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				 Re: OT: A question about the Human Ability to Cope 
 seems that the ability to cope would vary inversely with the open-ness of the society in question - imagine today's modern world confronted with one of the beasts you listed... the media would be all over it and panic would ensue.  In a iron-fisted dictatorship where information can be controlled and the population brainwashed to an extent, it seems that the motivation to fight a superior foe could be achieved (there are probably instances in history where this has happened...)
 just my $0.02(US)
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