In all cases, try to gather up as many survivors as possible.
Probably get a good group and set up near an established electric dam and cut it off from the rest of the grid so we can get some power. From there, back-up as much of the information I can, keep servers running, and begin collecting a hard library. Set up a broadcasting center to try to take advantage of the satellite network while it still existed.
Education, learning, and the preservation of knowledge would be my goal. To rebuild. *nods*
EDIT: Because the survival of an individual does nothing in the long run.
I said I'd keep mobile until the initial horde of infected died down, then I'd look at establishing a base for starting plant/vegetable/water supply growth and living for the group.
I also know the entire eastern side of Australia like nobodies business, not to mention I've lived on the edge of the outback for the majority of my life - I know what's around me, and what to do in order to survive - while also living near snow in the mountains near some major cities of Australia.
I can dig both desert and snow.
Plus, where I didn't know a location or road, I'd have maps.
Don't confuse my ability to survive in my country with your own.
I wasn't trying to convey that it's a bad idea. It's just not the choice I would make. If it works for you, all the power to you. I'm really just interested in reading ideas on the subject, putting forward my own, and discussing both.
Doesn't that increase your chances of being noticed by the zombies and the supplies of an area running out sooner? I'm not saying that groups shouldn't be formed, but I probably wouldn't want more than ten people with me, and that's depending on who they are...but I suppose if you're at a remote, easily defended location like a dam, that might work out well.
For as long as the electrical supplies of the other computers and networks around the world last. Granted, there would probably be more than one group with a similar idea and operation to yours, which would be great, but there's a lot of infrastructure there that could easily collapse or be hard to repair, like a fiber-optic cable in the middle of the Atlantic...
Preserving things like books(particularly engineering & science related) and what not would probably be a goal that I'd start after I started my settlement. And yes Books, because they don't need electricity...that might be their only advantage over computers...
Hmm.... A lot of my responses would depend on the type of 'end' that befalls civilization.
In a Zombie Apocalypse senario, in my opinion, I think you only delay the inevitable. If undead people don't get you, then undead rats, cats and dogs probably. And if you decide to get on a boat and go to an island, undead fish will follow you. And when you get to the island, undead birds & rats are still there. If undead things hunger for your living flesh, they will find you even in the mountains. The International Space Station might be your best bet but since NASA's funding was skewered, we get no self-sustaining/Silent Running-ish biodomes to live in.
I am amazed at how many people want to suddenly pack a backpack and "head for the hills" to live like hermits. I also thought it amusing that if they ran across people, the people would just "instantly follow them" to their wooded areas as if people will see their internal/external pack and be awed. Personally, I'd be surprised if they did beat our intrepid backpackers over the head with a bundle of celery and take their stuff. Alas, such is the lonewolf-FPS-teet that has suckled our generation.
I must confess that I do not own and have never shot a gun. Be that as it may, with 99% of the world decimated, I can pretty safely say that I would probably be the only living human within a 100-200+ mile radius so I could take my time digging, probing through all the empty stores for hoarding purposes. I would take the time to learn about guns (since I don't want to be shooting my foot off), read up on survival stuff (since I would hate to wipe my ass with poison ivy), and see what creature comforts I could keep going. If the local electric powerplant could not be kept operating, then surely there are simpler methods for generating electricity (besides a kite getting struck by lightning)? I am with Milkshake on this in that what can be salvaged of our technological prowess should be salvaged (A/C for example (humanity's best invention!), medical supplies for another, especially if it was infection that decimated the population).
If my wife was dead along with the rest of 99% of humanity, I would probably keep myself busy investigating my dead town, the stores, the homes, etc... and only when I was all done would I probably get despondent regarding the previous life lost. I would hate to be a wanderer too early since walking would give me too much time to think. At that point, doing, not thinking would be the order of the day for me.
I would try to curb any tendancies toward selfishness (I would hope) by not only hoarding for myself but for whatever animals are left behind. I would probably release the animals caged in the local human society. My wife loved dogs so I have gotten used to them so I would have a few which would mean hunting for dog food as well. It would mean I would need to learn how to take care of such animals as cows, chickens, horses for when the processed food goes, what is left but natural? Practicality would probably dictate my treatment of them. For example, some may think.. "Let horses run free and let chickens be free range and all that. But I figure those chickens would get themselves in trouble when coyotes come calling or my greedy pooches. Also, I don't feel like chasing the horse all over kingdom come just to expand my search radius. While cars would probably run for a while, and I would hope to maintain as much as possible, the roads themselves would deteriorate.
However, I do not believe that a sudden desire to be one with nature and live off a river's bounty is going to move humanity into starting a new, "green" civilization. I also do not think that making a political statement in turning my back on the leavings of our current civilization whilst carrying stuff sold at Sears on my back would make any impact on people (unless that impact was chasing me for the stuff on my back). Those that such moves/beliefs would impress would be dead. More practical matters would be more important (like daily bathing and hot water) than being scared to meet others in this new post-apocalyptic world.
The world would probably end up being more feudal in nature but even if there were not enough humans for even that, family/families then become the standard. Clans.
And guys can't start a Clan without...well women.
So, one wife? two wives? One wife, six concubines? Talk about new domestic responsibilities!
If the isolation were a force of circumstance, I would not welcome it. I think humans are social creatures (even if one was an internet nerd that only talked to girls via AIM previously). Eventually, I would hunt for others and, depending on what I find, share/barter what I have with others. Isolation brings it's own madness and nobody wants to be Hermit Harry who talks to rocks.
However, if there were slightly more people left over in the world then it would be prison rules, I suppose, that rule the day. Without the rule of law governing excesses or even conduct, a more ruthless, savage set of rules would replace it (rule of the jungle?). So you either grow up quick or die at someone's whim because if, in this world, someone can take something from you, they will take something from you. It would be a living nightmare of a world to be sure and a world where the Mad Max's would be the first to go (who drives that fast courting a blowout in the middle of the desert? As if the roads are going to be in that good of a repair!).
In that sort of world, I would have to become a warlord.
