third World War simply unprofitable for all parties to a possible conflict.
More recently, in the 80s, people thought that the world was about to end, but humanity finally emerged from the deadlock of the Cold War. And all thanks to the advent of the era of MAD - mutually assured destruction - which “says” that the winner will die along with the defeated. And this, you know, changes everything.
Paradoxically, despite the geopolitical strife, the chances of a Third World War are dwindling every day. No one benefits from pressing the red button. Even the two main superpowers of the world - Russia and the United States - are unlikely to want to enter into a direct conflict due to the enormous scale of hypothetical destruction, preferring to fight indirectly, corroding each other’s global influence, without risking destroying themselves along with the enemy.
“Okay,” you rightly note, “let’s say the risk of nuclear war has really subsided. But what about non-nuclear global war? The answer to this question is similar: no! No, because the modern economy is extremely globalized.
Today's world is much more connected than ever before. Virtually every consumer product is the product of a global effort: your favorite T-shirt may have been created by many more countries than there are fingers on one hand. The economic costs of World War III alone in the context of global trade will be so catastrophic that the winner will return to the real Stone Age.
So guns today are not the “argument of kings” at all. The world market simply will not allow mass destruction. Rival states can only rely on diplomacy. There are no other ways to solve problems.
Unstoppable pandemic
This is the end: an unstoppable pandemic.
Whether it is SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), H1N1 (Influenza Virus), Ebola, Zika Virus or any other disease, there is a high probability of a pandemic for which humanity will not be prepared. Some diseases are already resistant to antibiotics. If the disease becomes completely resistant to existing drugs and spreads across the planet, it could destabilize the entire world and collapse the economy. Considering that riots, riots and wars will begin, this will lead to the death of even more people.
Alien Invasion, Rise of the Machines
Martians search the basement where people are hiding (“War of the Worlds”, 2005)
Prepare for guerrilla warfare. You should hide in dilapidated houses, or even better, forest dugouts, since the main target of the enemy will be more or less visible buildings. It is necessary to find out as soon as possible the limiting capabilities of the means of detecting and destroying people. In the movie “War of the Worlds,” you could hide from the telescopic probe of the Martians in a cellar, but in practice, enemy technology can easily detect you underground even from orbit.
Another key task is to find the enemy’s vulnerabilities. Aliens may be completely immune to nuclear explosions (the film "Independence Day", 1996), but will quickly go to their alien forefathers from a glass of plain water (the film "Signs", 2002). You may have to decapitate an alien invasion (Half-Life 2), hack their computer network (the same “Independence Day”), or launch a decisive counterattack (games X-COM, Starcraft).
Overpopulation
This is the end: overpopulation.
Due to limited resources and mankind's enormous consumption of them, a number of renowned scientists argue that overpopulation will likely lead to the extinction of homo sapiens. Thanks to advances in technology that extend life, a population boom that will increase the population to more than nine billion will mean there is not enough food for everyone. Lack of resources will lead to economic collapse and famine throughout the world.
Do zombies exist?
A little history. The concept of “zombie” migrated into modern culture from the magical practice of voodoo, which was used by the inhabitants of the Caribbean. But they are not the founders of the term. The roots of magical rituals go back to the culture of West Africa at the beginning of the 17th century.
At that time there was a state of Dahomey. Now in its place are Nigeria and Benin. There are two versions of the origin of the word “zombie”:
- distorted “nzambi” - “soul of a dead man”, “minor deity”;
- modified dialect "jambi" - 'ghost'.
Now it’s clear who invented the zombie. The modern archetype of the walking dead monster was imposed by art. Can there be zombies in real life? There are scientific explanations why this is impossible:
Weather
A zombie is an aggressive and stupid creature that has rotting flesh. It will not last long in the fresh air without proper protection. In the tropics in summer, “walkers” will face stuffiness and heat, and in winter in northern latitudes - with unbearable cold. Real zombies will not survive for the following reasons:
- proliferation of bacteria and insects;
- incineration under the rays of the sun in the desert;
- destruction of the skeletal system under the influence of its own weight;
- exposure to natural factors: hurricanes, ultraviolet rays, heavy rains, snowstorms.
Malfunction of the central nervous system
The dilemma about zombies - whether they exist or not - is resolved by a biological factor: the body consists of many complex systems that interact with each other. The musculoskeletal system, muscles and tendons, internal organs are systems that will not function normally without each other. The zombie will simply not even be able to move, since the central nervous system is paralyzed due to many wounds.
Metabolism
Could a zombie apocalypse happen? Hardly. To function, a person needs energy obtained from food. Food is converted into “fuel” through metabolism. Zombies also eat, but they are dead, so they have no metabolic capabilities.
