I've always taken it for granted that self-reliance and minimalism are contradictions in terms. The reason we have things like factories in society is because i

I've always taken it for granted that self-reliance and minimalism are contradictions in terms. The reason we have things like factories in society is because it's not practical or efficient for everyone to manufacture everything they need for themselves. By collaborating, be it from borrowing a saw from a neighbor or by building a multi-national logging corporation, this "cooperation" makes things more efficient. It's this "societal" efficiency that makes minimalism possible in the first place. Every description I have seen of minimalism has not been centered around self-reliance, but around anti-materialism. Since we live in a society where our collective production output and efficiency is higher than it has ever been throughout human history, it's easier than ever to collect property that has limited or no real use, and consume without being mindful of the effect it has on our environment or at the very least on your own economy. So, in my mind, "minimalism", whatever that means, is not a means to self-reliance, it's a questioning of modern consumerism and whether we are perhaps over-spending on things that do not improve our lives. Whoever is trying to combine minimalism with "prepping", "self-reliance", call it what you will, is at the very least confused in my book.