Pars pro toto, but still relevant I feel. It's been demonstrated that while humans might not be born with empathy, they're still born with the ability to learn empathy...

> These options all presuppose that our survivors are able to construct efficient steam turbines, CHP stations and internal combustion engines. We know how to do all that, of course – but in the event of a civilisational collapse, who is to say that the knowledge won’t be lost? And if it is, what are the chances that our descendants could reconstruct it?

Not to mention our offspring will have to dig really deep for some simple ores, something I'm not sure can be done with primitive tools.

I would rather state it as follows: humans, in times of scarcity, prioritize themselves above others. Which is then perfectly understandable imo.

I don't believe standard human nature lacks empathy and that we learned it through civilization. On the contrary even.