I'm taking a different tack here to examine the premise of your question.

The life you describe is not simpler - it is more primitive.

It is much simpler for me to reach into my fridge and pull out a pound of hamburger meat than it is to raise cattle, slaughter and butcher the meat and then grind it. It is much simpler to turn on a faucet and have clean water than to dig a well and haul it to the house, etc., etc.

As to answering the question of survival: maybe - probably? We live on a horse farm and my wife was raised on one, so no issues with the hard work or a daily grind of hard work. My biggest issue would be hunting/slaughtering/butchering. I did not grow up hunting and would have to learn how to clean and butcher meat. We do garden, although subsistence farming would be much different, the basics are there.

I would not want to do it, however. Good question and discussion!

In the words of Billy Joel:

Say goodbye to the
Oldies but goodies
Cause the good ole days weren't
Always good
And tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BamaJeepster,

No.

flashguy

I don't consider electricity and running water as just "modern conveniences."

But anyways, very few have the knowledge to pick and up just do it. With training, sure. People back then were taught by the previous generations. And of course, many of them starved or died of diseases that are basically unheard of now.

And then you ask yourself how modern is too modern? Can you have a tractor? What tools are ok?

And is my whole life just wrapped up in living there on my farm? Because there is no time to pursue other passions. As soon as you want to do some sort of work, you forego doing something for yourself. I don't have any desire to live primitively. Simpler... maybe, but that is all context and in the eye of the beholder.

I could not. I could go without tv probably fairly easily, especially if I had internet access. I could give up internet too if I had to. But I want electricity and hot and cold running water. Gas powered vehicles so I can go when and where I want to go.

I think you get accustomed to your surroundings.

FWIW, when I started kindergarten in 1960 back in Eastern Iowa we lived on the outskirts of a 25K town on the Mississippi.
The schoolhouse I went to until the third grade when they built a real elementary school was one of those one room school house.
There were other real school houses in town but we weren't in their district or whatever.
Only five in my K class and there were two other grades of about 8-10 people each in the same room.
Electricity, but stove heat, no AC, and only an outdoor wooden outhouse (lots of fun there ).
I don't regret the accommodations ~ in fact I loved to go to school back then.
Of course the new school was built and it was better.
Go back - NO but no regrets, it makes you appreciate improved life without the entitlement attitude.
YMMV

If it were to be forced upon me, I could exist, but to simply exist is not enough. Why, for example, would I want to wash my clothes in a creek with lye soap and a washboard?

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
To be blunt, why would I want to? I like modern life. I have no desire to live anything like a pioneer lifestyle. When I look at what people used to go through, I respect that they were able to live that way, but comparing what they went through to how I live, I'd take my lifestyle in split second.

I'm with you. I enjoy watching some of those Alaskan shows where they live a very simple life living off the land but the reality is that to be honest with you it looks awesome from the TV but the reality would be mind numbingly boring for most people who have lived a more modern lifestyle. You are basically working morning noon and night to get all the things you need just to sustain life with very little of the entertainment most of us have become accustomed to.

If I had to, I could. At 66, I don't want to live that way.
It would have to be forced on me.

fuck that noise. 1-800-bring me a pizza

I'd do what I'd have to do, and muddle through. Compared to many around me, I'd probably do better than most. I probably wouldn't do as well and the rural guys. Would I do good enough, who knows.

But I likely wouldn't be happy about it.

quote:

Originally posted by OttoSig:

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
To be blunt, why would I want to? I like modern life. I have no desire to live anything like a pioneer lifestyle. When I look at what people used to go through, I respect that they were able to live that way, but comparing what they went through to how I live, I'd take my lifestyle in split second.

quote:

Originally posted by OttoSig:
My wife and i grew up living simple. No running water at times. (She drew from a well). No electricity. Wood burning stoves (even in the south [she is from central america]). We know how to garden, butcher, farm, etc.

We aim to live this way as adults...it will take some time but...can you truthfully give up modern conveniences?
Can you work all day?

Answer truthfully!

I run 5 miles a day. 1000 push ups a week, do a 3 minute plank every hour.

Can you honestly live without modern advances? Not a question of are you mentally capable, but can you physically do it?

We often pride ourselves on 10k rounds ammo or the like...but what do you truly expect?

We are a gun forum, and very knowledgeable, but given a worse case scenario, are you set up for success?

The most important prep you can make is to better yourself physically! Are you prepared?

