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You have five dependents, stock up. In a crisis bad enough that your prudence and foresight significantly affects other people by depriving them of food you ca

You have five dependents, stock up. In a crisis bad enough that your prudence and foresight significantly affects other people by depriving them of food you can give them some of your food. But in that situation you're probably done for already, and should have gone up in the hills, eh? John Titor said something that scared the shit out of me. Paraphrasing, it was something like, "If you want to survive, move to a place three days further out than a starving person can walk." ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor "John Titor is a name used on several bulletin boards during 2000 and 2001 by a poster claiming to be an American military time traveler from 2036." ) If you're worried about the collapse of civilization then, no, stocking up is not going to help as much as just getting way the hell out there in the woods and being self-sufficient. You'll be rolled by starving people. ("People always raid before they starve." https://spaswell.wordpress.com/2016/11/18/dr-gwynne-dyer-geopolitics-in-a-hotter-world-ubc-talk-transcribed-sept-2010/ https://spaswell.wordpress.com/2016/11/18/dr-gwynne-dyer-geo... ) For disasters less severe than that, then YES! Stocking up is the responsible thing to do and we should all do it as a matter of course, virus or no virus.

owenversteeg 6y ago
"three days further out than a starving person can walk" sounds cool if you're posting fake apocalypse theories on the internet (aka John Titor), but is generally pretty terrible advice. First of all, there are an enormous amount of cars in America and there are roads nearly everywhere. The furthest spot from any road in the lower 48 US states is in Yellowstone, 21.7 miles from the closest road: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42104894 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42104894 Even assuming that there's some kind of enormous EMP that kills all modern cars, there are plenty of pre-80s cars around and around a third of Americans have bikes. You can cover some serious distance on a bike if you're motivated enough (aka by hunger.) There are millions of horses in the USA, not to mention other animals and tools you can use for transportation (canoes etc.) If your bet is to hope that your fellow members of the most adaptable species on Earth won't get to you, you're generally screwed. If you plan to use force (say firearms) to hold back your place, well, that'll attract attention from anyone else (if you look at failed states, you're likely to see roving bands of criminals with more firepower than you.) There are fairly few examples of people who made their apocalypse preparations and actually rode out the local serious disaster in their bunkers, so to me, it's obvious what your best bet is - to simply live in a safe, sane and successful society.
- carapace 6y ago
  > "three days further out than a starving person can walk" sounds cool It doesn't sound cool it sounds terrifying, for exactly the reasons you lay out. > it's obvious what your best bet is - to simply live in a safe, sane and successful society. Yeah it's obvious to me too. Do you know where I can find a planet like that? And a flying saucer to reach it?

owenversteeg 6y ago

"three days further out than a starving person can walk" sounds cool if you're posting fake apocalypse theories on the internet (aka John Titor), but is generally pretty terrible advice. First of all, there are an enormous amount of cars in America and there are roads nearly everywhere. The furthest spot from any road in the lower 48 US states is in Yellowstone, 21.7 miles from the closest road: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42104894 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42104894 Even assuming that there's some kind of enormous EMP that kills all modern cars, there are plenty of pre-80s cars around and around a third of Americans have bikes. You can cover some serious distance on a bike if you're motivated enough (aka by hunger.) There are millions of horses in the USA, not to mention other animals and tools you can use for transportation (canoes etc.) If your bet is to hope that your fellow members of the most adaptable species on Earth won't get to you, you're generally screwed. If you plan to use force (say firearms) to hold back your place, well, that'll attract attention from anyone else (if you look at failed states, you're likely to see roving bands of criminals with more firepower than you.) There are fairly few examples of people who made their apocalypse preparations and actually rode out the local serious disaster in their bunkers, so to me, it's obvious what your best bet is - to simply live in a safe, sane and successful society.

carapace 6y ago
> "three days further out than a starving person can walk" sounds cool It doesn't sound cool it sounds terrifying, for exactly the reasons you lay out. > it's obvious what your best bet is - to simply live in a safe, sane and successful society. Yeah it's obvious to me too. Do you know where I can find a planet like that? And a flying saucer to reach it?