The Alaska Experiment

[CheezeFlixz]

Has anyone else seen this show? This show is proof that if there was some fall of civilization as we know it, the bulk of the population would be dead within a few weeks.

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/alaska/alaska-experiment/participants.html

I really don't know how they can call it an experiment if there is medical and survival specialist off camera as they say in the disclaimer. My idea of an experiment is put them out they with they own camera and see how they do, kind of like Survivorman. But they also give them a cabin with supplies ... yeah ok, if you get lost in the wilds there is always a cabin with supplies, right?

Have you seen this show, I'm sorry I just find it comical. Even my wife who freely claims her survival skills are pretty low said "Where do they find these people?" All I know is if these folk as any indication of the preparedness of the population to survive without modern amenities, the world is going to be a pretty spacious place if something happens.   

[Killer Bees]

I haven't seen the show, it probably won't come here for a while.

But I agree that most people have no clue about even the most basic survival.  Society has become such a bunch of soft candy arses, that the instinctual survival mechanism has nearly been bred out.

[Susan]

Well depending on where you live you would die off. There was a great PBS show "Fronteer house" and if the show hadn't ended or they allowed them to buy foods they would have died. Some of them lost so much weight they were gaunt. They couldn't deal with the constant work all day from sunup to sundown chopping wood and they still didn't have enough for winter. Not to mention growing crops and skills of hunting.

We couldn't live on canned food forever, at least we might have some time to learn some basic skills but again it depends on where you live. Don't go anywhere with winters - you're probably better off in areas with good fishing or seafood of some kind. Otherwise people couldn't live 'on their own', they would have to form societies of some kind to put everyones skills together. My sisterin law believes this is coming, the extreme peak oil believer, and has been grossly overplanning their survival by stocking up and buying supplies and stuff. But i guarantee if the plug is pulled and people die off, even those who think they are ready to wing it are gonna die off too. It'll just be a matter of true skills, location where you live and luck not getting into any accidents where you would need medical help - which is why it is important that you need to group together with others to combine skills. But given the whole system would be collapsed you're gonna run into problems for awhile without any "law", what's to stop your neighbor from stealing your cow and killing you for it.

[CheezeFlixz]

Well depending on where you live you would die off. There was a great PBS show "Fronteer house" and if the show hadn't ended or they allowed them to buy foods they would have died. Some of them lost so much weight they were gaunt. They couldn't deal with the constant work all day from sunup to sundown chopping wood and they still didn't have enough for winter. Not to mention growing crops and skills of hunting.

We couldn't live on canned food forever, at least we might have some time to learn some basic skills but again it depends on where you live. Don't go anywhere with winters - you're probably better off in areas with good fishing or seafood of some kind. Otherwise people couldn't live 'on their own', they would have to form societies of some kind to put everyones skills together. My sisterin law believes this is coming, the extreme peak oil believer, and has been grossly overplanning their survival by stocking up and buying supplies and stuff. But i guarantee if the plug is pulled and people die off, even those who think they are ready to wing it are gonna die off too. It'll just be a matter of true skills, location where you live and luck not getting into any accidents where you would need medical help - which is why it is important that you need to group together with others to combine skills. But given the whole system would be collapsed you're gonna run into problems for awhile without any "law", what's to stop your neighbor from stealing your cow and killing you for it.

I agree it depends on the area of the country, most of these people on these shows and saw bits of "Frontier House" seem to come from urban or suburban back grounds. I think it you took a group of rural people you'd get a different out come. So I don't agree that everyone would be doomed, just those that survive on microwaves and drive-thru, which is a alarmingly high percentage of the population.

If you some reason the world does shut down and people had to survive on there own, yeah as I've said it's going to get real spacious real fast and a lot of people just can't do it, they've lost basic survival skills. Meat will be easy to get, because there will be cows everywhere, like Doomsday as there will not be as many people there to eat them and fewer that know how to butcher. Who could stalk the wild bovine?

How many people today can make a fire without a match or a lighter? Not many! How many can make a fish trap, or a snare that actually works? Where I live we do this stuff for fun, since we have nothing really else to do. Where not plagued with things like culture. So when the end of civilization comes I'm take the rural areas where the knowledge to survive is still alive and well. 

Yep process a few quality survival skills and you can be chief of the post apocalyptic tribe.

[Susan]

maybe we'd all be moving to florida. Warm weather, lots of fish and fruit tree's..lol

The thing is the average life expectancy back then was very low because of disease, accidents, and just working HARD their whole lives will age them. That's why they probably had tons of kids, they needed lots of help..lol  And true - we know they didn't have condoms but get real, back then they actually adopted orphans to be little farm hand slaves.

and i don't even think if you put rural people out there they'd have it in the bag either (the tv show).  Most people who are country still rely heavily on modern conveniences. How many who grow their food actually collect their own seeds? They probably buy them from an outside source. I think we had this discussion on another thread about doomsday scenarios.

Besides being able to catch,hunt your own food you'd have to have enough knowledge to know how to clean it. then we woudn't have the convenience of refrigerators which poses another problem. Not many people are gion to learn these skills frmo goin to the library and reading a book.
Sorry for the typos my keyboard is crapping out

[ghouck]

I'm always surprised at people's low level of survival skills. I'm always hearing about someone getting lost or hurt doing something stupid that in Alaska becomes a life-threatening issue. I'm amazed how many people don't get, or USE the whole "The sun rises in the east, sets in the west" idea. People regularly go out snowmachining with little or no overnight gear. They go on a snowmachine that can do 100 mph, and they go for an hour (probably at more like 30-50 MPH, so they are 30-50 miles back in the mountains), and they don't think about getting stuck or breaking down. 30-50 miles in the dark in Alaska is a life-threatening situation. Every year someone goes out and has to be rescued, , then they get mad once they get the bill. I laugh because 90% of the time it's their own stupidity. Often it's something like them getting thrown off their path because of bears, but if they had a map, a GPS, or even just some semi-decent dead-reckoning Landnav skills, , they could figure it out. Also, with a GPS, you can locate a Geocache and get a few supplies from them often, at least some matches, bandages. Doesn't hurt to know what you can and can not eat (Else you could end up like Alex McCandles and eat something that kills you).

The worst is seeing some family go hiking into the woods, and one member not being in good enough shape to make the whole trip.

When I first got to Alaska, 3 GIs thought it was a good idea to RUN to the shopette on post barefoot, in the winter. It was close enough it would only take about 30 seconds to run there, , but it was about 25 below and BLOWING. Well, they all got frostbite bad enough they were medically discharged, one of them crippled for life. BAD, BAD idea.