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Thought Experiment

JohnStone

Power Poster II
Joined
Mar 17, 2015
Assume there is a nuclear war, but it has ended after a full exchange. You grow your own food, hunt and fish...have a couple chickens for eggs, lots of ammo. You have a stable water supply and shelter, you burn wood for heat and cooking. Your basic necessities are taken care of for the most part, but you're very busy working hard to keep things stable for you and family, but still you have free time sometimes. There is no power, so no internet, maybe you rigged up a solar panel but that just charges a car battery to power a light or two (you have a power inverter) and your radio. Radio has no real stations, just occasional emergency alert messages and national weather channels. Travel is limited, as there is very little gas available, most of which is needed for chainsaw...you can have a bike or a horse though. You live in a wooded area with lots of forest.

In this scenario, what would you miss the most? Is there anything creative you would do to try to improve life. Feel free to add to the scenario and your supply with things you have right now in your home, but nothing you have to run out and buy at Wal Mart. (no cheating)

Here is my start to the list (Sure i'll think of more):

Easy communication (Internet/cell phone/etc.)
Movies/music
Eating out, favorite foods/drinks from the market
Caffeine!!!!
 
JohnStone said:
In this scenario, what would you miss the most? Is there anything creative you would do to try to improve life.
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If I lived through it, I believe I would miss human contact after awhile, especially if I was the only one that I knew that survived. I might also miss GPS tech, because I am sure I would lose my ability to tell where I was after awhile. I would also miss my cats. My poor babies. I think I'll hug them more tonight.

I would also miss medication. I need supplements to keep my energy up.
 
dameonmac14 said:
JohnStone said:
In this scenario, what would you miss the most? Is there anything creative you would do to try to improve life.
Click to expand...

If I lived through it, I believe I would miss human contact after awhile, especially if I was the only one that I knew that survived. I might also miss GPS tech, because I am sure I would lose my ability to tell where I was after awhile. I would also miss my cats. My poor babies. I think I'll hug them more tonight.

I would also miss medication. I need supplements to keep my energy up.
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Your cats could still be there if you can feed them, as would anybody that currently lives with you. Being alone is not a requirement as we're assuming those you live with may have survived with you. But yeah, if you lived alone when SHTF, that would suck.
 
JohnStone said:
Your cats could still be there if you can feed them, as would anybody that currently lives with you. Being alone is not a requirement as we're assuming those you live with may have survived with you. But yeah, if you lived alone when SHTF, that would suck.
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Well, I currently live with two roommates and two cats. One of them eats enough for three people himself, and the cats would only want to eat dry food. I'd have to stock up for quite a bit, as I doubt the food or supply chain would be okay for a long time.

If I lost my friends that I live with, and my cats, I wouldn't be okay for a very long time. They are lifelines to me.
 
Cats are very adaptive, if they were hungry enough, they'd eat anything, including human food and they'd hunt for themselves. As for your roomate who eats too much, they'd have to go on a serious diet.
 
JohnStone said:
Cats are very adaptive, if they were hungry enough, they'd eat anything, including human food and they'd hunt for themselves. As for your roomate who eats too much, they'd have to go on a serious diet.
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Yep, cats really are adaptive.
 
jayfeather31 said:
JohnStone said:
Cats are very adaptive, if they were hungry enough, they'd eat anything, including human food and they'd hunt for themselves. As for your roomate who eats too much, they'd have to go on a serious diet.
Click to expand...

Yep, cats really are adaptive.
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That they are. And my cats play fetch. So I know they're smart. But I also know they're cute little beggars. :lol:

They probably would be fine, but I don't really know for how long, seeing as there aren't much radiation studies on animal populations over time. Nor would I want to see.
 
And how long until basic services are restored?
 
my wife and I have been preparing for this scenario for a few years now. We have stockpiled thousands of rounds of ammo, weapons, bows, spears, medication, surgical supplies, gold, silver, water purification systems, food, water, hatchet, machete, knives etc.. pretty much everything we need to live indefinitely in the woods/mountains etc.. I would miss the internet and watching movies and good food. But, I kind of am looking forward to being able to live off-grid permanently. My wife gets out of the air force in march and we are moving to colorado to start our homestead. So, if things hit the fan a few years from now we will be even more prepared with stuff like a root cellar, a cobb house or earthship, lots of rain water storage abilities etc.. As far as what we would do to improve things would depend on the situation. If i were all clear I would def scrounge around abandoned places to look for things that could help our situation and I would welcome people that have something to offer as far as helping start a community.
 
Well, honestly, I thought about it.

The thing I'd miss the most would probably be my friends living in major cities. I live in.. Let's say... Really small city, 1hour + drive to bigger city.
I wouldn't fit in the requirements to get nuked due to fact closest military base is really... Like 3 hours away from me. To drive 3 hours straight without traffic in a car and get there, meaning.

