

Ask HN: Hacking in a SHTF world - oldgregg

Maybe it's that all the banks that are failing. FDIC fail. Stock fail. Foreclosure, Foreclosure, Layoff, Layoff. All this is so uncharted, nobody <i>really</i> knows what's ahead, but I can't help but want to be prepared. So I've been reading up on how to survive in a depression economy.<p>Everything I read says I need <i>REAL SKILLS</i>. Chopping, planting, shooting, fixing, cooking, building. Except I sit in front of a computer 12 hours a day-- and even my hobbies are kind of froo-froo (photography, film, working out).<p>All I keep thinking is that my very valuable skill set looks pretty pathetic in a prospective... "new new" economy.<p>During Depression 1.0 everyone seemed so nice. Men with little hats carried signs, "spare a brother a dime?" while everyone lined up nicely at the soup kitchen. That's a depression I could almost get on board with! But things have changed. Last night I watched a video of Korean militia defending grocery stores in the '92 riots. A couple months ago a fuel shortage rumor wiped out all the gas stations in Nashville and Atlanta for a couple weeks. My friend who works for Walmart replenishment has made it quite clear that the supply-chain is very efficient... and vulnerable.<p>I guess I'm kind of rambling because... I'm nervous. Does anyone have some MacGyver preparation tips so I can just start DOING something? Or maybe I just need reassurance?<p>How does a hacker contribute in a new new economy? Google just released their little money-saver database. Cool. If the future was green-tech and bio-tech, what does depression-tech look like?
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Tichy
I know how you feel, but maybe it is premature to worry about such things.
Most of the skills you mention might be relatively easy to learn should they
become really important. At least chopping should be easy? Cooking definitely
is. Shooting I don't know, but perhaps it is overrated?

In any case, it is hard to learn something without having an application for
it. Of course one could go to a lonely cabin and practice survival skills now,
but it would be inefficient. The benefits of civilization are that we can
worry about other things than the low level survival stuff.

Information will always be important - web sites about chopping, planting,
shooting etc. would probably experience a boom if SHTF.

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tjic
> During Depression 1.0 everyone seemed so nice.

Read about the Bonus Army <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_army>

There are a thousand other reasons that the Depression was not, remotely,
"nice".

> Does anyone have some MacGyver preparation tips

I personally think that we're in for a decade-long "L-shaped" / "Japanese
style" recession. Unemployment may get as high as 10% ... but that's a level
that Europe has lived with for decades. The "good" news is that we're headed
into an era of more socialism, which means that property will get stolen,
wealth will get redistributed from makers to takers, and productive behavior
will be taxed and disincentivized ... but there will be higher spending on
unemployment benefits.

I'm pretty handy - as the founder of SmartFlix I watch tons of videos on how-
to topics. I can operate a lathe and a milling machine, build furniture, do
some blacksmithing, frame a house, do plumbing, etc. ... but I honestly don't
think it's going to come to that.

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patrocles
Hard Times by Studs Terkel.

While it covers a lot of ground, it does cover what worked and what didn't
during the Great Depression.

