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As long as the paranoia is about how nature is going to try and kill you at any chance it gets, sounds good to me!

antipotoad 4y ago
That paranoia is the creeping realization that civilization coddles us to the point of uselessness in the face of trivial survival challenges, and that nature actually cares not one jot for your continued existence as a living being. I’d modify your statement to say not that nature is trying to kill you, but that you’re irrelevant. The difference is deeper than it might at first seem.
- krisoft 4y ago
  > civilization coddles us to the point of uselessness in the face of trivial survival challenges I scoff at this notion. Each of us is a weak, fragile hairless monkey. There is no such thing as “civilisation”. It is just other monkeys just like you and me caring about fellow monkeys so much that we go to extremes to protect each other. Civilisation is the term one uses to describe these combined efforts. It is not something which makes you weak, it is the way we choose to cling together and protect each other. It is our way to face the survival challenges.
Loughla 4y ago
Sadly the paranoia in outdoors survival groups tends to be less about nature, and more about the government coming to take your guns and homes and what-not. Although, that is my experience in multiple mid-western states; so it may not translate to other parts of the country.
- xcskier56 4y ago
  I've done a lot of ultralight backpacking. That community is, in general, on the more liberal/hippie side of the spectrum. One of the funniest things I noticed however is that the far other end, the doomsday-preppers, start to share a lot of the same tools and food. For example I was making my own freeze-dried meals, and most of the sites where you could buy the food were targeted towards preppers. A little bit of if you go so far right (or left) you end up on back on the other side.

That paranoia is the creeping realization that civilization coddles us to the point of uselessness in the face of trivial survival challenges, and that nature actually cares not one jot for your continued existence as a living being. I’d modify your statement to say not that nature is trying to kill you, but that you’re irrelevant. The difference is deeper than it might at first seem.

krisoft 4y ago
> civilization coddles us to the point of uselessness in the face of trivial survival challenges I scoff at this notion. Each of us is a weak, fragile hairless monkey. There is no such thing as “civilisation”. It is just other monkeys just like you and me caring about fellow monkeys so much that we go to extremes to protect each other. Civilisation is the term one uses to describe these combined efforts. It is not something which makes you weak, it is the way we choose to cling together and protect each other. It is our way to face the survival challenges.

Loughla 4y ago

Sadly the paranoia in outdoors survival groups tends to be less about nature, and more about the government coming to take your guns and homes and what-not. Although, that is my experience in multiple mid-western states; so it may not translate to other parts of the country.

xcskier56 4y ago
I've done a lot of ultralight backpacking. That community is, in general, on the more liberal/hippie side of the spectrum. One of the funniest things I noticed however is that the far other end, the doomsday-preppers, start to share a lot of the same tools and food. For example I was making my own freeze-dried meals, and most of the sites where you could buy the food were targeted towards preppers. A little bit of if you go so far right (or left) you end up on back on the other side.