If you want to see what it’s like to live without modern conveniences, go to a really poor country and observe the lower-class civilians. Having been to Honduras where poor people live in the mountains (with amazing vistas) with dirt floor huts and no clean drinking water, I can tell you that it is a terrible existence. Half their children die before they make it to 10, because of parasites from the dirt which get in their feet, and contaminated water that they have to hike down and up the mountain for every day. I feel like everyone should see this at some point to reset their perspective.
Mostly getting shit delivered. My current ideal spot is far enough outside town that I’m still able to get pizza delivered and have good internet… but not deal with JW’s.
I had enough with where this society is going and I no longer want to be part of it. But I like:
- fine spirits
- good food
- cooking nice steaks
- eating in restaurants
- drinking in bars
- traveling to places that are exotic or interesting to me
- traveling to places where it’s just nice to wind down
- swimming in tropical waters
- hiking snowy mountains
- driving
- listening to hi fi music
- reading books
- doing video calls with friends and family
- being able to follow my curiosity and learning new things
- playing video games
- being able to take my dog to the vet
- providing my kid with good education
- keeping my kid safe from injuries and diseases
- seeing a doctor when I get sick
- access to a dentist, a pediatrician, a barber, an ER when necessary
- taking a shower
- hot tubs
- having a washing machine, a dishwasher and a refrigerator in my house
- having heating and air conditioning
And probably a bunch more stuff because of which, while I truly enjoy being in nature, I keep choosing living in a city and going to work instead. The common thing with all these items that you need money for each. The only ethical way I know of for making money is working hard and building a career relentlessly for decades. if you’re lucky. There are no guarantees.
I’m not sure if it’s worth it, but I do know for sure I couldn’t give all of the above up, as long as I have a choice.
I’d rather be dead than have to live without civilization.
Indoor plumbing. Seriously. Go without for a couple of weeks and tell me how you feel about hot showers and flush toilets.
Also, people really underestimate how difficult it would be to just fuck off into the woods. You’d need a good amount of planning and knowledge to do it. What’s edible within what time range. Where the animals are at what time of year. And if you’re up north you always gotta be laying in firewood.
Also civilization has taken over most of the good hunter gatherer/ subsistence farming spots. River valleys, estuaries, anywhere with good fertile soil. Most of the places with good desolate wilderness to fuck off into was left desolate because it’s fucking desolate.
Ticks. Also, probably, my wife and progeny.
We have a cabin in the woods so I do it in the summer. I wouldn’t want to do it longterm in the winter. (Canada) A couple of days and I’m ready for civilization.
There are fewer than 10,000 people who, if they just like weren’t around anymore, would inprove everyone’s quality of life like ten fold. I cling to the hope that one day enough of us will realize that and save the world.
Getting rid of those 10,000 people is relatively easy. The hard part is preventing 10,000 replacements from popping up.
I’m waiting for the next book in that series I like.
…money
I’m a spoiled brat with soft hands and no survival skills, and even if I were better equipped it sounds exhausting and dangerous.
Lack of survival skills
Living in the woods needs a LOT of money
Volunteering at the native plant garden in the park. Just enough of a hit to keep me going.
Mostly that I like the civilized world.
Like don’t get me wrong: Nature hikes? Camping? All great. National parks are a treasure. But I will freely admit I rather enjoy little comforts of modernity like “clean water just comes out of the tap when I turn it on”, “fresh food is a 15-minute walk to the grocery store away”, and “the spinny machine makes my clothes clean while I do other stuff.”
I complain about the modern world petty often, but damn some of it is nice. The other day, the dishwasher was running, the washing machine and dryer were going, the robot vacuum was doing its thing, the litter box was cleaning itself, and I was just sitting there with a beer and a good book.
