NationStates Jolt Archive

If the current economic situation just completely fell apart and all society collapsed around us, with mass rioting, war, chaos, death, etc, would you be able to survive it all? What skills do you have to survive such a catastrophe?

Also, make it somewhat interesting, as I am rather bored. :)

Yes, I'm well prepared to crack open your skulls and feast on the goo inside

I have 5 guns in the closet and enough ammunition to take out half of my city. I think I'm prepared.

Yes, I'm well prepared to crack open your skulls and feast on the goo inside

Sweet. I'm afraid you might not find much goo in some people's skulls. :(

Im from South Mississippi, 'nough said, lol...

I have a Closet Arsenal, and can pitch a tent, build a fire, catch a fish, and shoot a deer...

If society breaks down, what more do you need? lol...

[Hank Jr.]
"A country boy can survive.
[/Hank Jr.]

Im from South Mississippi, 'nough said, lol...

I have a Closet Arsenal, and can pitch a tent, build a fire, catch a fish, and shoot a deer...

If society breaks down, what more do you need? lol...

Two words: Toilet paper. :eek2:

Im from South Mississippi, 'nough said, lol...

I have a Closet Arsenal, and can pitch a tent, build a fire, catch a fish, and shoot a deer...

If society breaks down, what more do you need? lol...

I have 5 guns in the closet and enough ammunition to take out half of my city. I think I'm prepared.

We should forge an alliance and cap some fools.

Two words: Toilet paper.

lmao, while very nice and convenient...I have been in the toilet paperless situations, Leaves are the best bet...Although a bit more disgusting, Ive also been in the spot where theres nothing but Pine Needles...and then your best bet is to jump in the River...

If the current economic situation just completely fell apart and all society collapsed around us, with mass rioting, war, chaos, death, etc, would you be able to survive it all? What skills do you have to survive such a catastrophe?

Also, make it somewhat interesting, as I am rather bored. :)
I'm pretty sure I'd look hot in leather chaps, but I don't know how to ride a motorcycle, and a mohawk is not my look. So...probably not.

We should forge an alliance and cap some fools.

What do you bring to the alliance? Clearly I have the firepower. You better know how to rig up a generator or purify water or something.

[Hank Jr.]
"A country boy can survive.
[/Hank Jr.]

I honestly hate that song, but that was what I was thinking, lol...

Anybody who is sure they would probably wouldn't.

Mormons and Orthodox Jews would probably have the highest survival rates, since these are "clannish" types of people who tend to watch out for each other. All Mormons would coagulate in Utah and Idaho and a fully functional, stable, and secure Deseret Republic would spontaneously come into existence.

And it goes without saying the Amish will be better than anyone else at subsistence farming, though they might not survive a Mad Max scenario if they keep following the "turn the other cheek" rule.

Hell, Ive already been through a sort of "practice run" lol...

After Katrina, although we had MREs, there was no Electricity, Water, or Toilet Paper(lol)...

I'd probably fare better than some people in a TEOTWAWKI situation, but I don't think I could do it alone. My best bet would be to trek (either using my truck or on foot) to my parents house. My older sister and brother in law live pretty close to my parents, and his parents live about the same distance away from them. Since my brother in law and his father hunt, they could provide meat. My dad's pretty handy with a chainsaw (my parents heat their house with a wood stove), and has a generator. I'm relatively handy (I can chop wood, can turn a wrench if need be, and add another firearm to the arsenal my brother in law and his father have), and my younger sister still lives with my parents, so she would be able to help out as well.

Anybody who is sure they would probably wouldn't.
Especially the gun-totting wannabe Mad Max's; they'll be among the first to get themselves killed.

Especially the gun-totting wannabe Mad Max's; they'll be among the first to get themselves killed.

lol, well I was intending to use mine for Hunting, just to be clear...

I'd probably die. I always hear those stories of like the woman who got run over by a truck and held onto the axle on the highway for 20 miles in order to survive.......I wouldn't do that, I'd just die. Seriously. Who cares that much about their life?

I know how to purify water, how to make a "shelter" out of the environment, how to maintain and use a firearm (of which I "own" several), how to trap food, how to cook it properly, and I know many of the local berries and fruits that I could eat. I also know how to make a fishing pole and line. It's pretty easy, actually.

I'm not sure I would survive, but I'm suitably equipped to do it if I'm motivated enough to survive.

As a white guy living in the Bronx, I wouldn't bet too much on my survival should the East Coast descend into an orgy of violence and looting.

Especially the gun-totting wannabe Mad Max's; they'll be among the first to get themselves killed.

Indeed. It would be quite the sight.

Indeed. It would be quite the sight.Good thing I'm not one of them. I'd rather fish or trap food. No need to get all loud (You know, bang bang) with a firearm and attract unnecessary attention, right?

No need to get all loud (You know, bang bang) with a firearm and attract unnecessary attention, right?

