
No Collision - rbanffy
https://bostonreview.net/science-nature-politics/bonnie-honig-no-collision
======
lykr0n
"...the United States does little to prepare for emergencies. ...there are no
detailed state or federal government plans that we all know of for orderly
evacuation or shelter provision. Last January, when residents of Hawaii
received phone communications stating that there was an incoming ballistic
missile threat, residents were advised simply to “seek immediate shelter."

A good point. Think for a minute. What if something happens. What would you
do.

Myself- if I'm at work I'll race home. Fill the tub, ensure my HAM radio is
changed, try and charge everything I can. Grab my gun and jam a spare mag in
my pocket. And then what? I'm in Texas while the Family is in New York. 1800
Miles. Car can do 300 to a tank. Need to make 6 stops. Wait, car is almost
empty- 7. Do my cards still work? I have some cash- will that work? I got my
gun- ok. But am I willing to go there? Food. I got some dry soylent and some
stuff in the fridge. Maybe a week or two. Where can I get more. Grocery store
down the road. Same problem as Gas. Water? I got a gallon or two and maybe the
tub I filled up. Farming? Don't know how to.

It's a startling thought- We're only 9 meals away from chaos. You can go a day
or two without food- sure. Maybe half that without water. Day 3 is when you'll
start to do things you normally wouldn't do. (I know you can go for longer,
but you try doing that- it get shitty quick)

What will you do if something goes down? For better or worse, these times we
live in are good. I'm not sure any of us know how to handle it when they get
bad.

"The privileged evacuees will have badges or uniforms that mean they must be
let through—to the front of a line, to get on a bus, to pass through a traffic
jam, or to board a helicopter. But will the crowds part peacefully for them
...? On that day, the dependence of the opt-out on popular acquiescence, or
subjugation, will be rendered starkly clear."

~~~
AstralStorm
1) Racing to home would be too late for anything non trivial. Infrastructure
will be clogged to no end. Likewise ham radio and most forms of communication.
What good is a phone charge when the network is dead? That's a nonsense
preparation, like many kinds of bug out preps. What good is a bunker if you
cannot get to it?

2) Lack of provisions will immediately hit everyone and looting will ensue,
like in New Orleans. Cash becomes worthless due to looting, like many
amenities and luxuries. Barter economy takes over and the main bar items are
food, water, heat sources, tools and weapons.

3) Agencies are glacially slow to activate and their response is limited.

4) Even if you do have a gun, so do others, alone you're not even important
compared to already organized crime and paramilitaries. Or people with private
militaries like top government.

5) If water or electricity fails, there is another degree of bad on top. Most
people are not prepared for this.

6) Some people think they can outhunt such a problem, this is stupidity.

You cannot outprepare anything this magnitude. Even with specific civil
defense knowledge and resources you have few chances and a definite shortage
of provisions. Long term plan always relies on farming and banding together.
Specific tools and knowledge for specific problems, such as efficient
gathering aka looting, building, maintenance of infrastructure, true people
management skills, loyalty, useful connections. People with health problems
get instantly shafted, even some really rich may have trouble.

The default is never individualism nor democracy. It's almost always feudalism
or tribalism. Small to medium polis caring for its own local problems. Few
hundred to few thousand people.

We know much more about it because we have a semiregular flood emergencies in
places in Poland. And those are relatively small fish where standard social
structures do hold up. Likewise places hit by tsunami or bad earthquakes.

Cheap Africa level affordable, reliable and reusable solutions are the way to
go... something completely in the face of consumerism.

------
avmich
> Or should we “put mirrors in space, carefully located at the point between
> the sun and the Earth where gravity forces balance” and thus reflect up to
> “2 percent of the sun’s rays harmlessly into space”? Audre Lorde once warned
> against such techno-utopianism.

Explanations below seem to indicate this is harder to implement than to
"change capitalism". Interesting.

