The post-apocalyptic genre can be a rather interesting subject, and can pose interesting and thoughtful discussions. While there are people who are drawn to the consideration of surviving following an apocalyptic situation, there are also those who consider a future for humanity beyond it. What could happen once the main danger has faded and the remainder of people have reached a stable point? How may people go about seeking to build new civilizations? In the interest of this consideration, I have used my observations and historical background knowledge to create a list of 23 things that would likely be important to developing new societies. Keep in mind this is theoretical and can be subject to critical consideration.

1. Books and Documents

The written word is one of the key means of transmitting thought and knowledge. It has allowed for ideas and information to extend beyond the boundaries of personal connection and the limitations of the individual life. It has fostered and recorded many of humanity's great intellectual and cultural achievements. The books and documents which happen to have survived from the ancient world have the potential to help inform and guide people as they set out trying to develop their own society. Likewise, the creation of new books and documents will be important to cataloging new information and building the intellectual wealth and education in new societies.

2. Paper, Writing and Print Material

In order to be able to take full advantage of the capacities of the written word, it must be a living practice. While there are several materials which can be written on, such as papyrus and animal hides, paper from tree pulp has proven to be the most efficient non-electronic material for writing, and thus is a likely candidate for future writing material. The benefits of writing will encourage the development of writing materials, tools for writing and eventually tools for printing.

3. Hand Tools

In a world where electricity and mechanized machinery production would be in short supply, advanced tools would likely temporarily fall out of practice. The resurgence of building in the early stages would likely be led by hand tools. Simpler to make and only reliant on human energy, simple tools, such hammers, hand saws, axes, hatchets, needles, etc. would be the means for establishing settlements.

4. Metal Forging

Living in buildings made out of stones, rough wood and plant fibers, and using tools made of wood, rock and bones isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. While our ancestors did this for thousands of years, it usually doesn’t afford much for developing complex civilizations with a high quality of living. That’s why most groups turned to harnessing metal production when they were able to. The ability to take metal ore and forge it into metal tools is an important feat. Metal tools offer more of an ability to acquire and process natural materials. Metal allows for the creation of useful new products or new versions of existing products. The development of metal forging opens up doors for furthering societal development.

5. Making Soap and Hygiene Products

The maintenance of people’s health is important to the longevity of a society. Hygiene practices historically took a long time to develop to resemble what they do now. Just 200 years ago, bathing only once a year was not uncommon. This is not to say that most of past humanity was just unhygienic. The condition of hygiene depends highly on what resources and technology are at hand and what the cultural situation of the society is. The Romans had a vast network of water harnessing systems and developed an early version of the toilet, but once they fell, the technology was put out of use until it was redeveloped nearly 2,000 years later. Some ancient civilizations, such as the Judeans, developed complex cultural practices related to hygiene. Interestingly, much of the early hygiene practices were developed through religious practices and notions of establishing purity and banishing impurity.

While it is difficult to predict how hygiene matters will go about developing, some things seems likely to happen. The first hygienic product to return to production will likely be soap given that some forms of it can be made just by processing ashes and animal fat. Human waste management, cleaning dishes and utensils and bathing will likely return in some form, due to their basic relevance.

6. Pottery and Clay Working

Clay is one of the earliest and most basic materials that has been used by societies for creating products. We have seen its use from the oldest known settled societies to modern day. Its general abundance, malleability and ability to be made sturdier with heat makes it a good material for use. Newly emerging post-apocalyptic societies would likely turn to using the material as their old world products made of metal, plastic and other complex materials wear out. It can used to create pottery, dishes and statues. It can be used as a stepping stone for advancing more advanced material production, as well as an early medium for establishing new art.

7. Basketry

Basketry has a similar significance as pottery and clay working. Basket making also affords a means of producing containers for things like food and goods. Likewise, its processing of wood and plant fibers can be a stepping stone for helping to develop things such as clothing, bags and armor.

8. Cloth Making and Clothing Making

Clothing is a basic human product, serving our needs and quality of life because very few places are warm enough year round for someone to live without clothes. Clothes and other cloth products (like blankets) are important to keeping us warm. It is also crucial for shielding our skin from things that would do us harm like the weather and plant life. Likewise the act of being clothed has a significant internal psychological effect of helping to assure our human mind by asserting the superiority of the person and their mind over their human vessel by placing it in a vessel. Clothing has often been used for social functions. For instance, the Ottoman Empire kept a strict dress code about what kind of people could wear what kind of clothing, so as to identify key individual information (kind of like a non-electronic Facebook). For these reasons, post-apocalyptic societies will likely turn toward working to produce various types of clothing and cloth materials.

