THE OPTIMISTIC APOCALYPSE

(I'm moving some of the articals I write from Facebook to Patreon. This gives us a more private place to talk, more personal, and with out a lot of stragers wandering in and being all grumpy like you see on Facebook. Let me know if you enjoy these, and I'll keep writing them.)

There has been a huge pile of movies and books and TV shows set after the fall of mankind, including my novel series. But all of these, (excluding my series), have an unrealistically bleak view of the future. 

Many have seemingly good reasons for this bleakness, like "nuclear fallout", or "drought". But these reasons only work as internal logic... actual science  seems to echo my optimistic appraisal  of what the world would actually be like  if the majority of man kind died. 

The Book of Eli and the Mad Max series...as well as the Fallout games, and many others... tell the story of the world being blown up in nuclear war...and then becoming a barren desert...forever. But if you've seen pictures of Chernobyl 25 years after their nuclear disaster, you'll see lush forests and natural beauty.

Take a trip to Mount Saint Helens, the volcano that went off near my house when I was a teenager. A week after it went off, the whole mountain, and for miles around, looked like Mordor: burnt trees and black mud as far as the eye can see.  

Now it's beautiful glades, and flowers, and birds, and fuzzy woodland animals. It's eden. 

When man kind gets kicked off this planet, the planet is gunna get beautiful again. It's not going to be endless desert, it's going to be paradise. 

The other thing I think most post apocalypse stories get wrong is that they assume humans will be skilless morons. Apparently, in the future, humans will only retain the ability to weld and fight. All other talents and skills will be lost. Sewing skills will drop to preschool levels. Home repair will completely disappear. Gardening and irrigation will become uncomprehendable.

Also, apparently skills like sweeping and tidying up will disappear forever.

But I don't buy it. 

I think mans' need to create beauty will increase, as we try to make our selfs feel better for waht we've lost. Mans need to make their person environment clean and organized and pretty will be at an all time maximum - to stave off depression. 

It's true that survival will be harder, but I'm not sure humans will have less spare time for art. Today, we waste a lot of our days in commutes, working out, paying bills, doing taxes, watching TV, browsing Facebook, etc.

If all you needed to do was get food for yourself, imagine the time you'd have for making art, or building/repairing your home. And your need to make yourself feel "civilized" will be at and all time maximum. So art and music will become an important persuit.  

Scavenging beautiful furniture, and art, and clothing, will become emotionally imperative. But it'll be easy! Nothing costs money any more, just go find one. As we've seen with antiques, well made furtinute can last hundreds of years. So look around, and you'll find all you need.  

 Or, ya know, snag a 15 million dollar yatch from a marina. Sail boats dont need power, of fuel, but the big ones sure are comfortable. 

That's my Optimistic Apocalypse. I think nature will flourish, and the few humans left will scavenge the best mankind had, to make a beautiful life after the end of days.