3 ms·

I think the future will be more diverse, and what you describe is probably one direction it will go. But there are also many other directions, like people livi

by chubot 5y ago

I think the future will be more diverse, and what you describe is probably one direction it will go. But there are also many other directions, like people living off grid aided by varying amounts of cheap technology, etc. There is actually a lot of land left in the world (even in the US and Canada) if you want to take on the hardships of not interacting with society. Judging by what I see say on YouTube, a lot of people want this! Random channel, I only watched a little of it: https://www.youtube.com/user/explorealternatives https://www.youtube.com/user/explorealternatives (it felt like a lot of off grid living was in Canada, which is interesting given the weather) Similar to paleo and other alternative diets as a reaction against industrial farming and food production, there's already a lot of reaction against big tech and technocracy. I think / I hope this time it won't take 50+ years to "properly react". Both industries brought us some good things but we have to be critical about what to adopt.

concordDance 5y ago
"A lot of land"? Where exactly? The private timberland? The Federal wilderness? Or the desert? https://i.imgur.com/Us5Wyt0.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Us5Wyt0.jpg
- SamPatt 5y ago
  There's an entire state's worth of "idle / fallow" on that map. Michigan and then some. That's a lot of land.
- chubot 5y ago
  I'm not an expert in this area, but I watched a video by a guy who built a cabin in Michigan, talking about how to buy land for like $5K an acre. I just googled and this seems like a real thing, i.e. hundreds of properties for very cheap: https://www.landandfarm.com/search/michigan-land-between-5000-and-10000 https://www.landandfarm.com/search/michigan-land-between-500... Also I had a friend who did this near the California/Nevada border. Super cheap land if you don't care about electricity and plumbing! Michigan and California are both extremely populated states -- but MOST of them by land area is very sparsely populated. I'm sure someone here knows more, but I think it's obvious if you just drive 30, 60, or 120 minutes outside any city in the US. There is a lot of land. All of it is probably owned, but the owners are probably not doing anything with it, and would sell it for a fair price, which is low. Hell there is even land in San Francisco if you've ever biked between San Francisco and South San Francisco. Again, it's owned, but it's not doing very much. Humans like to crowd together in very few places, particularly near water. Here's a more relevant picture: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/3d-mapping-the-worlds-largest-population-densities/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/3d-mapping-the-worlds-large... Judging by this picture, the US, Europe, and Russia are barely populated at all :)
  - Johnythree 5y ago
    There are huge swathes of unpopulated land across the world. However in many areas the local zoning rules prevent you building on them. In Australia for instance, thousands of acres of Rural land have been rezoned as "Farming", which means that you can't build a house on less than 100 acres. And of course the only ones who benefit are the corrupt real-estate developers.

by chubot 5y ago

concordDance 5y ago

"A lot of land"? Where exactly? The private timberland? The Federal wilderness? Or the desert? https://i.imgur.com/Us5Wyt0.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Us5Wyt0.jpg

SamPatt 5y ago
There's an entire state's worth of "idle / fallow" on that map. Michigan and then some. That's a lot of land.
chubot 5y ago
I'm not an expert in this area, but I watched a video by a guy who built a cabin in Michigan, talking about how to buy land for like $5K an acre. I just googled and this seems like a real thing, i.e. hundreds of properties for very cheap: https://www.landandfarm.com/search/michigan-land-between-5000-and-10000 https://www.landandfarm.com/search/michigan-land-between-500... Also I had a friend who did this near the California/Nevada border. Super cheap land if you don't care about electricity and plumbing! Michigan and California are both extremely populated states -- but MOST of them by land area is very sparsely populated. I'm sure someone here knows more, but I think it's obvious if you just drive 30, 60, or 120 minutes outside any city in the US. There is a lot of land. All of it is probably owned, but the owners are probably not doing anything with it, and would sell it for a fair price, which is low. Hell there is even land in San Francisco if you've ever biked between San Francisco and South San Francisco. Again, it's owned, but it's not doing very much. Humans like to crowd together in very few places, particularly near water. Here's a more relevant picture: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/3d-mapping-the-worlds-largest-population-densities/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/3d-mapping-the-worlds-large... Judging by this picture, the US, Europe, and Russia are barely populated at all :)
- Johnythree 5y ago
  There are huge swathes of unpopulated land across the world. However in many areas the local zoning rules prevent you building on them. In Australia for instance, thousands of acres of Rural land have been rezoned as "Farming", which means that you can't build a house on less than 100 acres. And of course the only ones who benefit are the corrupt real-estate developers.