Survivalism is the belief that one must be prepared to survive a major catastrophe by stocking up on food and weapons. A survivalist therefore is a person who anticipates and prepares for a future disruption in local, regional or worldwide social or political order. Survivalists often prepare for this anticipated disruption by learning skills (e.g., emergency medical training), stockpiling food and water, or building structures that will help them to survive (e.g., an underground shelter).
On March 13, the source files for the song were released in GarageBand format at NIN.com. According to the site, the source files of all songs from Year Zero will be made available to download, free of charge. "Survivalism" is the third NIN song to be officially released as source files—"[[Only (song)|Only]]" and "[[The Hand That Feeds (song)|The Hand That Feeds]]" were previously released.
===Song Credits===
==Versions==
===Survivalism===
Found on ''Year Zero'' as well as the ''Survivalism'' single and promo.Characterized by much synthetic layering and a consistent eighth note drum machine pulse, matched by a single note bass riff that begins on the second eighth and ends on the eighth before repeating. This gives the song an apparent metric shift one eighth note forward, though the first downbeat of each measure is actually in the space between the stop and start of the bass and guitar riff. The chorus features many layers of group vocals, including some by [[Saul Williams]]. After the final chorus, a new guitar riff leads off a coda that builds in layers of drones until suddenly stopping and leading into "[[The Good Soldier]]."
===Survivalism (Radio Edit)===