Survival orsurvivorship, the act ofsurviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things (or, hypothetically, anysentient being), to physical object, and to abstract things such as beliefs or ideas. Living things generally have aself-preservation instinct to survive, while objects intended for use in harsh conditions are designed forsurvivability.
The word, "survival", derives from theLate Latinsupervivere, literally meaning "to outlive". Most commonly, "the term 'survival' means physical survival — that is, a struggle to avoid physical extermination".[1] For example,Charles Darwin's theory ofnatural selection incorporates the concept of thesurvival of the fittest in the struggle for existence. Darwin defines the biological concept offitness asreproductive success, so in Darwinian terms the phrase is best understood as survival of the form that will leave the most copies of itself in successive generations.[2]
Historical references to survival cover aspects ranging fromindividual survival to that ofempires,civilization,[3] and of the human race as a whole. The concept is also applied to non-living and non-physical things. Inengineering, the term can be used to mean "the continued ability of the system to perform the desired function".[4] In law, it often refers to a holder of a legal interest who outlives another with whom that interest is shared, such as asurviving spouse, or to the interest itself, such as aright of survivorship.[5] In the United States, adesignated survivor is a named individual in thepresidential line of succession, chosen to stay at an undisclosed secure location, away from events such asState of the Union addresses andpresidential inaugurations, to prevent a hypotheticaldecapitation of the government and to safeguardcontinuity in the office of the president in the event the president along with the vice president and multiple other officials in the presidential line of succession die in amass-casualty incident.[6]Congress also designates members of theSenate andHouse, onefrom each party to become their own "designated survivor" to maintain the existence of Congress in the event of a mass-casualty event.[7]
With respect to the humanconsciousness, particularly when discussed in connection with the concept of asoul orspirit, survival can refer tolife after death:
In much of the literature on life after death, the termsurvival is employed more or less interchangeably with the termimmortality. And yet it is not difficult to see why the termimmortality is often preferred, particularly in some religious circles. It is not simply that it is free of the associations the termsurvival has with merely 'living on', or with lucky escape. More positively, the termimmortality suggests some superior quality of existence, whereas the termsurvival suggests mere temporal extension, a continuation of thestatus quo ante.[8]
Survival analysis is a branch ofstatistics for analyzing the expected duration of time until one or more survival-ending events happen, such as death in biological organisms and failure in mechanical systems.[9] One element of survival analysis is thesurvival rate, the percentage of people in a study or treatment group still alive for a given period of time after diagnosis. It is a method of describing prognosis in certain disease conditions. Survival rate can be used as yardstick for the assessment of standards of therapy. The survival period is usually reckoned from date of diagnosis or start of treatment. Survival rates are important forprognosis, but because the rate is based on the population as a whole, an individual prognosis may be different depending on newer treatments since the last statistical analysis as well as the overall general health of the patient.[10]
Individuals who are concerned with surviving an anticipated catastrophic or apocalyptic event are often grouped within the practice ofsurvivalism. Use of the termsurvivalist in this sense dates from the early 1960s.[11]
There are various kinds of media about survival. In both fiction and nonfiction, stories about individuals surviving despite particularly dangerous circumstances are popular. There is also a wide body of educational literature, sometimes referred to as a survival guide, offering advice onsurvival skills in various dangerous situations such asgetting lost without food or water, being attacked, or being in anatural disaster.
In film, thesurvival film is agenre in which one or more characters make an effort at physical survival, generally while being subject to hazardous conditions or a catastrophic event. It often overlaps with other film genres. It is a subgenre of theadventure film, along withswashbuckler films,war films, and safari films.[12] Survival films are darker than most other adventure films, which usually focus their storyline on a single character, usually the protagonist. The films tend to be "located primarily in a contemporary context" and so film audiences are familiar with the setting, and the characters' activities are less romanticized.[13] In a 1988 book, Thomas Sobchack compared the survival film to romance: "They both emphasize the heroic triumph over obstacles which threaten social order and the reaffirmation of predominant social values such as fair play and respect for merit and cooperation".[13] The author said survival films "identify and isolate a microcosm of society", such as the surviving group from the plane crash inThe Flight of the Phoenix (1965) or those on the overturned ocean liner inThe Poseidon Adventure (1972). Sobchack explained, "Most of the time in a survival film is spent depicting the process whereby the group, cut off from the securities and certainties of the ordinary support networks of civilized life, forms itself into a functioning, effective unit". The group often varies in types of characters, sometimes to the point of caricature. While women have historically been stereotyped in such films, they "often play a decisive role in the success or failure of the group".[14]
Invideo games, thesurvival game, is a subgenre ofaction video games set in hostile, intense, open-world environments. Players generally begin with minimal equipment and are required to survive as long as possible by crafting tools, weapons, shelters, and collecting resources.[15][16] These can take the form ofsurvival horror games, which focus on survival of the character as the game tries to frighten players with either horror graphics or scary ambience. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical action games through limited ammunition or weapons, health, speed and vision, or through various obstructions of the player's interaction with thegame mechanics.
In games operating in asurvival mode, or having such a mode as an option, the player must continue playing for as long as possible without dying in an uninterrupted session while the game presents them with increasingly difficult waves of challenges.[17] A variant of the mode requires that the player last for a certain finite amount of time, after which victory is achieved and the mode ends.[18] The mode is particularly common amongtower defense games, where the player must improve the defenses of a specific location in order to repel enemy forces for as long as possible.[19] Survival mode has been compared to the gameplay ofclassic arcade games, where players face off against increasingly stronger waves of enemies.[20] This mode was intended to give the game a definite and sometimes sudden ending, so that other players could then play the arcade game as well.
CBS News reports that the president and their staff are responsible for selecting the designated survivor, andJon Favreau, Barack Obama's former lead speechwriter, spoke to The Ringer about the designated survivor selection process in 2016. Favreau initially said that the process is "entirely random," but then backtracked a bit and said that sometimes, the designated survivor depends on what the president intends to say in their speech.