9. Baking

Food is a central need for human survival and a key element of societal and cultural development. Since all human beings need to eat, food has occupied a major role in all societies and has developed in countless forms to suit the resources and cultures of people. One key element of past food development was baking. The practice of processing grain products (sometimes mixing them with dairy products, fruits, sugars and spices), and cooking them into breads and treats was a significant accomplishment in nutrition. Baking helped push forward the milling and processing of foods, which in turn helped to establish more long lasting food products. Likewise, it has helped spur agricultural development and helped create a major use for sugar (one of the products which helped to create the world trade system). Odds are that bread and sweet baked goods would remain in the memories of survivors and would likely be passed down in stories. The future generations would likely seek to recreate these foods and gain their nutritional value.

10. Salt and Spices Production

One of the key concerns with food is preservation. Foods, especially meats, are subject to the danger of rotting. Salt helps to preserve meats and other foods which tend to rot quickly. This allows food to last longer and helps relieve the burden of maintaining the food supply. The less people have to worry about satisfying their basic needs, the more time they have to focus on developing themselves and creating the things which help to improve the quality and joy of life.

Furthermore, salt, sugar and various spices had a significant role in encouraging trade. In the past, people often sought ways to make foods taste more pleasant. Since spices have an unequal distribution, trade was used to transfer spices across vast distances. The European Age of Exploration was largely driven by a desire to enrich off of finding new trade routes to spice rich areas. Columbus accidently ended up finding the Americas in an effort to find a shorter route to the Indies.

Unless a society has some sort of cultural belief against doing so, new societies will likely seek out spices and sweets. As a consequence, they will likely end up exploring, trading and waging war over spices.

11. Energy Harnessing

The power that we can exert from our physical bodies can only take us so far. Even at its peak of physical condition and health, our body is still outpaced by our mental capacities of ambition and imagination. This is why human beings in the past had turned to harnessing sources of energy, whether that be from water, wind, animals, electricity, solar, or some other force. Post-Apocalyptic societies will seek to harness energy. This may occur in any number of matters. Odds are that societies will be inclined to move toward a stage of once again harnessing and producing electricity, using electrical machines and producing electrical devices.

12. Fuels

On the same path post-apocalyptic societies would likely turn toward the use of fuels. Wood will almost certainly be the preferred but coal, oil, natural gas and other fossil fuels would probably end up being used by at least some societies (if there is any left in the post-apocalyptic world). Biofuels would likely be produced in some form, though. They would likely be more common in scenarios where fossil fuels are rarer or not available.

13. Carpentry and Furniture

Furniture has been created by every culture throughout history. As people have advanced their shelters beyond mere survival, there has been a tendency to create objects to fill the space. In a post-apocalyptic situation, the examples and memories of the past would further reinforce the idea of creating chairs, tables and other home products. Given that wood is one of the most abundant and one of the easiest to process materials available, there is a high likelihood of the development of carpentry practices.

14. Masonry and Brick Making

Buildings are a key element of human settlements. The carving and remolding of rocks has produced much of the building materials in history. Given the abundance of stone and its relative ease in beginning to work with it, masonry will likely develop in a significant number of post-apocalyptic societies. Since establishing uniform pieces of material to attach together gives more options for construction, bricks will likely end up being created in some form, whether from carving or some form of molding.

15. Machinery

In order to extend our abilities beyond the limits of the human body, humanity has turned toward creating things which could help us to accomplish things. Thus we have created machines to harness and wield energy to move heavy objects, transport us, perform intricate tasks, capture and display images and sounds, execute programs and help us with the production of things. In a post-apocalyptic world, people would still continue to use their intellectual abilities to create things to help influence material conditions. People in new societies would likely continue to use some remaining technology. They will likely seek to engineer old technology, work to rediscover technologies and develop new technologies. Odds are that various interesting conditions and combinations of technology may arise.

16. Agriculture

Food is a central need of human survival. Hunting and gathering can only provide so much food, and can be costly in terms of the time and energy it takes. Cultivating crops allows for a much greater control of people’s food supply. It makes settled society much easier to do, allows for the support of larger populations and makes it easier to mold food production to our convenience. As such, it is natural that most societies that have the opportunity would work to develop agriculture.

17. Animal Husbandry

The sibling practice to agriculture would be the domestication of animals. Animals have the potential to provide meat, milk, animal hides, products for making cloth, animal power and transportation. They can also be used as pets. Odds are that the new societies would form relations with other species and utilize them in some form. These can vary by cultural beliefs, and may involve regulations and prohibitions on doing certain things toward certain animals or animals in general (such as a possible vegetarian society).

