There was a movie that came out when I was a kid based upon this premise.

No thanks - the death would be horrific.

Just look at how people suffered in Japan.

that I want them nuclear bomb to land right next to me and in an instant I am gone. I would NOT want to be a survivor. Call me weak....that is ok with me.

I can't believe my parents let me stay up to watch this when I was ten - hilarity and laughter did not ensue:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085404/

Then again - I can. My parents were very anti-nuke.

I'll leave my shadow behind with its middle fingers raised up.

As to your interesting questions:

2) Yes, I think life could be worth living in a post-nuclear war; depends on certain factors.

3) Yes, I think humans are amazingly adaptable. We're the cockroaches of primates.

4) see answer above

5) No.

I think those left will be in for a cruddy life for decades. All the armed folks will be killing each other for food and power. You will have to sleep with one eye open. Kind of a "Water World" existence if you've seen the movie. Just not worth it at this point in life.

Good luck to those of you who decide to carry on.

I was in the Air Force in October, 1973, stationed in Minot, North Dakota, the morning the original White House Dick, Nixon, placed us on nuclear alert over actions by the Soviets in regards the October Mid-East War. I remember standing in my duty station, looking out a barred window, wondering when the missiles might fly (I'd already seen the bomber pilots take off, and at that time, NoDak was the third largest nuclear power in the world -- behind only the rest of the US and the Soviet Union).

As I stood there that morning, a thought occurred to me -- later confirmed, when I spoke to my family in California -- that the only difference between the home front and the front line was a matter of perception. I knew the alert was on, so I was on the front line, while my family in California was ignorant of even the idea they were part of a 'home front.'

It's all different today. We are all on the front line, as events in recent years have made abundantly clear. So keep your head down and your wits about you, for if you let your wits down your head may end up all around you.

would render this planet uninhabitable for many centuries (if you don't count the myriad insects who might survive). I think this is the grim reality that most nuclear sycophants refuse to face.

by a major nuclear war.

The human race is incapable of learning from its past.

The human race is incapable of coexisting in peace.

The human race is filled with hate.

The human race has made this planet uninhabitable for those who want peace and harmony.

Those who survived would cling to their religion.

The wealthy would continue to rule the roost and steal from the poor.

The governments of the globe would continue to lie.

The hate and destruction would continue.

Humans are incapable of learning from their past mistakes.

They ignore history and facts.

Instead, the apocalypse was simply the prologue to another bloody chapter of human history. For man had succeeded in destroying the world, but war...war never changes.

lacking that, no fucking way.

envy the dead.’”

http://www.bartleby.com/73/1257.html

I never knew he was the one who said that.

Anyway, I'd rather not be one of the survivors if that ever happened.

on how protected and shielded I would be from the destruction and after effects. If I survived the initial exchange and then just died later from after effects, no, I would not want to survive.

If there was some underground city where I could take permanent refuge a la Logan's Run (but without the accompanying death cult), yes, I would want to survive.

....the movie was okay...the book was terrifying...

and movies such as Road Warrior. So, Yea, I would want to be around. It would be like living the dream.

You might detect my post as being a wee bit tounge in cheek.

Fifty years later, I still agree with that sentiment.

was what you say to somebody who's about to die.

In the context of this thread, what do you mean when you use it?

My parents believed one is better off dying in the initial blast rather than suffering through the consequences of radiation exposure and then dying. I was quite young when we had this conversation, and it began when I came home from school and told them about a drill we had where we hid under our desk as a means to protect ourselves from a nuclear blast. I'm sure it was a fairly common response during the Cuban missile crisis. My parents of course thought it ludicrous and that's why they said I was better off just walking toward the light of the explosion. As a parent, I can certainly sympathize with their fear of our suffering through such a scenario.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]A ton of bricks, a ton of feathers, it's still gonna hurt.[/center][/font][hr]

If the nightmare actually happened-if more than a small number of nuclear weapons were to be launched and detonated...what would you think or feel about the idea of surviving it? amazed

Do you think life could actually be worth living in a post-nuclear war world? yes

Do you believe it to be possible for the surviving members human race ever to emerge from mass grief and find any will to carry on in such a world? yes

How likely do you think it is that the things most people would think are necessary for life in the full sense...happiness, love, family, friendship, creativity, spontaneity, spirituality or religion, or freedom(whatever that might mean to each of us) could survive or be recreated in such a world? anything is possible

And, whatever answers you might have to the above questions, are there any circumstances, in the present world, in which you would be willing to accept the president of the day, whoever he or she might be, making the decision to start or threaten to start an all-out nuclear war? no. not anything I can fathom

and the next morning THE talk in the office was the Day After movie, A large open office plan, with around 50 people, hidden by their own cube walls. Someone asked the question, "What would you do if you knew you only 30 seconds before the atomic bomb dropped?". Many different answers were given. One guy answered, "I would jump into bed with the wife and make wild passionate love with her!!" From the back of the office a female voice, "Yeah, but what would you do with the last 20 seconds!!"

There ended, in hysterics, the conversation,,,,,