Training engineers and teachers after a crisis: a four-year curriculum

Read, make, test, teach every week. Year 1 foundations, year 2 practical sciences, year 3 engineering, year 4 specialisation and teaching a class. Mathematics comes first and the first graduates teach the next.

Part of Day Zero, the plan for an AI-related crisis that gets out of control. Why it exists. General information, not medical advice: how these guides are reviewed.

An archive does not train anyone by itself. A plan, a teacher and a workshop do. This is a plan that fits a group with a few readers, a reading room and a small workshop.

Principles

1. Read, make, test, teach. Every week has all four.
2. Mathematics first: arithmetic, algebra, geometry, then calculus. Everything else depends on it.
3. Teach the teachers. The first graduates teach the next ones from month six.
4. Write down what you learn in your own words and keep it with the archive.
5. Keep records: who has passed which checkpoint.

Year 1: foundations

• Reading, writing, arithmetic, fractions, measurement.
• Algebra and geometry; units; estimation.
• Basic science: forces, energy, heat, light, electricity, the cell, hygiene.
• Workshop: tools, measuring, cutting, joining, fire safety.
• Checkpoint: can build a measured, working object (a table, a sled, a filter) from a drawing.

Year 2: the practical sciences

• Trigonometry, introduction to calculus, statistics.
• Physics: mechanics, fluids, thermodynamics. Chemistry: elements, reactions, acids and bases, combustion, soap.
• Biology and agriculture: soils, plants, animals, nutrition, disease.
• Workshop: pottery and brick-making, forging, carpentry, textiles.
• Checkpoint: builds a water pump, a charcoal kiln or a simple mill that works.

Year 3: engineering

• Calculus and differential equations; materials science; structures.
• Electricity and magnetism; motors, generators, batteries; circuits; solar systems.
• Machines: levers, gears, water wheels, steam, internal combustion.
• Medicine and public health for all engineers.
• Checkpoint: builds and repairs a solar-battery system, a water wheel or a generator.

Year 4: specialisation and teaching

• Choose one: civil (building, roads, water, bridges), mechanical (tools, machine shop), electrical, chemical (soap, lime, fertiliser, glass), agricultural, medical, computing (using the archive device, simple programming).
• Apprentice with a practitioner.
• Teach a younger class for a term.
• Checkpoint: a project the group needs, designed, built, documented and taught.

Using the archive

Use the Downloads groups: open textbooks (OpenStax, LibreTexts), Stack Exchange archives for questions, Wikipedia for reference, Survivor Library for old practical methods, Kolibri for lessons.

History and civics

Include one hour a week of history and ethics. Study how past societies collapsed and recovered, what worked, and what failed. A rebuilt world without that memory repeats the mistakes.

Printing

Print the textbook chapters your class needs most: devices fail first. See the printable booklet.

Review status: not yet checked by a named professional. Read how these guides are reviewed and check anything medical or dangerous with a qualified person where you can.