Recovery

CRASH + 1 DAY

“Yesterday’s disaster does not change the fact that humanity has a hard deadline of July 1,” Secretary General Decatur said at a crowded press event this morning in front of WICO headquarters. “Luckily for us and the world, most of our people are data hoarders and have very good memories. We have been able to reconstruct the essence, if not all the details, of a very recent version of the strategy. The lack of detail and the loss of our automation tools has prompted a redesign of the strategy rollout, with agreements heavier on intent than on specifics. 

“Even more of a loss, though, is the erasure of the biosphere assessment database that was the strategy’s foundation. With time and resources that we do not have, perhaps up to two-thirds of the database might be recoverable from source data kept by participants and those who shared it over the course of the five-year effort, so we will need to collect and process real-time data using lessons learned.

“One of those lessons is the importance of decentralization. Fortunately, the strategy’s focus on decreasing ecological impact and the corollary of less dependence on high-impact technology is consistent with decentralized operations and decision-making that have been in development and test for several months. That aspect of the strategy has been given priority in execution, and is being incorporated into all of WICO’s operations as I speak in order to enhance security and improve our chances of success.

“The perpetrators of the sabotage have yet to be found, although we do have several suspects identified. One of the strange and ironic aspects of the extinction threat is that personal power accrues most to people who make it worse, giving them the greatest motivation to stop any attempts to resist it. They persist despite the fact that societal collapse is the inevitable consequence of pursuing more power, driven by short-term gain and delusional hope that they will survive with a world worth living in. Such people are easy to find because of the pain and death they leave in their wake.”

Reality Check

Decatur’s statement reflects plausible consequences of an event like that described, based on the history and characteristics of the people I have created.