Well.. Even thought I'd miss some people really much, I'd still live on... try to carry on "culture of my people", try to live on, hunt, make weapons, find a good shelter OR build a new one in a big forrest area ( I live literally next to biggest forrests of Europe), so yeah... I really don't know man.

The fact that'd we have to live with fact that we may be literally the last part of humanity that lives to tell the tale of how stupid our governments were to lead us all to oblivion... It's really scary, actually.

But yeah... Live, adapt, and ensure survival of our species... I guess that's the primary target.
 
JohnStone said:
Assume there is a nuclear war, but it has ended after a full exchange. You grow your own food, hunt and fish...have a couple chickens for eggs, lots of ammo. You have a stable water supply and shelter, you burn wood for heat and cooking. Your basic necessities are taken care of for the most part, but you're very busy working hard to keep things stable for you and family, but still you have free time sometimes. There is no power, so no internet, maybe you rigged up a solar panel but that just charges a car battery to power a light or two (you have a power inverter) and your radio. Radio has no real stations, just occasional emergency alert messages and national weather channels. Travel is limited, as there is very little gas available, most of which is needed for chainsaw...you can have a bike or a horse though. You live in a wooded area with lots of forest.

In this scenario, what would you miss the most? Is there anything creative you would do to try to improve life. Feel free to add to the scenario and your supply with things you have right now in your home, but nothing you have to run out and buy at Wal Mart. (no cheating)

Here is my start to the list (Sure i'll think of more):

Easy communication (Internet/cell phone/etc.)
Movies/music
Eating out, favorite foods/drinks from the market
Caffeine!!!!
Click to expand...


Would the chickens be effected by any nuclear fallout? I really like my eggs scrambled.
 
I should have mentioned if I didn't, you live in or near the woods (whether you do, or you fled there soon enough before the bombs dropped), so it's likely your not near a fallout zone...at least in this scenario. Let's just say the worst is over, radiation has disapated, but there may still be some desperate stragglers from the cities who may be willing to steal what you have. So you need security, and you need to live without the walmart trucks rolling on the highway, because these things won't be happening for some time. Money is worthless to most, trading items or know how is the new economy. You and those you are with are on your own with the supplies mentioned above and what you have in your home right now. I say this because I want to see how prepared we are, or how well we can make do with what we got if not too prepared. If you live in an apartment in the city, lets assume you made it out and managed to get a few bare essentials like a radio, chickens, etc and ended up at an old cabin left to us...maybe you traded for some things. Most important, thinking about what we will miss the most, may help all of us be better prepared, or at the very least, tell us what we shouldn't take for granted. Like I said, it's a thought experiment, not everybody's circumstances will be the same, in fact, most will be different.

I don't think every city will get hit, just strategic targets, major cities. My nearest city just has a bunch of hippies living there, I hardly see it as a target.
 
JohnStone said:
I should have mentioned if I didn't, you live in or near the woods (whether you do, or you fled there soon enough before the bombs dropped), so it's likely your not near a fallout zone...at least in this scenario. Let's just say the worst is over, radiation has disapated, but there may still be some desperate stragglers from the cities who may be willing to steal what you have. So you need security, and you need to live without the walmart trucks rolling on the highway, because these things won't be happening for some time. Money is worthless to most, trading items or know how is the new economy. You and those you are with are on your own with the supplies mentioned above and what you have in your home right now. I say this because I want to see how prepared we are, or how well we can make do with what we got if not too prepared. If you live in an apartment in the city, lets assume you made it out and managed to get a few bare essentials like a radio, chickens, etc and ended up at an old cabin left to us...maybe you traded for some things. Most important, thinking about what we will miss the most, may help all of us be better prepared, or at the very least, tell us what we shouldn't take for granted. Like I said, it's a thought experiment, not everybody's circumstances will be the same, in fact, most will be different.

I don't think every city will get hit, just strategic targets, major cities. My nearest city just has a bunch of hippies living there, I hardly see it as a target.
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*slaps tinfoil helmet on*
Uh, Bra, dem probably all CIA undercover duudddeee

But, you should check to see if their are any military bases or silos in the city. Because, if war broke out you could only expect mass panic and alot of deaths ensueing. Which may leave the city open and ripe for your pickings. Of course that all depends on if it would get hit or not.
 
I'd probably miss a lot of my entertainment. Unless I get myself a manual generator at some point or rig together a solar panel or something, I'm left with just what books I have. And let's face it, who the hell wants to be reading 1984 or Fahrenheit 451 after surviving nuclear war? When your library consists of the classic dystopian novels, H.P. Lovecraft, and some other rather dark books, you're probably going to not be reading a lot after a nuclear apocalypse because they're probably going to depress you more than you already are by the fact the world ended.

Honestly, I'm rather unsure of my survival prospects anyway. I live near Fort Benning, and I want to move away from it as soon as I get out of college. But until then, I imagine it would be one of the places hit, and the best I could do for shelter is probably to break into the basement below my complex. But hey, I'm an amateur locksmith at least, so if I did survive, that might be a useful skill.
 
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