What is most important for the human species? How has our civilization survived to this day? What is our primary concern when the end of the world comes? When there is only the last bunker and very few humans left on Earth, how should we survive, communicate, maintain our sanity, and keep human civilization alive as long as possible? This is the memoir of a human survivor, recording her life and reflections in the last bunker.
Story
In the background of the end of the world, the story’s main character chose the rope as a tool to survive in the shelter (bunker). She divides her apocalyptic life experience into three stages: exploration, connection, and instability, and connects these stories with different rope knots.
Chapter 1
Exploration
I used to live in a world where information technology was highly advanced and humanity was already moving towards cyberpunk. Although the amount of information we received was far beyond the human brain’s processing power, we still wanted to connect faster. But overnight, it all became rubble, and the information network we had poured all our social resources into collapsed instantly, and “technology” ceased to exist.
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Of course, it depends on how we define technology. I need tools that meet basic survival needs, solve immediate problems, or at least bring psychological comfort. The tool I used in the bunker was a rope.
Of course, it depends on how we define technology. I need tools that meet basic survival needs, solve immediate problems, or at least bring psychological comfort. The tool I used in the bunker was a rope.
Technically, I’m not a fan of the outdoors and would prefer to stay home all day if it wasn’t the end of the world. But survival had become the primary goal since the world seemed to have been reduced to a wasteland, except for our hiding places. My lifestyle had to become more practical.
The rope was almost useless in the desert outside the bunker. I couldn’t climb or rappel and mostly spent my time tying random knots. The knot in my exploration stage is more like a spiritual support, a means of distraction and relaxation.
Through the winding, weaving, bending, overlapping, tightening, and loosing will be my soul tied in the real world, not in the borderless, hopeless world of drift.
The more this happens, the more it is necessary to return to the essence. The tools that can be touched, entirely under my control, are the basis for building all the developed technology.
The more this happens, the more it is necessary to return to the essence. The tools that can be touched, entirely under my control, are the basis for building all the developed technology.
Chapter 2
Connection
←Move it!
I’m glad I had company in the bunker. Qian Zhihan, one of the closest, formed an outdoor expedition team with me. We found a cave while exploring, and for safety’s sake, we tied together with a rope when we entered the cave. The knots connected us, and not just physically.
Connecting to other people made me less lonely; after all, the world was just yello sand, and I was lost. The knot was the fulcrum of my apocalyptic life, and through this most insignificant structure, I passed myself through the emotions of being connected to people and pulled it firmly.
People need to connect with other people or “society.” We need intimate relationships, a sense of accomplishment, and identity, to find evidence that we are alive or to leave some trace of ourselves. Even if the entire human civilization dissipates after our death, it is important that we do not end up alone on the road.
Chapter 3
Instability
The human spirit is very inexplicable. Surviving the end of the world is only the first step, and time does not mean success. When humans get used to a long-term pattern of behavior, any accident can be devastating. The mental breakdown of all the survivors in the bunker due to an unexpected power outage has convinced me that the most crucial thing humanity needs to survive to this day is luck. According to the Great Filter Theory, humans have crossed eight hurdles, from being born in the right star systems
(including organics and potentially habitable planets) to developing into a civilization with interstellar colonization potential, with each challenging step could end a species. But sadly, that’s as far as we’ve gotten. The fact that the last humans on Earth did not step out into the cosmos after all seems to prove that the future of humanity lies in the broader sea of stars and should not be trapped on Earth.
