this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
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No Stupid Questions

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submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 60 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Provided you knew what you were doing, indefinitely. Or until you died of old age or managed to contract a deadly disease/cancer/manage to injure yourself in a life threatening way that you can't treat yourself.

You might not be happy about it. But growing basic crops, storing away dried grains for the winter, hunting and dressing animals, making a fire to cook them, etc. should be well within the reach of anyone capable of reading this. Neanderthals could do it, so can you.

If you didn't know what you were doing, well, until you ran out of easily scavengable canned goods and/or died of botulism from eating one of them that wasn't as canned as you thought.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 7 months ago (11 children)

Yeah my plan (dream) has always been like this:

  • Use the internet while I have it (assuming people just all disappear suddenly) to download survival guides, solar panel repair/installation PDFs, maps, etc. Anything I can think of, I'll download
  • Gas only lasts so long. I can use chemicals that extend it, but it's definitely limited. I'd start with a gas powered truck and eventually move into electric vehicles. Batteries aren't forever either... But I'd try.
  • I'd move to a warm, temperate climate
  • I'd find a building that claims it is powered by solar panels most of the year. I'd use that as my home
  • I'd immediately begin trying to farm. I have a black thumb so this would take me some years to get done correctly. But I'd hopefully have some potatoes and grain growing by the end of a year
  • In the meantime, I might find things to occupy my time such as: finding videogames to play, raising chickens, fishing, collecting guns/ammo, collecting books to preserve, storing solar panels, backup equipment, etc.

My end goal would be to survive as long as I'm happy. I'm pretty introverted so that would last a while. I'd use animals to keep me company. I believe nature would take us over pretty quickly. It would be hard to maintain the house, solar, etc. forever. But if I could, I would.

My wife and I already do a lot of foraging in our area and we have several guides for edible food. We also do some canning and prepping for disasters.

I don't think a disaster would be a picnic. People are the problem. But if they disappeared suddenly, I think it would be pretty livable.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Neanderthals (and humans for that matter) did indeed but they did it in groups, usually. Being alone really stacks the odds against you I think.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago

Well, you're going to have a much harder time taking down wooly mammoths, that's for sure.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

etc. should be well within the reach of anyone capable of reading this. Neanderthals could do it, so can you.

Oh you greatly overrate us internet people... 🧌

[–] [email protected] 57 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Honestly, the biggest issue would be mental, trying to figure out if there was any reason to continue.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago

Luckily I have a lot of experience with that debate.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I've always wanted a zombie movie that focused on the absurd boredom and how you might combat it. Like setting up Rube Goldberg killing machines

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 7 months ago (1 children)

19 years, 5 months, 21 days, 16 hours, and 23 minutes.

If the material world survived, living in a large city, I could probably scavenge for non-perishable foods for quite some time.

If it's a nuclear wasteland and I'm fending off mutants, I guess it depends on how many caps and nuka-cola I can find.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 7 months ago

Indefinitely. Just punch a tree; punch a sheep; punch a rock. Y’all so lazy these days.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 7 months ago

I suppose it really depends on why I'm the last person on earth. If it was nuclear fallout, I'd probably be dead pretty quick.

If we're under the assumption that everybody just poofed away and I'm the last person, absolutely a few months minimum. I'm within easy walking distance of some stores that have plethora of canned and preserved foods and liquids. I also know some places that already have full solar infrastructure already integrated.

All that being said, I'd probably off myself. I'm fairly non-social to begin with but I'd still be unhappy never being able to communicate with anyone ever again on top of major resource struggles in the future. Never find a partner, probably not even a domesticated pet as they'd all likely die within a week or so if I don't prioritize that. Sounds incredibly sad and lonely

[–] [email protected] 21 points 7 months ago

Probably depends on how everyone else disappeared

[–] [email protected] 21 points 7 months ago (4 children)

In complete isolation I think a lot of people (including me) would probably kill ourselves just after few months. We all need at least some social interaction to stay with healthy mind.

Aside from that, what the hell is even the point of living if you are the only person left?

[–] [email protected] 21 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Aside from that, what the hell is even the point of living if you are the only person left?

Visiting museums naked? Cmon dog

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

I'm assuming my dog would still be alive. So I'd just go on adventures with him.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

OMG, so many things would improve!

OK, healthcare is an issue. But if only humans disappeared? There's so much canned and freeze dried food; I could probably live off a single REI for a couple of years. Pharmacies to be raided, although I'd have to find an old-school reference for drugs, uses, and dosages. Hell, I'd spend a couple of years just outfitting a survivalist cabin near Yosemite or Frank Church Wilderness, and then a couple more backpacking out of the cabin, returning only for provisions.

I've lived without prior before; it's not that hard. I know there would be psychological challenges, but the physical ones really do compensate quite a bit.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 7 months ago

Round about a day or two. I'd likely make an oopsie while letting the zoo animals out and get myself slaughtered.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago (1 children)

On the pro side, I live in southern California where I'm not going to have problems surviving the weather, even without electricity. I don't get bored easily, I like to read, and I'd probably entertain myself exploring. As others mentioned, food probably is not an issue, though I'd have to make sure I got the right combination of proteins and amino acids once meat wasn't available (or bring myself to hunt).