Thats why God invented Silencers, duh, :p lol

Thats why God invented Silencers, duh, :p lolDo you know how to make one?
...Don't forget your pepsi/coke/whatever can.

I'm gonna be the local warlord. Or possibly barter acorn flour for other trade goods. Whichever is easier.

ummm.... you guys are weird. you take it way too seriously.

ummm.... you guys are weird. you take it way too seriously.

Thats prettymuch the Definition of the Interwebs in general, lol...

ummm.... you guys are weird. you take it way too seriously.Missing the point, this one is.

I'm gonna be the local warlord. Or possibly barter acorn flour for other trade goods. Whichever is easier.
Acorn flour? Is that really what the world is coming too?
I think I'd rather die.

You know, I'd like to say that I could survive, but I'd probably be lying. More than likely, I'd run out of food within a couple days and just starve to death or something.

Im also not such a bad Gardener, Got some prettygood tomatoes...Me and My dad actually got our Banana tree to grow Bananas but, had to cut them off while they were still green, cause our growing season not being long enough meant that they would kill the tree when winter came around...but, still, lol...

Acorn flour? Is that really what the world is coming too?
I think I'd rather die.

The way I see it is that if White Castle can stay in business during the best of times, there will be no problem selling Acorn Flour once the shit hits the fan.

As a white guy living in the Bronx, I wouldn't bet too much on my survival should the East Coast descend into an orgy of violence and looting.

Doesn't that happen every Friday/Saturday night there?


ummm...my skills...ummmm...I can do origami.

I would likely be screwed as I live in New York City. Depending on what kind of catastropy it was we would probably find a way to keep the beer flowing. Lines would be longer, who would notice.

Only until my food and ammo ran out. After that, who knows.

Economic collapse...bfd! I think I could ride it out (not that I'd like it, but still...) Dumpster diving and fishing would be how I would spend my days. I would also carve out a territory to set up as a confederation small Christian pareconist communes. None would exceed 2500 people. Since there are obviously some troublesome elements, instead of pacifism, I think invocation of Just War Doctrine is in order:p

Hard to say. I don't own any guns, and I don't have an underground bunker (or any other kind of bunker). But I am pretty mean, I have a ton of canned food, bottled water and extensive backpacking/camping equipment, and there are cows and horses in the pasture across the street, so, you know, fresh meat on hand. I might live.

To survive, though, I would have to break into a few pharmacies and stock-pile my antidepressants and seizure meds. If I could get my hands on a few months' supply, I could probably wean myself off slowly enough that it wouldn't devastate me. Then I'd be good. I should probably keep extra around in case that happens...

I don't know, there is only one way to find out.

My daughter's in the Air Force, unless the whole country falls completely and irrevocably to pieces, she's golden. As long as she's ok, I'm ok (yes, I'm so going to move in and require that she support me).

I live in a farming community in Central Australia now, so I think I'll be okay. We can shoot all the kangaroos for food, and brew the wheat crops for beer!

grew up in the woods myself.

I'd probably kill myself because there really isn't anything left for me. Might as well, considering that my skills are useless in a world without our modern economy and that a world without progress would be nothing more than hell every single day I was forced to endure it. Death would most definitely be preferable to societal collapse...that would be horror beyond imagining.

This question pops up on united kingdom discussion fora from time to time.

Speaking as a former biologist now IT consultant with practical experience in small scale farming, who knows how to build and operate a solar still to produce drinking water and assemble solar heating / power gear, who lives near the second highest tidal range on the planet and knows how to exploit THAT too, I feel my best hope is to find someone with lots of guns who is unable to know for certain his drinking water has not been poisoned by someone he fears.

Other than that, I'm toast. Unless I can make use of my six years working on missiles and similar time working on radars to good effect in the dying days while they still work.

I'd probably kill myself because there really isn't anything left for me. Might as well, considering that my skills are useless in a world without our modern economy and that a world without progress would be nothing more than hell every single day I was forced to endure it. Death would most definitely be preferable to societal collapse...that would be horror beyond imagining.

What is your skillset/training?

To survive, though, I would have to break into a few pharmacies and stock-pile my antidepressants and seizure meds. If I could get my hands on a few months' supply, I could probably wean myself off slowly enough that it wouldn't devastate me. Then I'd be good. I should probably keep extra around in case that happens...

Or find someone like me who has a hardback british pharmacopoeia and a knowledge of where such materials or substitutes can be found naturally.

I should have mentioned in my earlier post that when modern medicine takes a nose dive knowledge of more traditional technologies and a background in the techniques that kicked off the progress towards today's situation might, just might, be a bartering chip that would increase my usefulness to the local warlord, whoever that might be ....

What is your skillset/training?

