Who and what would you bring?

Question

You have 2 years to get ready for the end of the world. There is a giant asteroid coming to destroy the Earth. You are a billionaire. You construct a giant cave underneath a mountain that should protect you and about 1,000 other people along with some animals. Who do you bring? People of what professions? More women? More men? People of religion? All athiests? All races of people? Only people that speak more than 1 language so that languages don't die out? You can only bring so many plants and animals. Which do you bring?

You have to go underground a week before it hits. The scientists figure you will have to stay underground at least 2 years. What do you do?

Justin ~ You wrote, "I like the Noah's arch kind of thinking. Quite nice idea, but too pie in the sky, impractical and unrealistic. I like the religious diversity, but you've just brought another source of conflict into the cave"

I never said that's the way I would do it. I was bringing up ideas to include in your answers.

Answer 1

A few people from various professions - medicine, construction, agriculture/biological science, horticulturists, hydroponics experts, chemists, geologists, hydrologists, metallurgists, mechanics, engineers (civil, mechanical, chemical, electrical) in particular), psychologists, and other kinds of mental/emotional council, some entertainers of various types, textile makers (weavers and leather workers), survival experts, education.

Animals - very few - from a survival aspect, but I would think to bring ants, honey bees and beetles. Any other animals would be based on their ability to be useful later, dogs (hunting), horses (work, transport), sheep (clothing), chickens (eggs, if approved from a sanitation perspective), goats (not cows - same function but far less expensive from a resource perspective) lake and stream fish. Animals are are more competition for food and time and energy than they are tasty and nutritious so the animal selection is not based on nourishment.

Plants - I'd ask the biologists, medical people, hydroponics experts and horticulturists what would be best as far as least expensive to grow and maintain (area needed, light needed, nutritional value, speed and ease of growth). I'd also make sure to have enough energy efficient lighting and a green power source for it to grow all the food - enter the engineers. A surprising choice would be bamboo - fast growing, takes little space and is strong enough to use as a building material. Also plenty of seeds of as many kinds of plants as possible - for once we get out to restart the biomass as best as possible. And algae to produce oxygen and re-seed the ocean with it for the same purpose later.

I would not bring lawyers or politicians at all. I would not worry much about theologians - people would be bringing that all by themselves. However, I would bring examples of their work for future reference - the constitution comes, congress does not.

If we have to stay underground at least 2 years, whatever, I think it would be best to plan to stay the duration - you can't save everything so its not like its worth the risk to try. I would save wisdom as possible, but from a survival standpoint, the ability and will to reproduce is important. The ideal is young, smart and heterosexual. Diversity of ethnicity would be important to as you want a diverse gene pool to work from. As far as gender, I think I'd have to go say 35-40% male and 60-65% female, you need as many 'ovens' as possible, but not to such an extent that the there are not enough male role models or enough genetic diversity from that gender.

PAPER literature - some artistic, most technical, scientific and knowledge based - as diverse as possible. I would not worry about language so much to be honest - surely there will be some variety, but that isn't as important a criteria as making sure there is some sort of shared language among all the people. Communication is more important than diversity of language in a situation like that.

All off the top of my head, so I'm sure I missed something important, but that's a good start I think - there is two years to plan after all. However I think the decisions would have to be all based on practicality - political correctness, religion, pity, wealth/fame would be terrible criteria given the situation.

Those don't directly effect survival - non of those thing came about until AFTER humanity started to have free time to think about all that stuff. I think you want to save as much of an ability to reconstruct society (philosophy not as important as farming for instance)

I like the Noah's arch kind of thinking. Quite nice idea, but too pie in the sky, impractical and unrealistic. I like the religious diversity, but you've just brought another source of conflict into the cave - compatibility over the long term is more important than social diversity in this case (like I mentioned earlier, genetic diversity is something else entirely). I think its about survival - culture that is lost can be rebuilt, but only if there are survivors to do the job.

jody_jody_jody_jody: I wasn't referring to you. Poor choice of words on my part. Rather, I meant to refer to one of the respondents - again, my fault for poor wording if that was confusing.

Answer 2

I give the responsibility to someone else because I couldn't pick a fraction of a percentage of the population. I mean, I suppose the right answer would be to get the smartest people, or the ones that are in the best shape, but I don't know them. I mean, how could I pick these and know what I did was right? Honestly, I'd rather have the asteroid hit my face than have to make the decision. Of course, the president should be standing by my side for this (if I'm not in the cave, that is). I would, however, like to choose which plants and animals survive. The cow would definitely prove to be the most useful animal, and we can just get female cows and a bunch of bull semen and be all set. Then again, we can do that with humans, too. Huh. So I guess it would be a matriarch. I change my mind, I'm going in. Just me and the women, lol.

Answer 3

Profession Demographics:
Priests (Catholic), Doctors, Plumbers, Gardner’s/Agriculture Specialists, Earth Scientists, Supermarket Professionals, Engineers, Musicians, Comedians, Gym Teacher, Ranchers, Statitions, Zoologists, Teachers, Cooks, Tailors/ Cloth Makers, Bus-boys, Sanitation (Trash) Engineers, Machine Mechanics, Librarians, Shoe Makers, Bankers, Janitors, Writers, Architects, Historians, Maids, Students, & Hockey Players.

Gender Demographics:
60% Men
40% Women

Age Demographics:
30% Children (0-18 years old)
50% Adults (18-50)
20% Elderly (80 & Up)

Religious Demographics:
50% Catholic
20% Other Christian
30% Mix other religions

Languages:
100% English as Primary; It's about time humanity spoke the same language. Step toward world peace & I'd go crazy if hanging around different languages 4 2 yrs.

Race Demographics:
TBD by Professions. No preference.

Answer 4

This would be my opportunity to go back in time. There would be no extremist on my list. People would be chosen based on their kindness to humanity and towards the earth. I would need farmers, doctors, and carpenters. Most importantly, I would get some of the top comedians to join me. Laughter is very important. I would also need griots or storytellers. All races would be welcome if the have not been tainted by greed and violence. Only people who believe in equality of all people would be included. It wouldn't matter if people were bilingual or not because we would all learn from each other. My goal is to learn how to live without most of the stress producing, earth destroying modern technologies that we have come to embrace.

The animals that I would need are mammals such as horses goats, and sheep. I would also bring several species of fish. The plant life I would want would be grains, legumes, and leafy greens. I would have to figure out how to maintain a fresh water supply.

Answer 5

I would bring the Amish people along with other GOD fearing people. The Amish could help out with farming and land resources. The other people would be good to carry on the word of GOD. I know things would be okay because of what it says in the bible. Thank you and good luck.

Answer 6

of course, we need a mixed gender of humans...so that the population can still continue to increase... i would get 500 female, 500 males, they will be paired up to be couples. that will also mean that during the 2years preparation, they will go for health test, proving them to be healthy n can concive...but i dont like to choose just 1000 people, it's going to be really unfair... at this time, people who know that u have such benefits, they will turn to be good to u so that u might choose them...

i would need animals, coz they can be our food for 2 years...same as human, i will get 2 of each kind of animal, 1 male n 1 female so that they can still continue to reproduce.

Answer 7

First of all, you need more women than men, by a significant number, to ensure rapid population growth (one man can impregnate a substantial number of women, of course).

Second, I would bring potatoes, bananas, some type of grain and some sort of livestock to maintain a good diet.

Last, I would bring all liberal arts people, because they could fashion the world in a more appetizing manner than would the engineering type (;

Answer 8

sex and video games. Pretty much the same as if the earth wasn't going to end.

Answer 9

the only people that comes to mind are my family and a preacher, maybe a doctor.....too much thinking