Topical Tuesday: The Apocalypse is Coming, Get Packing

[Spinwhiz]

Topical Tuesday: The Apocalypse is Coming, Get Packing

Life as we know it will eventually end, either through drastic measures or a slow process of deterioration. Knowing that you may not make it through an apocalypse, what would you pack to help prepare future generations?

Welcome back to Topical Tuesday! Every week we ask the community a question related to our weekly magazine topic. Our goal is to begin an intelligent discussion based on a topic that's uniquely relevant to us as gamers and nerds, and the industry we love. Opinions are welcome, but please justify your claim with support - such as quoting information from one of our featured articles - even if that requires a little research before posting. Please use examples to back-up your opinion.

This week's question focuses on the apocalypse. While we can all agree that zombies, aliens and robot takeovers will likely be our overlords someday, they are nothing compared to Mother Nature and the forces of our galaxy. With that in mind comes our Topical Tuesday question:

You are 1 of 1000 people on the planet given a standard shipping container - about the size of those on an 18-wheeler - which can hold 2261 cubic feet of whatever you choose, and I do mean anything. If you want to try and fit a nuclear warhead in there, or a couple elephants, you would have the means to do so. While this container is not air tight, the holding vessel will be. Please remember, the chances of you making it through the apocalypse are slim at best. Will you pack up your entire house for your personal use or pack the essentials that future generations will need to restart society?

Please let us know what you are packing and why.

Ladies and gentlemen, to your keyboards!

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

I'd fill the whole damn thing with crates and crates of guns, ammo, rockets and shite-- wait, no, I'd have to have enough room for an armored vehicle (which would be equipped with an MP3 player and my pre-made APOCALYPSE playlist, and which would itself be loaded to the windshield with guns and ammo) and twenty or so tanks of gas. Assuming the other 999 people didn't do the same thing (and fingers crossed that someone was smart enough to bring all the obvious stuff like water filters, tools and rations), I am now the Lord of the Wasteland and can take what I want from them-- perhaps I would do the benevolent thing and declare myself their overlord, then utilize their labor and resources to rebuild a small, stable community.

 

[bleh002]

I would pack it full of books covering every important topic for humanity to know. Mathematics, agriculture, biology, logic, philosophy etc.

I may not survive, but it would be a horrible shame to have all the accumulated knowledge of mankind go bust. Technology may change in the future, so you can't rely on a flashdrive to be readable. Also see if you can get some kind of Rosetta stone for the language the books are in so that they can be understood.

It should also be protected it in the appropriate packaging so that if it is discovered thousands of years from now, they don't crumble to dust.

 

[Erana]

I'd fill it with all sorts of records of history, science, medical knowledge and what-not into some kind of long-lasting material. Records of art, too. I would also store all sorts of seeds, beans and legumes inside along with instructions on how to cultivate crops, herbs and spices. Recipes of various cultures. Blueprints for musical instruments and instuctions on how to produce materials for arts would be inside. Sheet music of every sort of genre, and the essays of the great art critics. Basically as much cultured human knowledge as possible.
I would seal it into a secure container with a complex puzzle for a lock, so that careless people didn't stumble upon it and didn't use the priceless contents as firewood, or something. On the outside would be engraved a sort of Rosetta stone in all known languages, even Elvish and Esperanto, that would explain the language and instruct people how to open the lock.
In case something were to happen to the exterior, copies of translation aids, again in long-lasting materials, would be inside.
I would avoid putting in any information detailing how to make weapons, however; with what is inside the box, if they really wanted to make weapons from it, they would be able to figure it out for themselves.

We, today, wouldn't have been able to make half the progress we have without the mellennia worth of knowledge and culture from the past; it would depress me to no end if that were to all be erased by a single instance of Mother Nature being especially cruel, or humanity being especially stupid.

Not to mention, if I were able to preserve the most meaningful contributions of humanity's past for the future, I could die feeling like a worthwhile person.

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

I assume the other survivors would bring food or possessions with us, and I'd seek out food sources etc. when we've reached our destination.

For this I would firstly make my container air-tight so as to not destroy anything held within. For within would be books. Encyclopedias, a collection of the greatest works of fiction, educational textbooks, bilingual dictionaries, everything amounting to as much of humanity's knowledge as I could amass. If possible, even the Wikipedia server and a computer with which to access it, along with an onboard memory holding the best of cinema and music, and a solar power source to power them. I assume that my container is mostly full now so I'll put a life-size statue of a man and a woman in the remaining space before carving "We are the past, you are the future. Take our knowledge" in every known language on the container's exterior.