This is only part of the scientific evidence that zombies exist only in our imagination and the imagination of film directors and screenwriters, game creators, and writers. The reasons for their absence also include:
- lack of immunity;
- flocks of vultures that feed on dead flesh;
- malfunctioning sense organs;
- worn teeth;
- non-healing wounds;
- intestines, which will quickly become unusable.
But we should highlight the so-called “philosophical zombie” - a hypothetical human double who does not have an inner life, but his behavior is indistinguishable from the behavior of an ordinary person.
Nanotech disaster
This is the end: a nanotech disaster.
Nanotechnology is the ability to create computers at the atomic level. Today, similar technology is already being developed for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. And some scientists argue that nanobots can be used to create almost anything. However, many believe that this technology could begin to spontaneously reproduce and consume everything in its path, destroying the world.
Impact of asteroids
This is the end: asteroid impact.
The first real world Apocalypse, which resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs, occurred due to an asteroid crashing into the Earth, and there is still no way to prevent such a catastrophe. If something like this were to happen today, it would likely wipe out humanity and most living things on the planet. Although Hollywood movies have astronauts saving everyone with nuclear weapons, in reality NASA has no way to stop asteroids hurtling toward Earth.
Relatively realistic apocalypse scenarios
However, one should not think that the fate of humanity is absolutely secure. There really is a real danger for all of us. And, ironically, our true enemies, those truly capable of destroying the world, act quietly and unnoticed and rarely make the headlines in the media.
Climate change
Asteroids, nuclear weapons, aliens... people love to fantasize about hypothetical apocalypse scenarios, while the real destruction of the world may already be happening before our eyes. At the same time, we are still bickering among ourselves rather than trying to anticipate the coming catastrophe.
The fact is that climate change continues to be a controversial topic, even though science says that the climate is actually undergoing major changes and that it is not a good thing. But why do people continue to argue about this topic?
Opponents of climate change argue that the Earth has already experienced stages of warming and cooling many times before, and therefore the next climate change is nothing supernatural (even despite the fact that this time climate change will be intensified by the anthropogenic factor). Of course, this is a compelling argument. But this in no way changes the fact that for the modern world economy these changes can turn into a real disaster.
According to most climatologists and anthropologists, humanity owes its achievements to the period of climate stability over the past 10,000 years. The relative stability of the climate allowed our primitive ancestors to develop agriculture and gradually build civilization.
Unfortunately, today we stand on the threshold of climate change, which threatens to significantly undermine our position. Moreover, due to the aforementioned globalization of the economy, the consequences of climate change will affect every inhabitant of the planet, without exception.
Firstly, millions of people will die from frequent floods, the rest will be forced to move to more favorable places for life - social collapse will occur.
Secondly, the weather will become truly extreme: cold short winters will begin to alternate with hot summers, and during the off-season periods, heat and frost will replace each other within a day; spring and autumn will disappear into oblivion. As a result, in addition to banal discomfort and transport troubles, humanity is threatened with epidemics of new diseases.
But even this does not compare with the main possible problem - food. According to UN analysts, by 2050 grain yields will fall by 25 percent, and then fall even more significantly. Many fish species are migrating to northern waters, and in some tropical areas catches may drop by half. Thus, climate change will lead to the inability to obtain food in full and, as a consequence, to world hunger.
So... so those who claim that the planet will survive global climate change are certainly right. The only problem is that people themselves may not survive climate change. At least, if they don’t get their heads together and stop further “smoking” the planet.
Gamma-ray burst
This is the end: gamma-ray burst.
Gamma rays are super fast and powerful streams of energy that can destroy atomic particles and kill anything that gets in their way. Tiny bursts come from the Sun all the time, but they are blocked by the Earth's ozone layer. However, if a star 1000 light years ago were to collapse into a black hole, it would emit a massive wave of gamma-ray energy. If such a wave were directed in our direction, it could completely destroy the solar system and the Earth along with it. And no one would suspect anything until the last moment.
Solar explosions
The sun is the star that supports life on our planet. But its excessive activity, coupled with humanity’s dependence on electrical energy, can play a cruel joke on us. Powerful plasma emissions from the solar corona can lead to massive power outages in entire countries, and thereby block all civilizational processes based on electricity. If this happens, all communications will be cut off, fuel supplies through pipelines will stop and water supplies will stop. Accordingly, the end of the world will come.
World hunger
This is the end: world hunger.
It really doesn't take much to eradicate humanity. Simply remove food and water resources, and people will quickly die out. Will it be a nuclear attack, a killer virus. plague or overpopulation, world famine will probably lead to the extinction of mankind. Unlike some other options, hunger is a real and very significant risk.
