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This is addressed right up front in the book, interestingly enough. > "While working with hundreds of Americans building expedient shelters and life-support eq

This is addressed right up front in the book, interestingly enough. > "While working with hundreds of Americans building expedient shelters and life-support equipment, I have found that many people at first see no sense in talking about details of survival skills. Those who hold exaggerated beliefs about the dangers from nuclear weapons must first be convinced that nuclear war would not inevitably be the end of them and everything worthwhile. Only after they have begun to question the truth of these myths do they become interested, under normal peacetime conditions, in acquiring nuclear war survival skills. Therefore, before giving detailed instructions for making and using survival equipment, we will examine the most harmful of the myths about nuclear war dangers, along with some of the grim facts."

arethuza 5y ago
That's nice if you are in a rural part of the US - less so if you are in densely populated and heavily targetted (at least during the Cold War) locations like the UK. Edit: Optimistic estimates by the UK government predicted 65% of population killed (53%) or seriously wounded (12%) in the short term - a real attack is likely to have been much worse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Leg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Leg NB This optimistic scenarios was used in the writing of Threads. Edit: Think about that: Threads was optimistic!
TechBro8615 5y ago
For me the lack of urgency in “prepping” for existential disasters is that I have far more pressing concerns, like avoiding bankruptcy and homelessness. If I were sitting on a mountain of cash and hard assets, I would be more willing to invest in prepping. But until then, I’ve got little to protect anyway, and I’m not about to drop $800 on filling a bag with some supplies to last me a week in the apocalypse. Surviving post-collapse would be an adventure for everyone, but an unpleasant one for most. I’ve found the best way to resolve any existential concern is to continue working on long term goals of wealth acquisition and self improvement. Come the apocalypse, I’d rather be the guy with the army than the ex-programmer begging for food in exchange for repairing a home owner’s smart fridge.
- jessriedel 5y ago
  You generally can get a large fraction of the benefits of preparing for a rare risk of very bad events with minimal time investment. See for instance Rob Wiblin's nuclear war cheatsheet, which takes about 60 seconds to read: https://www.facebook.com/robert.wiblin/posts/801710894825 https://www.facebook.com/robert.wiblin/posts/801710894825 (Pastebin to avoid facebook login: https://pastebin.com/xeyr5CwX https://pastebin.com/xeyr5CwX ) It's not too hard to argue that something like that is worth re-reading, say, annually.
  - simonebrunozzi 5y ago
    Upvoted for two reasons: one, excellent comment, and two, you kindly provided the Pastebin. Well done.
- ramses0 5y ago
  (old) Shoes, underwear, toilet paper, bottles of water, travel hand sanitizer, marine rations, first aid kit, u.s. army field survival guide (book). Basically as much water as you can carry and 2-3 packets/pouches/bricks of emergency shortbread/fake-cake. My threat models are 1) 3-day general disruption in services (water, electricity)... 2) immediate local disruption (fire, tornado), 3) "let's go camping!" Basically pack a "let's go camping" backpack (heavy on bottled water and a few extra of those emergency bricks), and throw it in the car whenever you go "out" for like a hike or a weekend road trip or whatever. The more you actually pick it up, use it, handle it, and travel with it... the more you'll figure some useful adjustments to it. It doesn't have to really cost much money in any case, just don't throw away your next pair of shoes... grab your ugliest "TechBro" free backpack, and stuff 5 liters of water in there. You'd already be way ahead of the game in case of a widespread disruption of services. I tend to keep my "dopp kit" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toiletry_bag https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toiletry_bag ) in there when I'm not traveling which has my spare razor, q-tips, etc. ...again, total cost is nearing zero to get started, it's usually about making sure you've gathered useful things you already have into the same place.
  - TechBro8615 5y ago

arethuza 5y ago

That's nice if you are in a rural part of the US - less so if you are in densely populated and heavily targetted (at least during the Cold War) locations like the UK. Edit: Optimistic estimates by the UK government predicted 65% of population killed (53%) or seriously wounded (12%) in the short term - a real attack is likely to have been much worse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Leg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Leg NB This optimistic scenarios was used in the writing of Threads. Edit: Think about that: Threads was optimistic!

TechBro8615 5y ago

For me the lack of urgency in “prepping” for existential disasters is that I have far more pressing concerns, like avoiding bankruptcy and homelessness. If I were sitting on a mountain of cash and hard assets, I would be more willing to invest in prepping. But until then, I’ve got little to protect anyway, and I’m not about to drop $800 on filling a bag with some supplies to last me a week in the apocalypse. Surviving post-collapse would be an adventure for everyone, but an unpleasant one for most. I’ve found the best way to resolve any existential concern is to continue working on long term goals of wealth acquisition and self improvement. Come the apocalypse, I’d rather be the guy with the army than the ex-programmer begging for food in exchange for repairing a home owner’s smart fridge.

jessriedel 5y ago
You generally can get a large fraction of the benefits of preparing for a rare risk of very bad events with minimal time investment. See for instance Rob Wiblin's nuclear war cheatsheet, which takes about 60 seconds to read: https://www.facebook.com/robert.wiblin/posts/801710894825 https://www.facebook.com/robert.wiblin/posts/801710894825 (Pastebin to avoid facebook login: https://pastebin.com/xeyr5CwX https://pastebin.com/xeyr5CwX ) It's not too hard to argue that something like that is worth re-reading, say, annually.
- simonebrunozzi 5y ago
  Upvoted for two reasons: one, excellent comment, and two, you kindly provided the Pastebin. Well done.
ramses0 5y ago
(old) Shoes, underwear, toilet paper, bottles of water, travel hand sanitizer, marine rations, first aid kit, u.s. army field survival guide (book). Basically as much water as you can carry and 2-3 packets/pouches/bricks of emergency shortbread/fake-cake. My threat models are 1) 3-day general disruption in services (water, electricity)... 2) immediate local disruption (fire, tornado), 3) "let's go camping!" Basically pack a "let's go camping" backpack (heavy on bottled water and a few extra of those emergency bricks), and throw it in the car whenever you go "out" for like a hike or a weekend road trip or whatever. The more you actually pick it up, use it, handle it, and travel with it... the more you'll figure some useful adjustments to it. It doesn't have to really cost much money in any case, just don't throw away your next pair of shoes... grab your ugliest "TechBro" free backpack, and stuff 5 liters of water in there. You'd already be way ahead of the game in case of a widespread disruption of services. I tend to keep my "dopp kit" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toiletry_bag https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toiletry_bag ) in there when I'm not traveling which has my spare razor, q-tips, etc. ...again, total cost is nearing zero to get started, it's usually about making sure you've gathered useful things you already have into the same place.
- TechBro8615 5y ago