Accounting. Good luck finding someone who cares about LCM, deferred tax assets or LIFO reserve adjustments when Washington looks like Mogadishu...I mean, I could do basic inventory accounting or any number of simplified measures that predate the modern world of accrual accounting, but that would just not be worth it when my entire world has collapsed.

Yes, I was raised Mormon and could fake the funk to get at some of those sweet provisions they stock for the end of days.

I'd kill myself. I'd die anyways without my meds, why suffer?

I'd kill myself. I'd die anyways without my meds, why suffer?

We could have a helluva party before ending it with a bang, or perhaps more than one if we miss.

Actually, I could probably survive for a time. I can process wool from the back of the sheep (or llama or alpaca or angora rabbit) - sheer, clean, spin and make cloth. I can cook over an open fire - if I get together with my kids (my son is an ex-cop, ex Navy electronics tech - his girl friend is a civil engineer. My daughter is a Public Health person, who, it appears, may be developing a relationship with a surgeon) we could survive pretty well - we're all competent in complementary disciplines.

Wll i'm an eagle scout. so i know how to shoot a gun and tie all the knots and all the first aid and stuff. and i'm pretty good at it too. i figure if i can get ahold of some decent weapons myself and my more youthful reletives, my scout troop and some other friends could make a farily effective looting party of the area.

i know what stores have guns and ammo and where to get food. and i could even go as far as raiding the churches tha have canned goods stored. i guess i need to start mapping out the locations, be prepared u know.

none of us live forever, but some of us might come back in a few centuries, just for grins.

No, not really. I don't have much in the way of survival skills. I could probably learn quickly, but I would be dependent on others for survival until I picked up on a few skills.

That said, I do have four skills that could be useful, so I could probably join a group of people and convince them that I would not be dead weight:

First aid (took a course in high school, have the certification card in my wallet)
Astronomy (I can find Polaris much more readily than most people, and I know the night sky, so I'd be good for navigation)
Horseback Riding (I don't count riding as a hobby, but I am fairly comfortable on a horse, so if we were to use horses for transportation, I'd be fine)
Better Than Perfect Vision (OK, not exactly a skill, but my eyesight is 20/15, which has to count for something)

Of course, I'd be less useful once my ADD meds ran out, but I have at least a month's supply, and I can still function fine without them - just not as well.

If the current economic situation just completely fell apart and all society collapsed around us, with mass rioting, war, chaos, death, etc, would you be able to survive it all? What skills do you have to survive such a catastrophe?

Also, make it somewhat interesting, as I am rather bored. :)

The question is, would I want to survive?
The first thing to go would be the book market, and I don't see the point of living if there are no books around.

If the current economic situation just completely fell apart and all society collapsed around us, with mass rioting, war, chaos, death, etc, would you be able to survive it all? What skills do you have to survive such a catastrophe?

Also, make it somewhat interesting, as I am rather bored. :)

It's all well and good to talk about how many guns you've got-when ammo's going to be pretty close to the very first thing to run out after the grocery stores go empty and the water stops running.

Knowing how to make non-potable water safe when you don't have iodine caps or Hepa filters, how to cook and eat almost anything, and knowing you're willing to do so? a bit tougher-of course, that's assuming you can catch something to eat, identify what edible plants are in your geographic region (that aren't going to be locusted away by mobs of hungry people), how to build a shelter (how to make the tools you're likely to break, lose, or have stolen if you're not very careful/alert/some kind of superfighter to make that shelter), how to avoid conflicts by avoiding the places people will congregate?

A bit tougher. If people spot you as having things they think they need, you're in deep shit right there-hungry people will do the most atrocious/vicious/insane things you can (or can't) imagine-especially in groups.

Survival in a total breakdown situation where the Authorities are NOT on your side (or don't exist) is a bit like planning for a zombie apocalypse-no, seriously, it is. Better than ninety percent of the people walking around today, have no idea how to survive if the grocery stores go empty and the cops stop showing up to keep order. There isn't a modern city around that isn't three days from Anarchy (about how much food remains on store shelves, and how much water is in the system at any given point in time.)

Things you need to know how to do:

1. Find Food and Water. If you've got Calories in your gut, you can actually endure some pretty harsh conditions.

2. Find Shelter-somewhere you can hole up for the night that you aren't likely to be disturbed by your fellow survivors.

3. Identify useful things. With the power gone, and no ammo truck coming to refill the store, your assault-rifle is next to useless as a long term proposition. If you don't know how to break down organics to provide Potassium Nitrate (or don't have the equipment-which you likely won't), even a muzzle-loader is of limited value-forget your guns, learn to make arrows, they'll keep you fed longer (though not as well as learning to trap rats will.) Fishing Line is more useful than a .44 Magnum in a survival event in which society has genuinely collapsed, a good dive-knife or hunting knife is worth more than an AK-47, pickup truck, or shotgun. A camp-hatchet with a non-rotting handle and stainless steel head is a treasure, that milling machine is so much boat-anchor, see? Knowing how to Garden will help you much more than knowing how to shoot a Barrett .50 caliber or drive a tank.

