Rwanda Twenty Years Later -

[Jackpine Radical]

5. …or some sort of massive change in values.

You could do it in a generation or 2 if you could educate the kids.

The way I might see it happening in the context of a conceivable human future is if things get so hard that nobody can survive on their own, so that only those with a cooperative ethic remain in the gene pool. I see 2 paths for "survivalism:" The first is to hoard food & weapons, a fortress-under-siege mentality, ad the other is a cooperative approach in which people take care of each other & help each other across difficult times. I think the fortress model is doomed to failure, and the only model that will work is the cooperative one.

I think, for example, of the value system of the Ojibwa Indians, who lived in the harsh climate around Lake Superior. Hoarding food was one of the greatest sins; the modal pattern was for everyone to share what they had. If someone got lucky & got a moose or something in the dead of winter, the whole group shared in the hunter's good fortune. This was the model that permitted them to survive for millenia in an environment thatoften placed them at risk of starvation. If you take care of others when they need it, they will be there when you're the one who needs the help.