The Average Person's Reaction to Collapse

And the science driving it.

In a quiet suburb of any major city, a middle manager named Tom sits at his kitchen table, staring at his phone. The screen shows an endless stream of contradictory emergency alerts, each one more urgent than the last. His hand trembles slightly as he scrolls, not from the caffeine in his third cup of coffee, but from a more primal response - the physiological cascade of stress hormones that Robert Sapolsky's research has shown floods a human brain when its entire framework of reality begins to crack.

Tom's behavior in this moment, like millions of others, follows a neurobiological pattern as predictable as any laboratory experiment. His modern brain, particularly as someone thoroughly integrated into societal systems, demonstrates what Antonio Damasio discovered in his groundbreaking research - when disconnected from somatic markers, our decision-making capability collapses even while logical analysis remains intact. Tom can read every alert, process every piece of information, yet finds himself fundamentally unable to decide what to do next.

The first phase of Tom's response manifests in his desperate search for authoritative guidance. As municipal systems falter and traditional power structures buckle, he compulsively checks official channels, social media feeds, and news outlets. This behavior reflects what Iain McGilchrist identified as "left-brain absolutism" - a state where the brain, conditioned to prefer categorical certainty over contextual awareness, frantically searches for clear directives even when the situation demands creative adaptation.

This fragmentation reveals itself in seemingly contradictory behaviors. In the morning, Tom might stockpile supplies based on one authority figure's direction, only to give them away in the afternoon when a different leader suggests community sharing.