4. If you can train a dog, you have a work-animal, alarm system, and an additional layer of defense that can help you feed yourself and your family-a good dog is a key here, as those ankle-biters are basically meat for the stewpot, from a utility view. If you know how to handle a dog, you can learn how to handle other animals.

5. Learn to evaluate strangers- "can he hurt me" Matters, "Will he?" matters MORE. A mechanic is a useful addition if he's intelligent, a philosophy major who worked as a social worker probably won't be much help-when you form your communities, you should focus on finding people who have skills or knowledge you need, and don't have, including skills in violence-so beware of PX Rangers, they're going to cost you too much in survival terms when they don't match their self-proclaimed resumes.

6. One thing about people-they'll clear out of the Cities first-this doesn't mean staying in an urban area is a good idea, but it does mean that the countryside is, for a time, going to be crawling with the clueless and the desperate, and that's dangerous. It is best, in both near-term, and long-term, to assume that strangers are dangerous until they aren't strangers anymore. The kind pastor in a civilized life, could be the cannibal raider come to eat you and your stash. DO NOT take anything for granted-desperation changes people, and usually it's for the worse. If you're in a group, when you make contact with other groups, hold back what you've really got, and haggle for whatever you're after that they have-dishonesty is a weapon in a survival environment, and there are loads of folks who excel at it.

7. Short-term, learn your feedstore antibiotics. Runs on conventional medicines will happen first, and while you're preparing, a lot of vet-grade medical drugs work just fine on humans, and don't require a license to purchase. Learn how to use them, what they're good for, and how to store and keep them. Having a member who's familiar with Herbal remedies (and the plants and other things that modern medicine is derived from) is very useful long-term, but in the short-term, nothing beats having antibiotics you can use now while you're getting your Herb garden going.

8. It's a good idea, while we still HAVE a civilization to find out if you can handle kiling, gutting, and cleaning a small animal (like, say, a Rabbit or Gerbil). Rabbits, Gerbils, and other small mammals are easy to keep, raise, clean and cook. In a societal-collapse event, there isn't going to be a macrobiotic organic vegetarian boutique stocking all the veggies you need to have a balanced diet that provides sufficient protein to keep you alive and healthy enough to STAY alive. Knowing how to safely gut, clean, skin, cook, and then tan the hide of an animal makes your chances of survival a hell of a lot higher, and increases your value to any survivor-community you may try to found or join-and remember...

9. Numbers. As many people as you can support. People work best in packs, you need someone watching your back, someone to help carry the load, someone to talk to to remain sane, and someone to help with the heavy work that you either don't know how to do, or physically can't do alone.

If the current economic situation just completely fell apart and all society collapsed around us, with mass rioting, war, chaos, death, etc, would you be able to survive it all?
Dunno mate.
What skills do you have to survive such a catastrophe?
I'm great at talking people out of fights. Haven't been in a scrap proper since I was about, ooh, 9. Also I can cook and such.

<snip>

Oh dear.... you're either extremely, extremely bored at the moment, or you desperately need to get a life. Seriously.

I'd probably kill myself because there really isn't anything left for me. Might as well, considering that my skills are useless in a world without our modern economy and that a world without progress would be nothing more than hell every single day I was forced to endure it. Death would most definitely be preferable to societal collapse...that would be horror beyond imagining.
Pessimist.
We could have a helluva party before ending it with a bang, or perhaps more than one if we miss.
If you, or anyone else really, wants someone to kill them, I'm always here. I can do it quick and clean, or stretch out over a couple days (maybe you're into that sort of thing, how should I know?) and then insure you get a proper cremation and/or burial.
I want to be paid in flour though. And not acorn flour, but the good stuff that is made out of wheat (liquor and knives would also be accepted as payment, if you don't have any of the white stuff).

There is always prayer! :rolleyes:

I know how to distill my own urine so as to turn it into drinking water.

In fact, almost 20 years ago, when driving from Nigeria to Morocco via Niger and Algeria, and temporarily stuck without any source of drinking water somewhere between the Algerian border and Tammanrasset, I put theory into practice - only for the Algerian army to turn up 15 minutes later, dig me out of the sand and fill up my water supplies. Bastards. Why couldn't they rescue me 30 minutes earlier?

So, does anyone want to have me on their survival team?


Note that, unfortunately, I have terminal leukaemia, so I won't be surviving the collapse of civilisation for too long - but since I should have about 10 years left with my slow-working version of the condition, I should have enough time to teach others in my post-apocalyptic group how to distill their urine.


