Planning for the end

I had an interesting conversation with a few friends yesterday while we sat around a crackling cooking fire, enjoying the fine weather. We were helping one of said friends to shave his head, using nothing but cheap plastic razors and a bottle of water (not a recommended method, by the by), when the subject of apocalypse came up.

You know, light-hearted chat.

When I say "apocalypse," I mean it in the actual definition of "a great disaster," and not necessarily the end of everything. The friend getting his head shaved asked us all to name what tool we would each try to build first upon such a disaster. My first thought was to create some sort of water purification system. After all, we can survive without lots of things, but water isn't one of 'em.

The conversation then drifted into a discussion of how we might manage to survive if society as we know it crumbled. I'd like to think I could hack it, but in truth we'd all probably be pretty screwed. Still, the whole thing got me to thinking: is this a common theme within my generation? Does it span generations? Do we all secretly (or, in the case of paranoid survivalists, not-so-secretly) ponder the possibility of a Mad Max-like existence some day in the not-so-distant future? Or is it just me and my crazy friends?

So, I'm putting the question out there: have you been secretly preparing for a meltdown? Maybe just regularly entertaining the notion of the possibility that the world may be a vastly different place when you're older? What do you suppose your reasons for this are? Let's call it an unscientific sociological poll.