sociology experiment

[tskstorm]

Well, the officer isn't going to be any better or worse than anyone else at creating or applying laws.

...and what if the officer is a clone of Farva from Super Troopers? We can play this game all day long.

I'm not advocating to keep the officer, just askinq questions

[TheGuildMaster]

Sence you specified 3 must be removed, and 7 stay and the Reasons why are as follows:

First of all, I am a Realist.

- 16yo Blind pregnant girl: Removed; because she is a multiple liability to the groups survival. Mainly because she is blind, and therefore must have an attending person with her. she is pregnant, and again requiring an attendent. the group started with 7, then is reduced to 5 usefull people. just because you keep the pregnant girl.

-Priest: Removed; serves no function, other than an extra helping hand to do what needs doing. Spiritual guidance is Not tops on the "Need" list.

-Lawyer: Removed; same as priest, serves no function, other than an extra helping hand to do what needs doing. do to the small number of people (7); legal functions are performed by other personnel.

-Army Captain & Police Officer: Keep; for Command and leadership roles, as well as heads of legal decisions. most physically fit of all listed individuals.

-70yo Doctor & Medical Student: Keep; for obvious resaons. the DR can teach the medical student. they can work togather to perform medical services on those that need it.

-History Professor: Keep; once a place to live has been established , the Professor can teach the survivors and eventually the children of the survivors as well as future teachers.

-Farmer: Keep; for obvious reasons. once a place to live has been chosen, the skills and knowledge of the farmer can be put to use. as well as the farmer teaching others to farm.

-Prostitute: Keep: additional helping hand. most likely under the age of 30.

.. now to address the argument of why the prostitute over the other 3. the blind girl; reason is stated earlier. the priest; is stereotypically in the late 50s of age, with no special skills needed to survive in this situation. the lawyer; his/her skills are provided by the officer and the captain. plus, the need for the elimination of the coruption of the 'what was' modern legal system; allowing for a fresh and new legal system to develop.

I know I am going to take a lot heat from what I said and why. but I am sticking to my guns, with what I said.

[JPINFV]

plus, the need for the elimination of the coruption of the 'what was' modern legal system; allowing for a fresh and new legal system to develop.

...because there are no corrupt police officers? Papers please comrade... papers.

[tskstorm]

Welcome to the city, interesting thoughts...

Some food for thought because I'm a jerk, are there not priests who become priests after already having and maintaining another job? Just because he is a priest doesn't mean he doesn't have skills that can help you? Without a priest who will boost morale?

You are going to kill a child? Not only that but a child with a child ? you keep the prostitute who you would assume is under 30 and can repopulate the earth? what if the prostitute is a male? what if the prostitute has norplant and cant get pregnant for 5 years? Why do we assume being a prostitute is a bad thing ? Do we know why thats their chosen line of work ? Is the prostitute from the US? or another place where prostitution is legal(vegas included)?

You think by getting rid of the lawyer, the Police officer and other survivors wont try and reestablish the law they were familiar with?

[akflightmedic]

Here is my list and everything is flexible depending on gender/age. For now, I make assumptions.

Army Capt- This is me. And I stay.

In times of turmoil, we need strong leaders and we turn to those who represent authority, leadership, calmness under fire. Whether or not the Capt has those qualities, it is what most people envision when they see or hear an Army Captain. This authority will not last forver but is definitely needed until some sort of society is reestablished.

Priest- Adios!

Since the word Priest is used, this indicates one of the Catholic belief. There are no female priests within Catholicism, and the Church has been mingling in society's affairs way too long anyways. Time for it to go bye bye. Religion will continue based on each person's prior knowledge and some sort of new faith will emerge. It has been done over and over through earth's history, so no big loss. If there is a God, this is one of those times he would understand.

16 year old- Stays

She is a risk being pregnant but we have others here who can assist. She is perfect for child bearing and has many, many useful years ahead of her from the reproductive perspective. This is important to rebuild society. Due to her youth and ability to produce, she may very well turn into an alpha queen as she will be well taken care of. By the time the child is a food burden, the farmer should have worked his magic.

Also, the girl is blind and while this may be a hardship as she can not source food or help in many useful ways, the plus side is everyone will be able to get sex--even Dust! Like it or not, sex is important for the reproductive and mental well being of our survivors.

Farmer: Stays

I toiled with the farmer being tossed because basically everything is destroyed on earth and we would return to a scavenger mentality which anyone can do, but for now he is here. Anyways, I will operate under the assumption the farmer is able to start growing crops again based on his knowledge. Farmers are known to be hard workers, therefore his back breaking labor will come in handy with minimal complaining. He will have elevated status among the early society.

Police Officer: Goes away (unless its a female)

We have the Capt representing the authority, we do not need a competitor in the alpha male group in this early society. Anyone can enforce rules which will be made and enforced collectively in the early stages of this society.

History Professor: Stays

There is entirely too much valuable knowledge to waste but he/she is already used to teaching. He will be instrumental in the education of the new group and will pass on the basic reading, writing skills when that time comes. He is history teacher, so he may be a bit more relaxed, liberalistic in his approach (we can only hope).

