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Originally Posted by appophylite /img/forum/go_quote.gif
And that's why I take advantage of the fact that I have a job in today's modern society that pays money for me to buy what I need, so that I have time to learn what I "don't need" in a manner of speaking. I don't need to know how to shoot a Bow-and-Arrow or make my own because modern society doesn't require me to have that particular skill. But I learned how to do both because I have the time to learn and I'm pretty damn competent when it comes to shooting a compound bow or having to build a quick and simple bow and arrow set. Even though I'm terrible at gardening, I have the time to learn and improve, and this year, I tried a new setup using clear plastic totes as potters and I'm getting phenomenal results! I have friends who do metal work and woodwork and always offer to teach me more of their tips/tricks so I can improve. That is what I love about today's modern society - because I do not HAVE to focus on myself and my abilities for food/shelter/clothing, etc beyond going to work and bringing home a paycheck large enough to pay for these things, I have more time to focus on those things that would be beneficial to my wellbeing were I to find myself in a post-apocalyptic future.
Precisely. Living in a technologically and socially advanced society allows us to turn what once was a necessary and life-providing activity into an intellectual pursuit that allows people to become more well-rounded.
Dynobot, I think that self-sufficiency is an obsolete concept in today's world. A country cannot compete through isolationism (the most extreme form of self-sufficiency). In fact, no one knows this better than the Japanese, who found themselves 200 years behind the rest of the world at the beginning of the 20th century as a result of their extreme isolationism. To answer, Japan became an aggressive trading and manufacturing center, that is why they are wealthy today. They have virtually no natural resources to speak of, but through ingenuity and fierce reliance on outside markets for raw materials and demand for manufactured goods, they are now a wealthy nation. There is no country less geared towards self reliance than Japan, a self-reliant country would be something more like a central African nation that does not trade. Look at the US, a nation with incredible natural resources, a large population, vast fertile areas. The US is certainly capable of being self-sufficient, however long ago we realized that trade would be beneficial to increasing our quality of life.
To put it on a personal level, sure, maybe if you had the skills required you could become totally self reliant on 40 acres of land. It is conceivable that someone could make basic tools, plant and harvest crops/maintain livestock, make permanent shelter, all the necessities. However, would that person live better than someone who works 40 hours a week in an office and buys what they need/want? Absolutely not. Also, the self-sufficient man is not able handle a crisis as the modern man/society is able to do.
To put it shortly, preparing for sustainability and self-sufficiency is not how humanity got to where it is today, it is not how we got to how we were 2000 years ago. If sustainability were a motivating factor in animal life, there would be nothing but photosynthetic amoebas floating in the seas. Animal life, and being that humans are just animals with tools the same laws apply to us, is built to test the limits of where it can survive, to how many times it can reproduce. If the goal of humanity was to be self-sufficient, there would be 8 humans hunting and gathering, surviving. There would be no reason to advance technologically AT ALL.
