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It's much more interesting to try to actually learn enough about how things work that you could, theoretically, reconstruct some of them. Take gasoline, for exa
by pjscott 15y ago
It's much more interesting to try to actually learn enough about how things work that you could, theoretically, reconstruct some of them. Take gasoline, for example: could you work out how to refine oil by partial distillation? If you needed to measure the temperature, could you make a basic thermometer and calibrate it? Do you know how to make metals from ore? If you go back to before the bronze age, being able to mix copper and tin could be a big deal.
This is really fun stuff to learn about. Plus, this way you won't have to worry about battery life.
- redthrowaway 15y agoIt is, but we run into the barrier of expected utility. What is a better thing for me to learn: how to scale rails apps, or how to construct a solar panel from iron age technology? Don't get me wrong, both are awesome. Absent a working time machine or the ability to leap into a novel or Z-Day, however, only the former will have any benefit for me.
- evincarofautumn 15y agoTime travel could be impossible, but the end of the world could be right around the corner. I’m not a doomsdayer, but I do think it’d be fun to contribute my brains to a survival group. Better than contributing them to a zombie’s maw, wouldn’t you say?
- redthrowaway 15y agoHow far down the rabbit hole do we go, and how much of my irredeemable nerdiness am I willing to admit to? If we're talking Z-Day, then the most economical solution seems to be either to buy and convert an old mine, or to grab an old nuclear silo[1]. Either way, one could reasonably assume that a full, automated backup of Wikipedia and other helpful sites would be stored on local servers. If you're not a member of the "I can buy Minuteman silos, whatever bro" club, then your currency is best spent on ammunition and the pre-determination of likely gathering points. If, in the unlikely event that you're just a nerd putzing around on the Internet when you should be doing Real Work, you have access to none of these, then I suggest you move quickly towards a zombie-proof survival plan. [1] http://www.missilebases.com/properties http://www.missilebases.com/properties
- pjscott 15y agoLearning to make charcoal in bulk or blow glass are valuable purely for entertainment: it's not likely to be useful to you, but you'll have fun doing it. On the other hand, this was also my motive for learning about things that later turned out to have really high expected utility, like the concept of "expected utility".
- arctangent 15y agoYou might enjoy reading about the difficulties Thomas Thwaites had in building something as simple as a toaster from scratch: http://www.thetoasterproject.org/ http://www.thetoasterproject.org/
- gosub 15y agoI've seen the TED presentation about this and there is one thing I particularly disliked: all the energy and effort spent molding the plastic enclosure. I think it wasn't faithful to the concept of "recreating civilization from basic premises" that appeals more to me.