And I doubt anybody here can match the survival skills of a husband of a good friend of mine who, after having his arm almost completely bitten off by a mating male camel he'd been given by then-Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan (loooong story - but 100% true, promise), tied his own tourniquet, and walked a couple of km across the Jordanian desert, where he flagged down a passing Jordanian Army jeep, and persuaded them to take him to the nearest military hospital, where the arm was saved (though it does project at an odd angle). Now them's some hardcore survival skills.

I'm fucked here. Not an iota of practical survival skill.

I will not survive, but die a horrible death and haunt the rest of you as a ghost. That'll be much more fun :P

I'm a cockney of course I'd survive! ;¬)

Well, I wouldn't know for sure of course, if I´d make it or not.
But having grown up on, and surrounded by, farms, those skills would come in handy.
And adding to the fact that I´m a mental pack-rat, gathering up all kinds of knowledge,
possibly.

The question is, would I want to survive?
The first thing to go would be the book market, and I don't see the point of living if there are no books around.

Well, the first thing I'd do is get to my hometown as fast as possible to ensure that the little family I have left is alright and I can be there to help them. Then I would proceed to the bookstore a few miles away and gather, well, everything: mechanic guides, teach yourself plumbing, hunting, and just books in general (my group of survivors will be literate and well-read, damn it, and that's that!). There is also a sporting goods store not too far that isn't ever too busy so I suspect it might not be ransacked right away; I'd definitely clean that place out, grabbing anything I can use to store drinking water, and archery supplies....probably crossbows and the like, though some bows, too. Finally, I'd make my way into the city (cousins live in the suburbs...though, it's full of deer so there's a good food source for a bit) and see if I could grab a decent sized sailboat (or two if I have help) and manage to get it back to the suburbs. Though, I'd try and wait as long as possible to start fishing Michigan's Milwaukee shoreline; I'm competent enough with a small sailboat and I know how to fish, but I think eating fish from there might mutate your kidneys into small, brain-eating creatures (seriously, that part of Michigan is really disgusting).

Hrmm....likely my friends would do similar, I'm fairly certain most people would try and get back to their families. One's an engineer and his father is a doctor, the others (including myself...perhaps political analysis will allow me to distinguish which groups of survivors are likely to attack and which are likely to be cooperative? I doubt it =p) don't really have useful survival skills, per se, but manpower is manpower. Maybe we could get a generator of some sort up and running, don't know. At some point I'd have to make my way up to my aunt's to check on her, though she's outdoorsy and is married to a guy who lives and breathes hunting, so I'm sure she'd be better off than most.

It also really depends what part of the year this all goes down. If it's during the winter, most people are screwed and that's that.

This is hilarious to read.

However, the question was if you could survive if anarchy broke out, not if you could survive in the wilderness.

This is hilarious to read.

However, the question was if you could survive if anarchy broke out, not if you could survive in the wilderness.
I think most people are just planning to grab their guns and head for the hills. Which is a good idea, until you realize that everybody else is planning to grab their guns and head for the hills too.
Provided I survive the initial race riots, I'll just settle down to scavenge in New York and laugh at the distant sounds of people killing each other to try and claim arable land and inhabitable forests. I really liked the post-New York scenes in I Am Legend.

I think most people are just planning to grab their guns and head for the hills. Which is a good idea, until you realize that everybody else is planning to grab their guns and head for the hills too.
Provided I survive the initial race riots, I'll just settle down to scavenge in New York and laugh at the distant sounds of people killing each other to try and claim arable land and inhabitable forests. I really liked the post-New York scenes in I Am Legend.

My "hills" have an advantage.

Alligators and giant pythons. Most of the herd will be thinned out by those, and I'll run into very few people out there. Most would be too scared of treading in the swamp, and those that do won't understand the importance of setting up a makeshift treehouse, and will be killed overnight by the nocturnal hunters.

My "hills" have an advantage.

Alligators and giant pythons. Most of the herd will be thinned out by those, and I'll run into very few people out there. Most would be too scared of treading in the swamp,
You can shout as loud as you want, but I still hear the rest of the hill billy chorus echoing your sentiments.
And God help you if you try to settle down somewhere that the military, Bill Gates, a PMC, or some other powerful/shadowy figure decides to set down to wait out the duration.
and those that do won't understand the importance of setting up a makeshift treehouse, and will be killed overnight by the nocturnal hunters.
Well they know now, genius. Care to reveal anymore important information? The location of food supplies, perhaps?

Well they know now, genius. Care to reveal anymore important information? The location of food supplies, perhaps?

Most of the gangbangers in FL don't read NSG I'm sure. Food is everywhere - you just have to know how to hunt and kill it.

Most of the gangbangers in FL don't read NSG I'm sure. Food is everywhere - you just have to know how to hunt and kill it.
The very last thing that happens before Civilization finally craps itself is that everyone in the Western world will get one good look at NSG and say, "This is what we're holding back on killing our neighbors and devouring their brains for? Fuck that shit, where's my machine gun?!"

