I've spent more time lately watching television than I care to admit.  In particular, The Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel have in the past been refuges from the mindlessness that fills most of the airwaves, and have given me small solace that I was learning something.  I note recently, however, that both channels are replete with programs speculating on the end of human civilization. Shows such as "The Colony", "The Nostradamus Effect", "Life After Humans" and so on and so on seem to make up the majority of programming on these channels and several others, and a number of movies are getting in on the action.  The big deal lately is apparently the impending end of the world 2012, predicted by the Mayans. [Wonder how they failed to predict the coming of the Spanish and the subsequent end of their own civilization?]

For full disclosure, I know a thing or three about survivalism, or as it came to be called over the past decade, "preparedness", so this trend is of some interest to me.  At the same time, I can't help but wonder what is driving this trend.  Only a few of these shows give any indication that calamity can be mitigated and that disaster can be survived.  Rather, there seems to be more of a defeatist tone or even a celebration of the end of mankind and our supposedly toxic presence on the Earth.  Or, perhaps it correlates to our increasing pessimism that things can or will get better, or that anyone knows how to fix all the things that are going wrong simultaneously.  This fear may be valid to some extent, for example, take a look at the U.S. Government's advice on preparing for a disaster.  Rather than foster the U.S.'s historical culture of self-sufficiency, this is more a "we'll let you know what to do when it happens" mind-set.  When the balloon goes up there will be no time to figure out what to do, or to rely on someone else.  This extends to our national planning as well.

A case in point here is the threat posted by biological agents, and how we as a society plan to deal with that threat.  Here at DVC, we are developing vaccines for the U.S. military to counter biological threats faced by the warfighter.  We know in great detail how these vaccines must work, what the specific threat is, how much of it the vaccines should protect against, how quickly they must work vs. how long they have to be effective, etc.  The military has an established culture of regimentation, for obvious reasons.  For protection of the civilian population, I see far less long-range planning, or perhaps I'm just seeing the stifling of such planning due to miserly support by law-makers.  I understand that anthrax is the biggest perceived threat, and that we must prepare for that (more on this topic in a future posting).  But what of the couple-dozen other bugs that could ruin our collective day?  More true than ever with our moribund economy, there is not enough money to develop vaccines against all these threats....I get it.  Sadly, given that there are increasing numbers of benighted individuals that fear vaccines above all else, we couldn't even expect to vaccinate the populace without imposition of martial law.  So what's the plan?  At-home survival kits with antibiotics and antivirals, glove and masks?  Well, it would at least be a start.

Will biological warfare or bioterrorism be our apocalypse?  Alone, I seriously doubt it.  The world had survived pandemics before, and medical science is far advanced.  This is not to say that neither will occur....I'm convinced - as are others far more knowledgeable than myself - that an "event" is coming.  The death of thousands would be a tragedy for sure.  Our concern should be more with the compounded effect of such an event with other drivers such as economic collapse, famine, water shortages, pollution, and political instability.  We should act now to remove massive consequences of biological infection from this equation, and hope that those in power will figure out the rest.

--R.V. House