BB,

Thanks for your post!!!

I read it and will counter with this...while you may not choose this life, what if it was pressed upon you?

No.

Not strong enough physically or mentally, not prepared realistically.

If the power goes out and stays out, I'm fucked.

No.

As we were sitting in the dark last week, without heat, power, or running water, I mentioned to my wife how dependent we were on utilities we don't control.

I could get by without a phone, or internet access.
We did have a battery powered radio and lanterns, but without spare batteries, those would go away too.

The best we can do in our situation is prepare for relatively short periods without essentials.

We are more prepared than we were a year ago or even 5 years ago.
But we aren't in it for the long haul.

Interesting question, but I must disagree with your description of that way of life as being “simple.”

When I was a kid there were times when I lived in a house with no plumbing, a coal-fired furnace, and wood-fired cook stove. I still remember going to an outhouse in the middle of a cold Minnesota winter night and bringing water to the house in a bucket from a manual pump located many tens of yards away. Much of the food was from the garden or had been running around the yard some hours before. There was a reason why when that sort of lifestyle was universal the rich had numerous servants and/or slaves and the rest had wives and often offspring who spent their days keeping things going.

To me “simple” means such things as being able to purchase countless foods that are preprocessed to the point of being able to open the packaging and start cooking them, having a source of hot and cold water by turning a faucet handle, being able to get rid of body waste by pressing a lever, having comfortable living quarters with no more effort than turning a thermostat dial, and being able to communicate instantly with everyone I might want to.

Are modern sewer systems more complex than crapping into a hole in the ground?
Of course, but affording and paying for that service requires a very small effort on my part, as do countless other conveniences of modern life.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
No.

Not strong enough physically or mentally, not prepared realistically.

If the power goes out and stays out, I'm fucked.

After reading/following your posts on SIGforum for some time now, I believe you would be far better of than the VAST Majority of people....Don't don't sell yourself short!

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
No.

Not strong enough physically or mentally, not prepared realistically.

If the power goes out and stays out, I'm fucked.

After reading/following your posts on SIGforum for some time now, I believe you would be far better of than the VAST Majority of people....Don't don't sell yourself short!

Yeah, also, don't presume that if the world were to get knocked back to the 16th century that everyone would be on their own.

You would certainly be an asset to a small community.

I couldn't live without modern medicine. I can survive 3 months until my stockpile runs out then maybe 3 weeks till my body shutsdown. The only thing I would miss is entertainment and porn.

Sure, I could. But I like indoor plumbing, hot showers daily, refrigerated food and drinks, central heat/air. No desire to rough it. Regards 18DAI

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
No.

Not strong enough physically or mentally, not prepared realistically.

If the power goes out and stays out, I'm fucked.

After reading/following your posts on SIGforum for some time now, I believe you would be far better of than the VAST Majority of people....Don't don't sell yourself short!

Yeah, also, don't presume that if the world were to get knocked back to the 16th century that everyone would be on their own.

You would certainly be an asset to a small community.

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

The problem would be two-fold: Fuel (for heat) and food.

Food: IF we knew ahead of time and IF the weather cooperated it just MIGHT be possible (with a community-wide effort) to grow enough food to survive, supplemented by hunting and fishing. If it happened this time of year with no notice? I don't see many surviving. Even given adequate warning, growing enough food to survive until old skills like canning, salting, drying etc could be revived/relearned would be problematic.

Fuel: Extracting/processing/delivering fossil fuels would be severely curtailed, if not wiped out. Going back to wood and coal would work in some areas but again, transporting it to those areas that don't have it naturally would be an issue. Plus cooking with wood takes skills and tools that are quite rare these days and not easily replicated.

Obviously there'd have to be a barter economy, and those of us that can work with our hands and have tools would probably be able to survive or at least subsist assuming Food and Fuel were available.

Meds would be an issue and a lot of people wouldn't make it. Then again, we'd lose a LOT of weight and get MUCH more fit (assuming we survived the initial period) and meds like BP, statins and Insulin would be in less demand due both to improved fitness and attrition.

No. There is a reason for the lifespan of people in the 1800's was between 35 and 45.

Jim

Modern medicine has given people the ability to experience "old age". You take that away, and you would be shocked by how things like appendicitis, flu, gall stones, high blood pressure, etc. can punch your ticket post haste!! One can be healthy as a bull one minute, and have that all change quickly.