Hans,
Does it "only" handle about surviving civilisation crash, or has it the impetus of conserve and reanimate law and civilisation again?They do not advocate for the lone survivor, and neither do I.
Theirs is more a "tribe up with like minded people for mutual support and protection". A successful group of people who make it through Ragnarök will have survived because they preserved "civilization" the best, but only in miniature.
All the technology we have, the concept of the Rule of Law, governance via the consent of the governed - these are what I wish to preserve and then advance. Even if only in miniature - a working example of something will allow others to copy it and make it for themselves.
I have set aside books on ancient engineering because those methods can be adapted to modern technology. I remember reading about how the Romans re-routed a section of a river so that it ran down a hill. On the hillside, before the water was allowed through, they built a series of grain mills. When the mills were complete, they let the water through and that one site made enough flour to feed an entire region... I think this might have been in France..
Now take that concept and apply it to power generation. Instead of one big turbine hooked to a water wheel and a crude transmission to step up the rpm's, you have 8 or maybe 12 medium turbines stepped down a hillside, all cranking out electricity.
Preserving civilization in miniature - in thousands of little enclaves spread across the land - would be a huge boon. It's one thing to read a book about how to build a generator. It's another to have a working example others can come and see, learn, and copy for their own use. Along with the book, of course...
This is my goal re: surviving Ragnarök - it's not enough just to be around after it's over.
We must save who and what we can, while we can. Trying to get a small community working towards a common goal of preserving what they can is a huge task for one person, but it is not impossible.
On a personal note, I think that once Ragnarök hits - and it won't be long in coming - we will do well to revert back to late 19th or early 20th century technology. With some individual advanced technologies surviving as long as the spare parts hold out. Which means there will be a window - however brief - where we must move Heaven and Earth to be able to ensure the continuity of our technology - it's not enough to have spare parts and know how to fix things. We must be able to make not only new spare parts, but also whole products. I can guarantee you I can fix my truck with scraps, duct tape and bailing wire. But replicate a new coolant hose in my back yard? This I cannot do. Nor can I make new rolls of duct tape.
I can, however, convert my truck to run on ethanol or a wood gassifier - this is old technology and old technology is easier to reproduce, especially small scale.
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_lib ... e.html#ch1Since old technology is simpler, I prefer to work with it. While others are interested in electric cars and "green" low-carbon-footprint efforts, I'm going the other way. Take an early 1970's truck - the most useful vehicle I could find - and set about laying in the parts to convert it to run on ethanol. Building an ethanol still is easy - folks have been building their own around here (much to the displeasure of our Government) for 200 years.
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There are some concerns, but nothing that cannot be overcome with a bit of ingenuity and lateral thinking.
Save who and what you can, while you can.
While I think your Utopian ideal of a world where everyone lives in harmony and understands/tolerates each other is a noble one, I think you are putting your cart before your horse - surviving Ragnarök? Most people won't. Those who do, will be the toughest, most ruthless, the meanest. In school, their report cards said "Does not play well with others"... folks are going to be more concerned with where their next meal is going to come from than worrying about hurting someone else's feelings or whether someone is showing "micro-aggressions"....
Perhaps in a few hundred more years, we can get to that point. But for right now, I'm concentrating on just being around once the smoke clears and how to get ice in the summer for my bourbon...
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