The very last thing that happens before Civilization finally craps itself is that everyone in the Western world will get one good look at NSG and say, "This is what we're holding back on killing our neighbors and devouring their brains for? Fuck that shit, where's my machine gun?!"

Valid. However, by then this thread will be buried in tons of "What's your eye color?", "Who's your valentine?", "I just crapped lima beans", and "Is abortion not redundant?" threads.

Valid. However, by then this thread will be buried in tons of "What's your eye color?", "Who's your valentine?", "I just crapped lima beans", and "Is abortion not redundant?" threads.
When did this happen, and why was I not informed?

When did this happen, and why was I not informed?

You were busy trying to kill the Batman. You told us not to disturb you.

You were busy trying to kill the Batman. You told us not to disturb you.
When am I not trying to kill the Batman? Right now I've got him trapped in a giant label machine and...
Curses! He seems to have used some sort of Bat Lube to loosen his restraints and escape. Time to grab my umbrella and travel down there so I can get my butt handed to me by a 14 year old in green short shorts.

Yes, I'm well prepared to crack open your skulls and feast on the goo inside

Once I master the eldritch art of necromancy I'll look you up.

I don't have survival skills myself, but I have a fairly large network of friends and acquaintances around the world; some of them have survival skills and many of them have their own networks of friends. I'm fairly certain that I would find or be involved in the creation of a community that could face the challenges of the new world.

When am I not trying to kill the Batman? Right now I've got him trapped in a giant label machine and...
Curses! He seems to have used some sort of Bat Lube to loosen his restraints and escape. Time to grab my umbrella and travel down there so I can get my butt handed to me by a 14 year old in green short shorts.

You know you like it. :p

You know you like it. :p
Well, of course. I am the man who once turned down a beautiful millionairess's offer of marriage and a life of trouble-free leisure, and instead opted to go to prison with my two finks.
It's just that I can't let the Batman know what I'm really after, so I have to keep inventing excuses for him to kick and punch me and letting him escape from shoddily constructed death traps.

If the current economic situation just completely fell apart and all society collapsed around us, with mass rioting, war, chaos, death, etc, would you be able to survive it all? What skills do you have to survive such a catastrophe?

Also, make it somewhat interesting, as I am rather bored. :)

yes. I'm pretty good at fixing things. electronic, mechanical, etc. not an 'expert' but I can make do. I can also 'rough' it so heading up to the mountains is also an option.

Well, of course. I am the man who once turned down a beautiful millionairess's offer of marriage and a life of trouble-free leisure, and instead opted to go to prison with my two finks.
It's just that I can't let the Batman know what I'm really after, so I have to keep inventing excuses for him to kick and punch me and letting him escape from shoddily constructed death traps.

I think you just want him to send "the boy wonder" more often, so you keep taunting him enough to make yourself a bother, but not enough that he actually comes after you himself.

Not just "no", but "hell no". Once my internet connection went down and I almost extracted and ate my own kidneys just to stave off boredom.

If the current economic situation just completely fell apart and all society collapsed around us, with mass rioting, war, chaos, death, etc, would you be able to survive it all? What skills do you have to survive such a catastrophe?

Also, make it somewhat interesting, as I am rather bored. :)

Without a doubt I would survive. I have guns, ammo, and more than basic mechanical knowledge to build stuff. I also have a lot of various junk laying around that could one day be useful in a mad max type fashion. I'm serious.

A lot of doom and gloom going around NSG eh?

It's all well and good to talk about how many guns you've got-when ammo's going to be pretty close to the very first thing to run out after the grocery stores go empty and the water stops running.

Knowing how to make non-potable water safe when you don't have iodine caps or Hepa filters, how to cook and eat almost anything, and knowing you're willing to do so? a bit tougher-of course, that's assuming you can catch something to eat, identify what edible plants are in your geographic region (that aren't going to be locusted away by mobs of hungry people), how to build a shelter (how to make the tools you're likely to break, lose, or have stolen if you're not very careful/alert/some kind of superfighter to make that shelter), how to avoid conflicts by avoiding the places people will congregate?

A bit tougher. If people spot you as having things they think they need, you're in deep shit right there-hungry people will do the most atrocious/vicious/insane things you can (or can't) imagine-especially in groups.

Survival in a total breakdown situation where the Authorities are NOT on your side (or don't exist) is a bit like planning for a zombie apocalypse-no, seriously, it is. Better than ninety percent of the people walking around today, have no idea how to survive if the grocery stores go empty and the cops stop showing up to keep order. There isn't a modern city around that isn't three days from Anarchy (about how much food remains on store shelves, and how much water is in the system at any given point in time.)