On the con side, I'm in my early 60s and, though I'm reasonably healthy, it's only going to be so long before I have some health condition that, if nothing else, makes it hard for me to go out and about for food.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The only issue I'd have is mental health. Pets can only ease the need for social needs to a certain extent.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

I would miss my wife and kids horribly, but I'm one of those folks who always feels kind of alone, even when around other people, so I think I'd be okay.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago

Depends on what happened to the world, what resources I have, time of year, etc.

Assuming decent conditions and luck (nothing saving you from a severe infection gotten because wrong place wrong time), likely a fair few decades. I have a lot of survival knowledge, both theory and practical - and I refresh myself on a regular basis

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago

About a week until I couldn't even stand up anymore due to Long COVID.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Probably until my first paper cut and infection after all the antibiotic starts to expire, it’s likely game over some time soon after.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Probably not for long. I'm on immune suppression medication, if it's a post apocalypse then I'll die from infection and if I somehow survive that then my ulcerative colitis will do it for me when it flares up.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

Similar boat, I would last about 4-8 days without medical intervention (dialysis and other regular treatments I need)

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (1 children)

After getting over the urge to kill my self…

Longer then one would expect

Most of us don’t have or are only kinda aware of real survival skills. - farming, hunting, fishing — okay there’s your food

Next thing is shelter and clothing- are the people just gone? Or is shit really messed up?

  • you can get good clothes and if housing is still standing you’ll be fine for a long time.

Holding out hope that there are any other survivors would help you go on, I believe as you’d want to find them.

So yes there are no numbers, but if you’re in a good place mentally. You can survive a long time

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's not even necessarily hunting/farming, it's being able to safely preserve it and survive a winter without starving or botulism.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

If you can boil water, you can can. Jars are reusable. Lids will be your most scarce commodity after a while (you shouldn't reuse the lids after they have been under pressure). Build a little smokehouse and you can preserve your meat.

I don't even worry about downloading how to's. There are libraries and book stores that have this information that isn't dependent on any kind of electrical device to access it. These sites probably won't be high priority scavenge sites to the average survivor either.

Winter meals will be mostly canned veggies, bread, and beans for protein. Salt or smoke cured meats infrequently. You'll learn to trap small game or hunt deer. Surviving will be a lot of work but it's totally within reach of anyone who can camp or is crafty/handy.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Probably until I get sick or die of old age.

I'll probably do things like ransack my local library for book like the SAS handbook, plant identification, etc to bring with me, hijack a truck that's already ready to go, load all useful stuff including a small backup car/motorbike and head for the sub-tropics somewhere to a forest next to a city.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

I could survive the rest of my life.

Probably a long time. I can learn how to run essential systems and live on non-perishables. Or hunt and farm.

I'm more likely to die of sheer fucking boredom, because there won't be anyone to make new games or movies or books or music and no reason to post comments on Lemmy so I'd just want to off myself.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago

If I were the last person on earth, I'd probably kill myself pretty quickly

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

About as long as content servers stayed up before I went crazy from boredom.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (2 children)

After the internet fails, you'd quickly learn how valuable the public library is. They have lots of disc based games for Xbox and Playstation meaning no internet required. Lots of movies on DVD and Bluray, and still pretty good collections of music on CDs.

The smallest public library also probably has more books than you could read in your entire lifetime.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

For the majority of disc-based media, any large store would do the job too if we're talking post apocalypse situations but a lot of games these days are absolute crapfests without the plethora of updates. As for servers, I did specifically mean places to download from, not stream. I'd already be downloading every film and TV show I could think of I might like or have already seen and think I'd like to rewatch someday.

That said, the internet is also my means of satisfying my social needs since all of my friends live in different countries. Without that and them, the dire loneliness sets in real quick like.

And libraries have a lot of books, I agree and I already enjoy reading but I have relatively niche tastes that would likely only be catered to by large libraries so the vast majority of a small library's collection would be worthless to me. I know the end of the world is more a "any port in a storm" kind of situation but if I'm just running down the clock before the last human alive becomes the last human to have lived, I'm not really looking to pad that time out by reading How to Win Friends and Influence People or 15 different DIY books.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (2 children)

By playing beatbox music and making everyone stay away from me while I grew corn and ate it slowly in front of them while they watched me cautiously from a distance.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago

I'm intrigued. What question did you answer?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Something completely unforeseeable would off me within the first six months, is my guess. That tiny hangnail that breaks some skin which leads to an infection would be my demise. Assuming I didn’t have access to antiseptic, antibiotics, and the like.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Well, I'd guess no one would keep you from going "shopping" at the nearest pharmacy.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

Until I finished eating the second to last person.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

I think I would try everything to launch myself into space. I know it's most likely impossible, but fuck it imma die anyway

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

A month tops

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Id probably get a fast car or bike and speed and end up crashing and dying or something

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

At least three days, I reckon. No water infrastructure workers here means no water around these parts - period.

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