Literal translation
The meaning of a word is difficult to determine without knowing how it is translated. In Koine (one of the most common Greek dialects), “apocalypse” is translated as “discovery”, “revelation”. These rather familiar words can be found in one of the parts of the Bible. Of course, people are accustomed to interpreting this word differently, but “Apocalypse” is the last book of Holy Scripture. The title of the book itself is translated as “revelation” or “prediction”. In other words, literally “apocalypse” means the revelation of truth.
Biotech disaster
This is the end: a biotech disaster.
Scientists love to interfere with the natural order. In many cases, they are constantly trying to reverse engineer biological processes to cure diseases and help humanity. However, just like Dr. Frankenstein, sometimes scientists create monsters purely out of good intentions. All it would take is a biologically modified virus to be released into the world without any known treatment to stop it.
Changing of the climate
This is the end: climate change.
Recently, climate change has become a very popular and pressing topic. Among the large number of options for the end of the world, this is one of the most likely. While some scientists are optimistic that climate change can be slowed and possibly reversed, others believe it is too late for humans to do anything. Climate change could lead to severe weather, drought, famine and war, and if it doesn't stop, the world's population will eventually disappear.
Nuclear war
This is the end: nuclear war.
The third world war will be nuclear. There are about 15,000 nuclear weapons in the world, most of them concentrated in Russia and the United States. It would take approximately 50 to 100 nuclear weapons to make the Earth uninhabitable. And even if the explosions don't kill anyone, ozone depletion combined with nuclear winter will destroy most of the planet's known food, leading to famine.
Source
Note to the prepper
Urine is of little use for quenching thirst, but in the absence of water it can be used to wash the eyes (after which they will need to be treated with a solution of boric acid to prevent the development of bacteria).
Urine diluted in water (1:3) becomes a good fertilizer for plants. On a clear night, the light of a fire is visible 8 kilometers away, a match - 1 kilometer, a smoldering cigarette - 500 meters. For cooking, most often a fire lit in a tin can is sufficient.
Eating dry food and smoking increase the feeling of thirst. To reduce the loss of moisture from the body, you need to eat 5-10 grams of salt and drink it with a small amount of water.
To disinfect a liter of water, you can add a couple of drops of chlorine bleach to it and let it brew.
Half a meter of snow protects against gamma radiation in the same way as 2 centimeters of steel, 8 centimeters of wet soil or 5 centimeters of concrete. To obtain relatively safe water, you can take snow from a depth of 15 centimeters or more.
A simple carbon filter and prolonged boiling will make the water much safer.
Single trips outside the base are allowed only in extreme cases. Forays into cities to replenish supplies are quite dangerous, but with an autonomous mode of existence, a rollback to the “Middle Ages” is inevitable. It is very important to find the exact balance between risk and savings. On the one hand, material assets left over from a lost civilization will help avoid degradation over several generations. On the other hand, the human resource of your settlement will be extremely difficult to renew, so sacrifices are unacceptable.
If someone dies in a bomb shelter and you can’t go outside, it is recommended to put the body in a sealed plastic bag. However, during long-term storage it can be ruptured by cadaverous gases.
Never walk alone and without the simplest weapon (even a kitchen knife or hammer will do for starters). It is better not to count on street lighting. Without it, it is difficult to navigate the area after sunset, and any portable light source will attract unwanted attention to you. Blue light is least noticeable at night, and fast movement is easier to detect than slow movement. Remember that in the dark the distance traveled is estimated incorrectly - you think you have walked further than you actually have. At first, it is better to spend the evening and night in a shelter. It is advisable to avoid residential areas with high population density.
Avoid the long journeys common in some zombie films. Even if you can get your hands on an armored truck, your chances of reaching warmer climates, a desert island, or an underground bunker are likely slim.
Traveling around the country is dangerous even in such an armored car (film “Land of the Dead”)
The temptation to visit military units in order to “borrow” military equipment will be great, but you should be careful here. If the soldiers managed to survive the Apocalypse, in conditions of chaos they will be the most organized and combat-ready. Army units can restore power and law in this region, and this is far from the worst case scenario. However, it should be borne in mind that this “power” can easily turn into a bloodthirsty dictatorship. Moreover, who will guarantee that armed “saviors” in gas masks do not carry out the order to localize the alien epidemic by exterminating all survivors?
If the apocalyptic threat persists for a long time, a group of several dozen survivors will have no real chance of restoring the former power of homo sapiens. The passive struggle for survival is only a postponement of death. In this case, the main task of the settlers will not be growing potatoes, but finding a way to destroy the fantastic enemy. There are many doomsday scenarios. Each of them makes their own adjustments to this struggle.