Things you need to know how to do:

1. Find Food and Water. If you've got Calories in your gut, you can actually endure some pretty harsh conditions.

2. Find Shelter-somewhere you can hole up for the night that you aren't likely to be disturbed by your fellow survivors.

3. Identify useful things. With the power gone, and no ammo truck coming to refill the store, your assault-rifle is next to useless as a long term proposition. If you don't know how to break down organics to provide Potassium Nitrate (or don't have the equipment-which you likely won't), even a muzzle-loader is of limited value-forget your guns, learn to make arrows, they'll keep you fed longer (though not as well as learning to trap rats will.) Fishing Line is more useful than a .44 Magnum in a survival event in which society has genuinely collapsed, a good dive-knife or hunting knife is worth more than an AK-47, pickup truck, or shotgun. A camp-hatchet with a non-rotting handle and stainless steel head is a treasure, that milling machine is so much boat-anchor, see? Knowing how to Garden will help you much more than knowing how to shoot a Barrett .50 caliber or drive a tank.

4. If you can train a dog, you have a work-animal, alarm system, and an additional layer of defense that can help you feed yourself and your family-a good dog is a key here, as those ankle-biters are basically meat for the stewpot, from a utility view. If you know how to handle a dog, you can learn how to handle other animals.

5. Learn to evaluate strangers- "can he hurt me" Matters, "Will he?" matters MORE. A mechanic is a useful addition if he's intelligent, a philosophy major who worked as a social worker probably won't be much help-when you form your communities, you should focus on finding people who have skills or knowledge you need, and don't have, including skills in violence-so beware of PX Rangers, they're going to cost you too much in survival terms when they don't match their self-proclaimed resumes.

6. One thing about people-they'll clear out of the Cities first-this doesn't mean staying in an urban area is a good idea, but it does mean that the countryside is, for a time, going to be crawling with the clueless and the desperate, and that's dangerous. It is best, in both near-term, and long-term, to assume that strangers are dangerous until they aren't strangers anymore. The kind pastor in a civilized life, could be the cannibal raider come to eat you and your stash. DO NOT take anything for granted-desperation changes people, and usually it's for the worse. If you're in a group, when you make contact with other groups, hold back what you've really got, and haggle for whatever you're after that they have-dishonesty is a weapon in a survival environment, and there are loads of folks who excel at it.

7. Short-term, learn your feedstore antibiotics. Runs on conventional medicines will happen first, and while you're preparing, a lot of vet-grade medical drugs work just fine on humans, and don't require a license to purchase. Learn how to use them, what they're good for, and how to store and keep them. Having a member who's familiar with Herbal remedies (and the plants and other things that modern medicine is derived from) is very useful long-term, but in the short-term, nothing beats having antibiotics you can use now while you're getting your Herb garden going.

8. It's a good idea, while we still HAVE a civilization to find out if you can handle kiling, gutting, and cleaning a small animal (like, say, a Rabbit or Gerbil). Rabbits, Gerbils, and other small mammals are easy to keep, raise, clean and cook. In a societal-collapse event, there isn't going to be a macrobiotic organic vegetarian boutique stocking all the veggies you need to have a balanced diet that provides sufficient protein to keep you alive and healthy enough to STAY alive. Knowing how to safely gut, clean, skin, cook, and then tan the hide of an animal makes your chances of survival a hell of a lot higher, and increases your value to any survivor-community you may try to found or join-and remember...

9. Numbers. As many people as you can support. People work best in packs, you need someone watching your back, someone to help carry the load, someone to talk to to remain sane, and someone to help with the heavy work that you either don't know how to do, or physically can't do alone.

I vote for Sudova for leader of our version of Lord of the Flies.

This is kind of funny. :D

Nobody here would survive, because at first everyone else is still alive, with all the guns and stabbings and riots and traffic accidents etc.

Oh dear.... you're either extremely, extremely bored at the moment, or you desperately need to get a life. Seriously.

Dude, it's fun. Or, rather, being able to point back at the survival skills you've learned-by-doing that other people don't know how to do is fun, speculating on what situations would make them more than a minor hobby is fun, and knowing that, if things really got bad enough, you could make it is fun...and makes it a lot harder to be afraid of the panic-of-the-week being breathlessly hyped at you by people who think food comes off a truck, and that the truck will just always, magically, be there.

When am I not trying to kill the Batman? Right now I've got him trapped in a giant label machine and...
Curses! He seems to have used some sort of Bat Lube to loosen his restraints and escape. Time to grab my umbrella and travel down there so I can get my butt handed to me by a 14 year old in green short shorts.

Surely Robin carries the BatLube?

I would band together with whatever authorities that tries to become atleast somewhat organized, offering my severely limited skills as a psychologist to annoy people by claiming that their mothers all have a severe shortage of schwann-cells/oligodendrocytes (Depending if they're in the periferal or central nervous system.).

I would also bike around swinging an axe madly to scare off any potential threats.

Note: I have no idea if schwann-cells or oligodendrocytes is the right thing to write, as I have only read about them in Swedish.
I will also be very lazily responding to replies because I am lazy.

