[NumberWangMan]

There's a part of me that feels the urge to prepare for disaster. And yet I know it's a reaction to fears I have that won't be helped by being prepared. My main concern is that one of many possible AGI disasters will come to pass. None of them are really solved by prepping. But I can speak to this being driven by fear, at least for myself.

To be honest, I have fantasies -- but they are fantasies of a simpler life without all the craziness of the world. Or rather, if I had to spend all my time getting food and staying alive for the next few days, I wouldn't have a lot of mental energy to worry about all the ways that things could go really badly that I don't have any control over.

[poulsbohemian]

I see what's being described in this thread as at least three different things:

1) Disaster preparedness, like you are describing, as a sane and prudent thing for many people and places. Know your local conditions and put in place some resources you could use if there were a fire / tornado / earthquake (whatever your local threat) for some period of time.

2) Simple living. That is, if there are things you can do that make you more self-sufficient and create pleasure, then go for it. Many people plant a garden, raise some chickens, etc not because they are prepping for the end of the world but because they enjoy it.

3) Actual off-grid preppers - people who for one reason or another plan for some time in which they will need to be entirely self-sufficient and may even wish to explicitly separate themselves from other people (war, zombie apocalypse, etc).

I think it's really just this third category that raises eyebrows and questions.

[trogdor]

I'll add one more: my ex and I spent six years full-time RVing. During most of that time, we had approximately 30-days of off-grid capability, depending on where we were camped.

And that was without trying to push it. Realistically, we could have extended that by months - limited only by food - by camping near a water source.

Our lifestyle at the time wasn't at all "prepper" driven, but I think it's another category worth recognizing here.

Many full-time RVers have similarly, surprisingly-long off-grid capaciy at all times.

We did meet a few 'real' preppers along the way, though. The kind who have a reinforced "bug out room" deep in their basement, with positive pressure air ventilation, shelves lined with MREs, many crates of water, and an substantial arsenal. Interesting dude, but the prepper thing wasn't my speed.

[poulsbohemian]

Wow, now you've got my mind spinning, as yes, the nomad crowd is yet another whole genre of characters and stories. You've got everyone from essentially homeless people with wheels to trust fund kids / FIRE with total freedom. I'm sure you have many stories if you were on the road that many years.