We'll probably die out, might as well leave something for the next dominant species.

 

[SteinFaust]

Drums of gasoline, Crates of ammunition (.40S&W and up), the accompanying guns, c-4 (need to break into places to make bunkers out of them) science and medical textbooks, building materials, a kiddie pool (it's nigh impossible to find a clean place to bathe), tents, cookware (fuck cooking off of a hot engine block), solar panels, solar-adaptable mp3 player, and a throne. people need to know that I am in charge.

EDIT: ANYONE CAUGHT SAFEGUARDING COPIES OF TWILIGHT WILL BE SHOT ON SIGHT.
EDIT OF AN EDIT: ....unless they are kept for kindling.

 

[Chipperz]

Seeds for various plants, generators, fuel and various books and PDAs with instructions on how to operate/repair basic machinery.

Let's be very, very honest here, we're talking about stuff that the survivors of an apocalypse would need. If they can't purify water, make weapons or hunt, they're probably not survivors. I'd give stuff to aid the process from hunter/gatherers to settled farming communities again - after that, everything else can go back to a semi-natural course.

 

[Sjakie]

I would at least bring with me my Ebook and all digital copies of all books i can get, mostly instuction manuals for everything from crop growing, survival manuals to tech help. But also fiction and classic works. That way we would be able to teach all we know to future generations. since i then have a complete library OR 50 of books on a small machine and a bunch off SD cards and i still have more then plenty of room to fill it with seeds, cigarettes, alcohol and clothes
I dont know what else i would pack but i guess it would be stuff to keep that thing charged :þ

P.S: Twilight would be on there as well, since i do want my future Son to have something that will get him some from the teenage girls in the future.

 

[rosemystica]

I'd fill mine with history, art, and science books, as well as photographs of the world before it went to hell, and some of the cooler things we had as amusements (maybe old puzzles and such). And maybe a printout of all of TVTropes' Real Life Crowning Moments of Awesome pages--just to let someone (if there's anybody left) know that, if the human species dies out, we didn't go out like bitches. Actually, I kind of picture my shipping container looking sort of like Wall-E's little hideout. XD

I would also include a lot of food-plant seeds, water, bags of potting soil, and gardening tools, as well as a couple of handy, simple guides to help gardening n00bs to grow more food once their stockpiles have gone. Just in case there are any survivors and they can't make it to the Doomsday Seed Vault up in Svalbard.

 

[Jack_Uzi]

Few cases of beer, box of smokes and some food and a lighter. Why avoid the inevitable? Chill and make the most of the moments you are still alive.

*Future generations will have a hard time enough in the setting the earth is already. I don't want to prolong that suffering if it doesn't have to be.

 

[Nickolai77]

Download all content from wikipedia and youtube onto a super-computor and pack that in the shipping container. If there is any space left, i'll fill it with the following:

1)Lots of canned food, powderd food and drinks+bunsen burner+gas to cook food
2)A trusty, reliable AK-47 with loads of ammunition (red tiger stripes, red dot sight+attachable silencer) I would also take a shotgun, possibly the AA-12 for dealing with zombies in hairy situations. Note i would also take silver bullet ammunition, you never know who you might be dealing with in an apocalypse.
3)Medcines, plenty of them.
4)Seeds, soil, gardening+general survival tools and manuals.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

A water powered electricity generator, so I can set up camp by a river somewhere. An AK47 with a crapload of ammo, in case I'm attacked, a bow for hunting, an axe for woodcutting, medicines, seeds for crops, manuals on all skills that I'l require, probably on memory sticks for space saving, a laptop, plugs, wiring, wood treatment stuff... generally, stuff that I can use to set up a little pace for myself. Preferably on Hawaii.

Luxuries:

My bike. I love my bike, and it loves me too.
Surfboard, preferably nicer than the one I've got
My PS3, and a tv. Thank god for that generator. I wonder who'll be online?
Books, with plastics bags for keeping them in.
Speakers, and my iPod.
An acoustic guitar, a case, and a crapload of spare strings. If I could have anything, it would be that.

