Natural Selection Can Suck It.

[open trap]

You know, it's funny...
Assuming there was a nuclear/zombie/raptor apocalypse, you'd assume Mother Nature would intend for the fittest, most healthy humans to survive, right?
But that's not what's going to happen. We, the unfit, unskilled video-game nerds are going to live through it, while all the olympic athletes and manly muscle-men get eaten/vaporized/infected. That's all because we are the ones who plan for this sort of situation, whereas the healthy athletic people are busy doing other things, like exercising and populating the planet.
So, "Survival of the Fittest" isn't exactly going to work this time round. You know you've screwed up your planet when the wrong group of people survive the end of it.

im very fit and healthy as an ox, am i gunna die. no im not

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Everyone says they have a plan, though no one will probably follow through. It's fun to imagine though, right?

I mean, all this talk about going into a fallout shelter... not going to happen. It's likely that no one on earth actually knows how to build a fallout shelter that would survive radiation of such a degree while also holding enough food to last until the radiation goes away which will be never.

 

[mayney93]

technically it would be the survival of the fittest seeing as they are the fittest in the sense of the most prepared ^^

 

[Carboncrown]

Who has the best chance to survive?

Nerds? lolno.

The army.

 

[Erja_Perttu]

Well, should the Zompocalypse happen, my gamer chums and I will survive, no problem because dude, we're from the country, we can all use guns and all terrain vehicles. Also, less population = less zombies.

Seriously though, the world would be screwed, gamers and nerds be damned.

 

[imp_spittle]

-snip-

Pretty sure Survival of the Fittest is not to do with who conforms to whatever physical or mental criterium you put on it, but more to do with who can adapt to the new environment the fastest and most efficiently.

Also I call into question the validity of the claim that nerds have a plan. They have an internet plan. Theory and practise are two very different things. Maybe one or two people who have these so-called plans on the Escapist pull them off without a hitch and don't die in the initial wave of nuclear/zombies/velociraptors.

Aaaand this ends the discussion. Just because nerds might know that they should be doing, their feeble and weak bodies won't allow them to become the real world example of their Fallout character.

That's kind of what I was trying to get at with my sarcastic commentary.

Five-starring "Purple Haze" on expert doesn't make you Jimi Hendrix; beating Modern Warfare 2 doesn't make you suitable for military service. Proficiency in Left 4 Dead will certainly not make anyone any more or less capable of surviving a wave of zombie monstrosities.

 

[mhitman]

We, the unfit, unskilled

Speak for yourself

 

[Left4Meds]

olympic athletes and manly muscle-men get eaten/vaporized/infected.

 

[Daveman]

You know, it's funny...
Assuming there was a nuclear/zombie/raptor apocalypse, you'd assume Mother Nature would intend for the fittest, most healthy humans to survive, right?
But that's not what's going to happen. We, the unfit, unskilled video-game nerds are going to live through it, while all the olympic athletes and manly muscle-men get eaten/vaporized/infected. That's all because we are the ones who plan for this sort of situation, whereas the healthy athletic people are busy doing other things, like exercising and populating the planet.
So, "Survival of the Fittest" isn't exactly going to work this time round. You know you've screwed up your planet when the wrong group of people survive the end of it.

well in this case the selection pressure is nuclear holocaust so the "fittest" in this case are those who are prepared for this. "Fittest doesn't necessarily mean, well, "fittest". Also, we'd all die anyways. All of us

 

[TheSeventhLoneWolf]

I find this quite insulting. And it seems you use 'nerd' as a demeaning term. You can't speak for everyone, and you can't stereotype unless you know every single escapist by personality.

 

[Zing89]

olympic athletes and manly muscle-men get eaten/vaporized/infected.

Is that suppose to be Alex Mercer or a Hunter? I can't quite tell.

Either way I lol'd. Just gotta be a dick I guess.

 

[dubious_wolf]

No 'm pretty sure if any thing like that happened it wouldn't have anything to do with mother nature... besides you can't tell fitness simply looking at something... I'm not even sure what you saying. Are you trying to be controversial, start an argument, what?

 

[oppp7]

Nerds would survive because we can see our own health bar

Ah yes, but what about modern FPS's which don't use health bars?

Why does everyone keep saying this? There health bars in Halo 3, Team Fortress 2 (technically a cross), and just about any game I play.

