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What will you sacrifice to Shrug?

Posted by Technocracy 9 years, 2 months ago to Culture
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We have had a few discussions and even some planning on creating one or more Gulches for ourselves.

The undiscussed side of this is a basic issue....Technology.
A high technology lifestyle requires a high technology infrastructure and technology base.

Most if not all of us would not be looking for subsistence living without all the conveniences we are used to, but we would sacrifice some of them.

What will you give up?

Modern plumbing?
Running Water?
24/7 unlimited electricity?
Modern communications?
Amazon?

Atlas shrugged was a novel projecting from the technology base of the 40s and early 50s.

What time period would you be willing to roll back to in your gulch?

Keeping in mind the infrastructure needed to support it


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  • Posted by LetsShrug 9 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It would work if you want to live being someone you're not. However, I have suggested taking over the Detroit slums...fix up the insides of houses to make them comfortable and liveable and leave the outside trashy....make it a gulch in plain site...but on the other hand...yuk.
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  • Posted by airfredd22 9 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Re: Technocracy,

    You are correct, however, being the eternal optimist that I am, I muat remind everyone of the most important two documents ever written that are at the foundation of this nation. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

    As an immigrant to this country from under the thumb of Communism in East Germany and having lived her for 56 years, at the age of 67 I would remind everyone that this nation despite its many faults is still the "Shining light upon the hill."

    Our forefathers knew what they were doing and even foresaw the difficulties we would surely encounter.

    Let us not forsake their dream and fight on and remain ever vigilant of those that would destroy this dream.

    Fred Speckmann
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  • Posted by term2 9 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    And a bit of killing, but he did do all that in plain sight, which I bet would actually work (except for the killing part)
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  • Posted by term2 9 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    One can have a practical virtual gulch in plain sight, however. Using technology, one can communicate and trade with other members of the gulch, and even live in small groups of like minded people. One can be on essentially a gold standard by keeping wealth in precious metals and using the dollar as a short term trading token, but buy things with gold or a gold backed new currency.
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  • Posted by Bennudo 9 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    As mentioned by someone earlier, I think Alaska would be an ideal spot. Preferably a remote location which creates the initial barrier to entry. The Gulch would be able to invite folks and fly them in, but in the event of societal collapse the distance and environment would help to isolate it from the negative effects. Plenty of room to expand and innovate. Government in the remote regions is minimally intrusive or non-existent so the Gulch would enjoy autonomy. While not perfect in every aspect, it provides a good foundation that could be molded into our desired community.
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  • Posted by iroseland 9 years, 2 months ago
    How about giving up nothing?

    Back in the 40's and 50's going Galt meant something totally different from today. One could still essentially disappear from the world and leave no trace. Even without going Galt there were people who were dropping off the radar.. But that was back in the days before Google earth, satellites, predator drones. In the world we currently live in there is no place left to hide. One could go off to the middle of nowhere and live by subsistence farming. But, for one that would mostly just suck. For another, as soon as you got good enough to actually be making it the very same looters would be there with their hands out. It seems that we should be looking for a solution that allows us to be successful. What if we didn't have to do that here?

    This guy has been making the news, and if he turns out not to be a total crackpot we might have an answer.

    http://www.paresspacewarpresearch.org/

    Right now there are a decent number of G2V class stars within 50 Light Years of here.

    http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/50lys....

    Again if he turns out to not be a crackpot then we would need to get probes out there to look for a place that humans can thrive on. Then, we find a way to establish a colony and start terraforming the heck out of it.

    The best route to build Atlantis would be to start over from scratch and simply leave the Looters and Moochers behind.
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  • Posted by bz1mcr 9 years, 2 months ago
    I expect the gultch to have newer better technology.
    We have the intelligence to make it better. Surpassing the government crippled corrupt mess should be a no brainer. Shed the shackles and we will flourish!
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  • Posted by tdechaine 9 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Limited - really! You are clearly not an Objectivist.
    Just look at the original use of the word here.
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  • Posted by 9 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I would imagine that an entity created by bureaucrats like the EU would be as bad or worse than CA in regards trying something like that.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 9 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Duh. Missed that. Thanks.

    Second question: why not build it in EuroDisney? If there was ever a set of nations that needed ideas, it would be the EU... ;)
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  • Posted by 9 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Disney world is the Florida park, not the California one. Even the disney people realized CA would never allow it. That was one reason they picked up so much extra land for the Florida park. I think Walt Disney's death in 66 put the kibosh on that project.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 9 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Uh - they've been sporting that mantra since the 60's when Disneyland was built. Tomorrowland anyone?

    Besides - I can't see California ever granting them the resources to try it - either in terms of land or power. Now if they moved next door to Nevada...
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  • Posted by $ blarman 9 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Uh, can you give an example of that? The whole point of mass production is to reduce the amount of overhead (a fixed cost) incrementally assigned to each unit by pumping out more units in a given amount of time. If you're going where I think you're going (3D printing), you're not pumping out the units, you're focusing on customization and incurring higher overhead costs in the process.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 9 years, 2 months ago
    Why don't we see if we can buy a remote island off the coast of Costa Rica? I think there are a couple there where all we have to do are kill off any remaining genetically re-engineered dinosaurs... ;)
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  • Posted by tragicview 9 years, 2 months ago
    While we certainly don't have Galt's miraculous motor, we do have enough technology to get by with small scale power generation. The real trick will be to disguise ourselves from observation like they did in the gulch. Finally, we'll need our own "destroyer" to seek us producers out and get us to go on strike... If it were real, I'd take my family and leave it all behind in a heartbeat.
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