I and my family will survive. I can't vouch for some of my neighbors - apparently, the unarmed ones who know that some of us are armed and others are not are getting nervous these days.

I know how to distill my own urine so as to turn it into drinking water.

In fact, almost 20 years ago, when driving from Nigeria to Morocco via Niger and Algeria, and temporarily stuck without any source of drinking water somewhere between the Algerian border and Tammanrasset, I put theory into practice - only for the Algerian army to turn up 15 minutes later, dig me out of the sand and fill up my water supplies. Bastards. Why couldn't they rescue me 30 minutes earlier?

So, does anyone want to have me on their survival team?


Note that, unfortunately, I have terminal leukaemia, so I won't be surviving the collapse of civilisation for too long - but since I should have about 10 years left with my slow-working version of the condition, I should have enough time to teach others in my post-apocalyptic group how to distill their urine.


And I doubt anybody here can match the survival skills of a husband of a good friend of mine who, after having his arm almost completely bitten off by a mating male camel he'd been given by then-Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan (loooong story - but 100% true, promise), tied his own tourniquet, and walked a couple of km across the Jordanian desert, where he flagged down a passing Jordanian Army jeep, and persuaded them to take him to the nearest military hospital, where the arm was saved (though it does project at an odd angle). Now them's some hardcore survival skills.

Oh yeah? Can you kill a Rancor with a rock?

Didn't think so.

A definite no. I barely have the life skills to survive in the world as it is, so in the event of some collapse of civlization, yeh, I'm pretty much fucked.

Oh yeah? Can you kill a Rancor with a rock?

Didn't think so.

I dont think anyone could kill a rancor with just a rock...Luke required a Massive Durasteel Door...

Revan required several Grenades and dead rotting meat...And theyre the only ones that I know of to regularly kill Rancors...

Surely Robin carries the BatLube?
Do you really think that the Batman would give that much power or independence to Robin? I don't think that either the Boy Wonder or Dick Grayson were let out of the house unless our heroes were practically leashed together.

A sleazier response would say that "The Batman decides whether Robin has earned the right to lube or not," but I'm just not feeling up (down?) to that tonight.

A sleazier response would say that "The Batman decides whether Robin has earned the right to lube or not," but I'm just not feeling up (down?) to that tonight.

A little under the weather?

The groups that would form would be pretty funny.

Giant mobs of banjo people vs. ghetto people in crazy, leaderless war.

Potato gun wielding rabbis vs. the Local Pipe Fitters 501.

Girl Scouts form an unstoppable alliance with AARP and the Salvation Army.

---

If anyone were to win, other than male WASPs like myself, I really hope it's Native Americans in this country. That dude by the highway with the trash could finally stop crying.

If the current economic situation just completely fell apart and all society collapsed around us, with mass rioting, war, chaos, death, etc, would you be able to survive it all? What skills do you have to survive such a catastrophe?

Also, make it somewhat interesting, as I am rather bored. :)
First thing I'd do is get the fuck out of the city.

I have good survival skills. I could survive even in the dead of a Canadian winter...I know how to snare, fish and hunt, etc. I can fight very dirty if need be...I'm not afraid to use as much force as necessary to protect myself or my loved ones. I know good places to hide out, hunker down, and live more than well enough. I'm a good gardener (for those short summer months), I know where to find edible fruits/veggies/lichens/etc and know how to prepare them so they last the winter. I also don't panic in emergency situations (time for that later).

anyone who thinks they're going to survive by beating everyone else over the head just really and honestly doesn't have the slightest idea how reality works.

they'll survive for a while, but its those who can stay out of their way while they kill each other off who will outlast them.

they may succeed in grabbing the last can of beans off a store shelf, but when its gone, they're essentially screwed.

anyone who thinks they'll survive by hunting and stealing, without at least learning what wild plants to eat, and what not to, and how to grow domestic ones, in ways the bully boys won't find them doing so, until the bully boys have all killed each other, is just suicidal deceiving themselves.

that's really the bottom line here, when it comes to survival. darwinian fitness isn't individual physical strength, nor possession and use of direct substitutes for it, such as weaponry. but an ability to in some sustainable manor coexist with a diversity of each other. in a situation where that means surviving in nature, that even includes coexisting with other life forms.

watching and learning from them how to live in each particular place, wherever it is that they happen to be. this is something you can even observe IN nature, how various species, even 'top' predators, spend MOST of their, time and much of their attention, to staying out of each other's way. not that those who fail to figure this out will be any loss to anyone.

getting as far away as possible from anyone who thinks they're going to survive by beating each other over the head, is a very good, logical, first step.

friends among elders of survival wisdom is probably a good second one.

not living too close to other people, but close enough to those individually proven trustworthy to consult with each other over uncertainties, may be worth as much or more as individual personal survival skills.

this is how and why civilization began. before kings and armies came along and screwed it up.