OT: Nerds would also survive longer because we're used to prolonged periods of no socialization.

 

[Vivendel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFLtUxncZcU

 

[Canadaftw]

There's having the knowledge, and then there's implementing that knowledge.

For example:

Just because you know how to fire a gun, doesn't mean you can just pick one up the first time and not screw up horificaly.

Knowledge means jack shit if you don't have the ability/fitness/strength to back it up.

We shall offer the more fit potection in our bomb shelters and in exchange they must be our slaves and do the manual labor for us.

 

[Treblaine]

You know, it's funny...
Assuming there was a nuclear/zombie/raptor apocalypse, you'd assume Mother Nature would intend for the fittest, most healthy humans to survive, right?
But that's not what's going to happen. We, the unfit, unskilled video-game nerds are going to live through it, while all the olympic athletes and manly muscle-men get eaten/vaporized/infected. That's all because we are the ones who plan for this sort of situation, whereas the healthy athletic people are busy doing other things, like exercising and populating the planet.
So, "Survival of the Fittest" isn't exactly going to work this time round. You know you've screwed up your planet when the wrong group of people survive the end of it.

Uggg, you are completely misunderstanding the phrase "survival of the fittest" which Charles Darwin didn't even particularly like because it did NOT adequately summarise Evolution through Natural Selection.

In this case the word "fittest" is not used simply in the term of why is strongest, fastest or biggest but in the rather redundant term "most suited to survival" so the phrase means "Those most suited to survival will survive" which is utterly redundant. It does also not clarify that from survival comes proliferation of those genes and other inherited characteristics.

See in so many circumstances an Olympic athlete is NOT the "fittest" as it may not be the best adaptation to the environment. Perhaps a better adaptation is to sit on your ass all day saving energy as you fashion a weapon or vehicle to improve your chances of survival? I mean look in nature, it is not about some arbitrary set of rules to what makes you better suited to survival. A Hyena is completely outclassed by the hunting prowess of a Lion, but hyenas have an incredible pack mentality, an evolutionary adaptation they can organise a gang to ambush a pride of lions and completely overwhelm them, often to steal the kill of whatever animal they hunted down.

I mean look at it this way, Mammals and Dinosaurs existed together then 65 million years ago a great cataclysm struck earth (likely asteroid(s) impact) and all the big, strong and powerful dinosaurs were wiped out only to have mammals rise to become the dominant taxon on this planet. The few species of dinosaurs that did survive were under such evolutionary pressure in this extinction period that the only ones that survives were those that evolved to have flight. Birds evolved from the few species of small dinosaurs that managed to barely survive the Great Extinction.

A better phrase would be "Proliferation of the adapted" that is those who have the best adaptations to the environment will survive but more importantly will be able to pass on their genes and their knowledge and lifestyle, etc.

 

[atomicmrpelly]

Pretty sure Survival of the Fittest is not to do with who conforms to whatever physical or mental criterium you put on it, but more to do with who can adapt to the new environment the fastest and most efficiently.

Exactly right! Fittest in this context does not mean most healthy, it means most adapted, ie most fit for the job of surviving.

 

[Daedalus1942]

You know, it's funny...
Assuming there was a nuclear/zombie/raptor apocalypse, you'd assume Mother Nature would intend for the fittest, most healthy humans to survive, right?
But that's not what's going to happen. We, the unfit, unskilled video-game nerds are going to live through it, while all the olympic athletes and manly muscle-men get eaten/vaporized/infected. That's all because we are the ones who plan for this sort of situation, whereas the healthy athletic people are busy doing other things, like exercising and populating the planet.
So, "Survival of the Fittest" isn't exactly going to work this time round. You know you've screwed up your planet when the wrong group of people survive the end of it.

Oh, hahaha, it's an apocalypse thread. I was about to flame you for badmouthing the Natural Selection Half-life mod, but (OT) I completely agree with you.

 

[Flunk]

Say what you will but the only way we've going to find out which people are the "fittest" for this situation is for it to happen and then we can all (who survive) look back at the people who survived and evaluate what characteristics they have in common. Speculating on this before the fact on the internet doesn't prove anything.

 

[cartzo]

you can't cheat nature, if the unhealthy nerdy smart people survive, then they must be the fittest.