Reply #3: If you want to codify values in a manner "hardened" agaist calamity,

[phantom power]

religion suggests itself. A friend of mine once observed that Mormonism would appear to be a religion specifically engineered to keep its followers safe from some kind of cataclysm, with their practice of keeping a year's supply of food, large families, high female-to-male families, etc.

That, of course, is a very Straussian idea. I hate Straussianism, and I hate religion. But I don't know of any other proven method of codifying behviors for masses of people, that is long-lasting.

We need a Hari Seldon for the 21st century.