 

[LightOfDarkness]

A shotgun, a katana, an HEV suit+charger, lots and lots of canned food with something to cook it with, steel sheeting to build temporary shelter, a radio transceiver, water filtration kit, and other things depending on the type of apocalypse (nuclear war, zombie, alien invasion)

 

[ryanxm]

i would pack guns and ammo some plant seeds a pillow and 2 sleeping bags (the container can be my main protection from the elements) a fire starter kit some form of location managment (like a compass and a lot of maps)a power generater and some lights,a water purification system,a wardrobe full of diffrent outfits for any envirments i might encounter,a canoe compleate with 4 paddles and i'd have a TV compleate with my xbox a ps3 i stole and every videogame i can possibly find oh ya and i'd bring a couch a giant plasma screen TV with a souround sound sytem and a large collection of survival books a I-POD compleate with millions of stolen songs

 

[Blueruler182]

Wait? It's basically an infinite space that can fit anything the gamer's imagination could ever fit into the thing, one thousand gamers worth of space for anything they could ever imagine to fit into the thing, and, presumably, it wont be destroyed by the apocalypse. Okay, every human being carries a gun and a moving-truck full of canned foods, fake soil, and seeds for crops into the thing. We'll just rebuild the damn world from scratch, Wall-E style. Assuming it's mother nature, as you say, we'll probably survive in a way that the Earth will still remain, so we'll just pop out and get to work rebuilding and have a couple thousand years before whatever generation worries about it.

Seriously, if we have a giant container that's basically Backpack from Dora The Explorer, why wouldn't we save everything we need to restore the planet afterwards and every human being in existence as well. I mean, we'd still have plenty of space.

 

[Steppin Razor]

2261 cubic feet of anthrax. It's my crate, I don't see why I should share it with people living in the apocalypse. Hell, one of those people that opens it could be the person that killed me just to steal my stuff. In which case they're going to get one hell of a nasty surprise.

 

[RaphaelsRedemption]

Forget the books (unless they are rare volumes of historical significance). Download all books one can find onto harddrives. Pack laptops or other appropriate viewing medium. Pack generator. Pack solar panels to charge generator.

Pack more harddrives storing music, movies, games, everything cuturally important that can be captured digitally.

And then pack spare parts for the hardware.

That should fit around a third of the crate (assuming you have assembled it properly, which includes, desk, soundsystem and wheely chair).

The next third is devoted to culturally significant stuff that cannot be recorded digitally. Textiles, statues, paintings, my teddybear, my magic bamboo...

The final third of my crate would be a surival stockroom. Some imperishable foods, equipment for farming, purifying water, knives, ropes, waterproof sheeting, seeds, tools etc. If my crate is the first to be opened, then the survivors will have something to sustain them immediately as well as equipment to help them build their future.

And I would write them a note. Probably something along the lines of how I'd thought of them, and how I didn't want them to get food on the laptop keyboard. And that they should build with the stuff I'd given them, not destroy. But if they just wanted to fire up the laptops for a bit first and play CoD, that would be ok too.

 

[SteinFaust]

2261 cubic feet of anthrax. It's my crate, I don't see why I should share it with people living in the apocalypse. Hell, one of those people that opens it could be the person that killed me just to steal my stuff. In which case they're going to get one hell of a nasty surprise.

never thought of it like that-- you, sir, win the thread.

 

[SteinFaust]

oh wait-- the G.E.C.K. !

lol kill the world, then restart it in the same day!

 

[Junkle]

I would store the internet. Sun Microsystems has done it, with much less space. I'd be specifically using "60 of the company?s Sun Fire X4500 Open Storage Systems". Should work nicely. Luckily, it seems like we'd have a bunch of people who do basically the same thing, but I'd literally have everything digital. Then I'd provide instructions of how to use it. 3 Petabytes of data, growing by 100 terabytes every time we mirror it. Geez. Luckily, that'd only be a 20 foot container so I still have about half the space.

Next, I'd... Hrm. I'd probably probably delete all information of fossil fuels, and tell them how to use wind, solar, geothermal, and that sort of energy. I'd provide them with some solar cells, to get them jump-started.

Yes, I'd also pack weapons. Probably a good collection of swords, which shouldn't take up a ridiculous amount of space. Some guns, might as well let them defend themselves.

Then for survival gear. Tents, some sort of grill perhaps, and the basic contents of an REI. I would definitely pack radios. Because really, they need some way to communicate.
I'd also include a large amount of tools, so basically grab one of everything from a Home Depot or the like.

An ultralight would also be included. Those things pack up small and giving them flight would be a huge advantage.

Medicines for the most basic but also deadly diseases. Screw Tylenol, they don't need to whine about headaches. I mean cures for the OLD diseases, the ones we scoff at now but could kill back then.

At this point, I wouldn't have much space left. I'd probably end up sticking the instructions for everything at the front, along with some sort of Rosetta stone/translation software that boots up as soon as it's opened.

That's it.
I think I could survive with that.