The Colony: The Crash Without Humblefacture

The Colony, the newest project from Original Productions (creators of Deadliest Catch, among others) presents a group of "survivors" with the task of rebuilding civilization in the face of a viral plague and massive infrastructure breakdown. Realistically, it seems like junkyard wars with a slightly campy storyline (there are gangs of motorcycle thugs who periodically harass the group, among other things). It does, however, do a wonderful job of illustrating how difficult it would be for even a highly trained group (they've got a rocket scientist, for crying out loud) to quickly and smoothly respond to the kind of societal bump that a major epidemic would present. By focusing on low-energy, low education, highly flexible methods of manufacturing, Humblefacture seeks to make this sort of scenario much easier to respond to. It will be interesting to watch and see how changes like pervasive personal fabbing technology might alter the way this scenario unfolds.