18. Water Acquisition and Processing

Water is one of the other essential needs for human survival. As with food, the ability to effectively produce water, to collect and to effectively utilize it is crucial to the thriving of civilization. Thus, people in post-apocalyptic societies are going to find ways to acquire water, make it drinkable and in other ways usable and move it to places where it is needed. Water can be utilized for drinking, producing other beverages and food products, watering plants, hydrating animals, bathing and a host of non-essential uses.

19. Weapons Craft

Throughout history groups of human beings have engaged in violence and warfare against each other. This has been done for various reasons, often including political, economic, ideological, personal and ulterior motives, and usually is a combination of these and multiple other reasons. While it is possible that the people of this new world could learn to all live in peace, it is not probable. In order to have peace you need the overwhelming body of each side to agree to settle their issues without war. If even one group doesn’t go along with this, then there will be war.

The factors of hunting, dangerous animals, bandits, raiders, rival settlements and potential civil war will call upon a need for weapons. Thus any non-pacifist society would be inclined to produce weapons for defense and/or offense. The competition between different groups would incline various groups to further develop their technology for weapons, armor and settlement fortification.

20. Medicine

In order for a society to make the best use of its people and to secure a decently long life, the health of the population needs to be looked after. This will lead to a reestablishment of medical practices. Whether it be through shamans, medicine men, midwives, nurses, doctors or some other title, the medical profession will return to societies in some form. Over time they will work to create medical treatments and medicines for the sake of trying to improve health and longevity. If they are anything like the medical figures of the past or present, they will make a lot of mistakes such as creating poisons and toxins, engaging in inhumane treatments, mistakenly declaring natural differences as diseases (as they did to females, racial minorities, Judaism, LGBT people, the Autism spectrum, etc.) Hopefully there will be some left over old world medical books to help them avoid repeating some of the old mistakes.

21. Currency

Human societies require a means of transferring resources between encampments. There have been societies which have transferred through primitive socialism, barter, warfare, tribute and other forms of non-monetary exchange as well as there have been theoretical means of non-monetary exchange. But currency has had a significant practice across human history and is the dominant means of exchange in the contemporary world. Odds are that at least some survivors would remember currency and act to reinstate it once cross settlement trade occurs. The usefulness of using currency as a medium of exchange would likely lead it to eventually occur on a significant scale and help to spur the development of various business and government elements.

22. Mathematics and Accounting

Mathematics will be an important element of knowledge and practical operations. Contrary to popular misconception, mathematics can have very relevant uses. Mathematics can be used to keep track of things, in conducting commerce, in designing architecture, in conducting finance and various other tasks. The more large and complex the population, projects, material, and wealth of a society is and the more intellectualized it is, the more inclined it will be toward developing mathematics.

When societies develop governing states of significance they will be inclined to develop mathematics for accounting. If a government is going to provide services to a significant number of people, govern multiple and engage in significant projects and produce a military to guard its interest, then it almost always is going to need to tax, extract tribute or find some means of accumulating resources from the populace. If it is going to do this efficiently, it will need accounting to keep track. Likewise any significant institution, making use of significant and complex resources would need to practice it. That is why early mathematicians were often associated with state bureaucracies, religious priesthoods and merchant associations. Mathematics and accounting will have a comeback.

23. Constitution and Law-craft

As societies form again, government will form once again. Despite all the things there are to complain about governments for, they will return. It is natural that a group of people would establish a formal system of social organization, rule making, and power distribution. It has the potential to help ensure the safety from external and internal dangers, to resolve disputes, to allocate resources, to provide services to the population, to organize large scale projects, and to sponsor advancements. Contrary to anarchist theory, even where there is no need to use force or mandate the control of resources, government would still exist for it's usefulness of organizing the populace and acting as a medium for its development.

Governments will likely arise in many different forms. They could be large, small, democratic, anti-democratic, tribal, confederate, federal, fascist, communist, or any number of other things. They may manifest to act for the public welfare or the interests of a few. They may act to protect human rights or violate them. They may legislate morality or act permissively, but constitutions and law-craft will arise in some manner. If societies enlarge beyond the capacity of direct democracy or direct oligarchy, they will likely end up creating a legislative body. As people come to see government as a public matter, as people come to believe in the importance of consciously directing the character development and people come to clamor for standards of human rights and public welfare, there will be movements toward the establishment of constitutions. The nature of people as moral and intellectual beings and the status of society will incline to produce an ever present elements struggling to move humanity in this direction. As the positive forces of human development arise, they will incline toward a social transformation to more enlightened states.