Prostitute: Stays

Again, I am assuming female. She may still be in productive child bearing years so that is a plus. She is used to handling men, negotiating, problem solving, resolving conflict. She has many positives which can serve the new society well. She also can help the younger girl possibly with a woman's perspective.

70 year old doc: Stays

I went back and forth on him as well, but I think his good will outweigh his negative. First, he is able to teach his knowledge to everyone, including the med student. While he may die soon or have health problems very soon, his knowledge can not be wasted. He is old enough to remember the good old days and pass on some common sense that we have long forgotten due to modern medicine marvels.

Every group needs someone who is older but not the alpha male. He will be sought for wisdom, stories and most likely mediation with a peaceful process. He will speak softly and people will listen. He will struggle to keep up physically but again his medical knowledge is of extreme value. By the time the child is becoming "another mouth to feed" he will be on his way out.

The Med student: Stays

He will be the prime student for learning how to care for everyone. Not only that we will assume he is a younger male. He will be needed for his physical fitness plus he is a prime seed carrier. He may be least offended when chosen to sleep with the under age girl to make another child.

The lawyer: Goes

We do not need another alpha male, same as the reason we got rid of the police officer. If the lawyer is a female, then I will reconsider. In regards to laws, a lawyer is not an all knowing source of every rule on the book. In fact there are no more books. Laws existed before there was writing, someone eventually will create new arbitrary ones and write them down. There will be a new Hammurabi or Moses...we can only hope we steer towards reality and common sense as opposed to religious rule.

[chaser]

My thoughts..

Who stays:

1. Med Student- enough knowledge to help out (male or female?)

2. Farmer- got to be able to grow food

3. Police- keep people safe and calm ( and it did not specify if this was a male or female cop)

4. Priest- moral, spirtual support so keep community from freaking out

5. History Prof- you can't rebuild with learning from past mistakes

6. 16 yr old- someone has to bring some new life into the scene

7. Army Capt- Organization, protection, structure, order.

Lose:

1. Lawyer- no explaination necessary- no purpose at all

2. 70 yr old doc- too old, a burden

3. Prostitute- who needs the possibility of STDS passed onto to everyone, nothing to contribute that others can't do

[Eydawn]

This whole exercise is irrelevant with the amount of information given.

You have no idea what people's subspecialties and personalities are and you don't know what their genders are. The only gender known for sure is the priest.

Those would be the deciding factors for me! Perhaps the priest is one from an agricultural abbey, who knows how to grow things small scale... Perhaps the historian is a good diplomat who happens to be a crack shot and would be much better at enforcing order... perhaps the prostitute is a broke and desperate engineer who decided to start turning tricks to pay off student loans...

No way to know. I think the overall lesson here is that it doesn't matter what your profession is, it matters who you are as a PERSON in entirety in this sort of situation.

Wendy

CO EMT-B

[akflightmedic]

The only gender known for sure is the priest.

Wendy

CO EMT-B

Well I hope the pregnant 16 year old girl isn't a boy....that would be weird.

[JPINFV]

Well I hope the pregnant 16 year old girl isn't a boy....that would be weird.

It's also being assumed that only the Catholic church has priests. What if the priest is an Anglican priest? Now we don't know what the sex of the priest is.

[Lone Star]

Priest: Religious Guidance. Other religions can 'sprout off' from the fundamental tennents. This has been done in the past, and can be done again.

16 year old blind pregnant girl: While blind, there's no statement on the etiology of her disability. In consideration, she's got more 'child bearing years' than the prostitute (if the prostitute is female)

Police officer: To establish law and order. Military can be trained from the basic foundations of Law Enforcement

History professor: As a society, if the past is forgotten; society is doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

70yr old Doctor: To train/educate the medical student. As a medical student, there would be some sort of basis for medicine established already, (ie: pre-med)

Lawyer: To help reestablish a justice system, and provide legal relief and criminal punishment

Medical Student: To learn from the doctor, and reestablish the medical profession, which will help ensure the well being and expansion of the new society.

While the farmer was cast out/killed, the historian would have an idea of farming techniques used by past societies, as well as how they gathered seeds, and began a 'farming system'. Furthermore, the 70 year old doctor would have come across plants (and what they look like) for drugs and which ones to stay away from (like poison ivy/sumac; etc)

Each person would be responsible for assisting in establishing a 'communal farm' to raise food, the police officer would also be beneficial in helping hunt (if there are animals that have survived).

Additionally, the only one that has been established by gender is the 16 year old, there's no guarantee that she's the only female within the group. Conversely, the society structure would have to be re-evaluated if the citizens are identified by gender.

Furthermore, with the current group, there is at least five people within the group that has had some sort of 'higher education' (Criminal Justice, medicine, history). By keeping these people we have also established a higher 'educational system' for the new children that have yet to be born. Thus, we will establish a new society that is better educated.

*edited to add contentand grammatical errors*

Edited May 8, 2010 by Lone Star