Ok, so the CDC isn’t going to help you to prepare (at least not yet), and there’s only so much that I can do to prepare you. If humanity is to survive the inevitable, experts somewhere are going to have to step up to fill the void. Finally, that has happened.
The course will deal not only with how to keep your physical body alive and in decent shape in the wake of disaster, but also how to keep your mind sharp in conditions that can cause insanity or panic. The course will touch on:
- Maslow’s hierarchy of needs—is survival just about being alive?
- Social order and structures—from the farm and the prison to Woodbury
- Social identity, roles, and stereotyping—as shown through leaders like Rick and the Governor
- The role of public health in society—from the CDC to local community organizations
- The spread of infectious disease and population modeling—swarm!
- The role of energy and momentum in damage control—how can you best protect yourself?
- Nutrition in a post-apocalyptic world—are squirrels really good for you?
- Managing stress in disaster situations—what’s the long-term effect of always sleeping with one eye open?
Preparing costs time though (laziness or other commitments, it turns out, are the biggest impediment to preparedness). This is about what you’ll be in for as far as a time commitment, and what you can plan to get out of your investment of time:
We recommend that you plan on spending about two (2) to four (4) hours per week on this course, though we believe the course is compelling enough you’ll want to spend more time.
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Describe how infectious diseases—like a zombie epidemic—spread and are managed
- Apply various models of society and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to existing and emerging societies as a means for understanding human behavior
- Analyze existing social roles and stereotypes as they exist today and in an emerging world
- Debate the role of public health organizations in society
- Describe how mathematical equations for population dynamics can be used to study disease spread and interventions
- Apply concepts of energy and momentum appropriately when analyzing collisions and other activities that either inflict or prevent damage
- Summarize multiple methods for managing stress in disaster situations
The course will be taught by experts on social sciences, astronomy, public health, and mathematics. The course is being taught online, so there’s no excuse for not signing up. There’s an optional textbook: The Walking Dead and Philosophy: Zombie Apocalypse Now. Admittedly I’ve not read it, but I will fix that just as soon as I get back from the hardware store. I’ve recently moved in with my fiancee and need to zombie-proof the house.