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Comment by llimos | Hacker News Reader

Trying to imagine what this would be like. There are so many things we take for granted, have never had to manage without, and build our lives on top of, without thinking about how easily they could just not be there one day.

Food in the supermarket, water, telephone service...

And imagine that they go away and there's nothing you can do about it. No-one to complain to. What do you even do?

Yes, obviously Internet isn't the worst of the set to lose. But it's a way in to thinking about the feeling that something you've utterly relied on can just ... stop.

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I just went without seeing the Internet for 8 years, being held in a county jail. The worst bit was not being able to settle an argument by calling up Wikipedia.

>And imagine that they go away and there's nothing you can do about it.

This strikes me as a rather strange way of looking at it.

The only way there's nothing I can do about it is if I'm dead or seriously injured, and in that case there really is nothing I can do about it, so why worry? :-)

The shift from "there's no Internet/food/water" to "let's start making progress toward resolving this" is easy to make in that moment, and there are plenty of people who have the skills and patience to make it happen. It might take longer than we all might like, but that's fine. As long as we're alive, there's always something to work toward, and always the ability to make some progress.

This is why everyone should have a bugout bag and possibly radio training. This isn't some prepper crap, I wager 99% of people simply have no way of surviving more than a few days without core services.

The internet failing kinda sucks, but thats what a charged kindle is for.

Why would you need to bugout when core services are down? Wouldn't a well stocked pantry and / or cold cellar be more appropriate? You don't have to leave your home with a backpack just because the supermarket is empty.

It depends on the nature of the event and the area you live in. Preppers who plan on "bugging out" are usually concerned with local unrest following the loss of services. They would also (hopefully) already have a destination in mind rather simply going "innawoods". Provided you have a safe community, having a reasonable stockpile of basic supplies and neighbors you can trust, remaining in place is usually a better option. A firearm or two would also be advisable in either case.

> This is why everyone should have a bugout bag and possibly radio training.

I don't know about you, but for me the vast majority of possible disaster situations would not include fleeing my home and city.

Local disaster (e.g. fire) would flee my home but use city services. Regional disaster (e.g. blizzard, civil unrest) would involve staying at home for the protection / amenities it provides.

Personally, I think fleeing to the wilderness is an anti-pattern and I have not seen a situation for me that would necessitate it besides the end of the world as we know it (e.g. nuclear war), but IMO that moves into "some prepper crap" territory.

If you live in a region with seismic activity, earthquake preparedness might necessitate a bugout bag, but that's hardly 'everyone'.

Flood/Hurricanes are a great example of regional disasters where large numbers have to leave their homes. Your region may not be susceptible to these events, though.

Civil Unrest/War can also lead to folks fleeing their homes- see the massive numbers of refugees fleeing warzones. Staying in your home in such a situation may not be the wisest course of action.

Earthquakes as you mentioned can be another cause- also, tornados- but tornadoes are usually fairly localized.

The point of the bugout bag, from my understanding, is to assist in an unexpected and sudden departure from home. Earthquakes certainly fit the bill, I hadn't considered tornadoes but sure I can see that.

I don't know how many of the other ones realistically call for a bugout bag. Big storms have days advance warning - you don't need to be ready to leave at a moments notice, you need to decide days beforehand whether you're evacuating or boarding up your windows. Most civil unrest does not warrant evacuation in the United States, and if it got to that point, it would probably not be a sudden and unexpected departure.

Maybe I should clarify: In my previous post I wasn't so much against the idea that someone should need to possibly evacuate, as that you need to prepare to make a sudden and unexpected evacuation from society as a whole (like a "take the bugout bag and make a run to the woods" situation)

Okay, if that is what you mean by a bugout bag... I think many ordinary folks just need a 72 hour bag with basic essentials to get them through until they can get more permanent help. Your right, bugging out of society as a whole isn't really practical for most people.

As for big storms- ideally, yeah, but it seems that a lot of folks try to ride it out, it ends up being worse than they expected, they get flooded out, and now have to be evacuated in a hurry.

Hopefully learn that getting everything to rely on an Internet connection was the dumbest thing to happen this century.

Brb, my notepad needs to update.

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