Antibiotics
There are fewer than 10,000 people who, if they just like weren’t around anymore, would inprove everyone’s quality of life like ten fold. I cling to the hope that one day enough of us will realize that and save the world.
Getting rid of those 10,000 people is relatively easy. The hard part is preventing 10,000 replacements from popping up.
You realize that’s entirely cope right.
Some dead rich people just means their money will go to their kids/family, it’s not going to you in any way ever other than through changes in tax law and enforcement. And well, if you’re already middle class, you won’t really see any benefit because you already generate more taxes than you consume.
Further dead rich people and more tax money won’t fix the massive inequalities and inefficiencies and corruption that makes government and social policy so limited and ineffective in many places.
The idea is that watching what happens to those 10,000 discourages replacements. But of course it’s cope. Fortunately, I don’t live in the US so am at least insulated somewhat. I’ll be dead before things get too gnarly. And no kids. Good Lord, no kids.
Fortunately, I don’t live in the US so am at least insulated somewhat.
The rise in authoritarianism and surveillance is worldwide, the US is just where the people funding it live. You’re barely insulated now, and will be much less so if they succeed.
i don’t think you understand how people work.
Mostly that I like the civilized world.
Like don’t get me wrong: Nature hikes? Camping? All great. National parks are a treasure. But I will freely admit I rather enjoy little comforts of modernity like “clean water just comes out of the tap when I turn it on”, “fresh food is a 15-minute walk to the grocery store away”, and “the spinny machine makes my clothes clean while I do other stuff.”
I complain about the modern world petty often, but damn some of it is nice. The other day, the dishwasher was running, the washing machine and dryer were going, the robot vacuum was doing its thing, the litter box was cleaning itself, and I was just sitting there with a beer and a good book.
Imo, either this is your answer, you’re a hypocrite, or you live in the woods.
Civilized world has it’s perks. Water closets, supermarkets, social media.
social media
I’d argue that’s a reason to leave civilization 🤣
I like enough of the civilized world that I’m still willing to participate in it, despite being relatively removed from a lot of it.
Also, living in the woods in a lot more work than people think it is and I’m lazy.
I’ve given it some thought.
There isn’t enough empty land in temperate climates for someone to survive unmolested outside of civilization, and I don’t have the multitude of skills required to make it in less hospitable climates. If I could find a good source of food I might make it past the first couple weeks, but I’m not hopeful. I’ve never harvested an animal, so that’s a big barrier.
If I had a good solar system and a house on several hundred or thousand acres to get me started it might work out. Better yet if I have some seed and starter food.
not having to shit in a hole in the ground
As long as your soil will percolate, a septic system isn’t difficult to build. You just dig a trench leading to a hole, fill the hole with plastic buckets or 55-gallon plastic drums cut up and arranged correctly, then run a correctly sloped PVC pipe to the septic tank you just built. From there, you connect to your fixtures to the drain pipe as needed.
The difficult part is getting the tools and equipment to do all that out to your location. The bigger the tools you use, the faster and easier the work will be, the it will also be more challenging to get it in and out. Basically, a shovel is a lot easier to carry than a backhoe, but a lot less pleasant to dig with. Same deal with a reciprocating saw, battery, charger, and solar setup, versus a hacksaw.
except all of that requires a civilized world to produce.
excluding basic hand tools
Shitting in a hole is not the part that concerns me, it’s dealing with the hole once it’s full.
Either the soil percolates, so it’s fine, or you didn’t perform your due diligence when choosing a place to live.
Cover the hole with dirt and dig a new hole.
Which is a giant pain in the ass, especially if you’ve built a nice heated structure over the hole so that you don’t get hypothermia while pooping in the winter.
In that case, large container that can be tipped into the big hole periodically. You can always dig the new hole in stages rather than all at once too.
Also if manual labour is off putting to you, the whole idea is probably not something you are suited to.
Not sure how I could legally do it here but the idea I like is going half way into the wilderness. Buy some woodland but have towns nearby you could pop into for some supplies occasionally and still keep a part time job. Difficult part is legally living in your own woodland.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has to shit in the woods some time: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/610432/how-to-shit-in-the-woods-4th-edition-by-kathleen-meyer/9781984857132
I was working in sanitation and told my co-worker about my upcoming back country trip. He recommended this book. I put it on my e-reader and read it during the course of my adventure. I changed how I approach such things afterwards.
Ticks. Also, probably, my wife and progeny.
I’m afraid of being alone with my thoughts.
It’s not as easy as Stardew Valley makes it seem like.
I’m waiting for the next book in that series I like.
Indoor plumbing. Seriously. Go without for a couple of weeks and tell me how you feel about hot showers and flush toilets.
Also, people really underestimate how difficult it would be to just fuck off into the woods. You’d need a good amount of planning and knowledge to do it. What’s edible within what time range. Where the animals are at what time of year. And if you’re up north you always gotta be laying in firewood.
Also civilization has taken over most of the good hunter gatherer/ subsistence farming spots. River valleys, estuaries, anywhere with good fertile soil. Most of the places with good desolate wilderness to fuck off into was left desolate because it’s fucking desolate.
Fucking cold winters and the effort of growing enough potato, hunting and fishing, gathering firewood all with hand tools is way too much work.
Lack of survival skills
The VAST majority of people simply could not cut living in the wilderness, cutting themselves off from society completely. It is an extremely difficult life. Most people wouldn’t know so many critical skills you would need to even begin to think of pulling it off. Even when you look at “successful” instances of this, you find they still return to civilization to make up for shortfalls, like making sure there is enough food, using gas, complex machinery like power tools, vehicles, and generators, etc.
