Antifragile Design
I read some prepper subs on Reddit.
Prepping strikes me as an upper class hobby for people who have some stability and comfort in life and want to imagine themselves in the hero role in some post-apocalyptic world where their years of prepping has finally paid off because their worst fears have finally been realized.
As if that's A Good Thing.
My dad grew up in The Great Depression. My mom grew up in Germany during World War II and it's aftermath.
AKA Nazi Germany and the front lines of a war and the aftermath.
My mother is a huge conflict avoider. I think having seen what happens when society comes unraveled, she can't be arsed to quibble about stupid things.
Your "annoying neighbors" or whatever? Who cares? At least there is food on the table, your house hasn't been bombed to smithereens and invading soldiers aren't raping the women while the children watch.
I think r/prepperintel is possibly the worst prepper sub though I imagine they think they have good intentions.
The only good use for dire visions of the future is avoiding the problem. Maybe r/prepperintel is useful in that regard but the people posting there probably want validation that they aren't paranoid fruitcakes and you only get validation if SHTF (shit hits the fan) and you get to say "I told you so."
The reality is the shit is hitting the fan for someone, somewhere everyday. Homeless Americans already had their lives come unraveled and have to listen to people blame them while we continue to not build affordable housing.
People in places like Darfur and Gaza have nothing but SHTF all day, everyday and the world is not fixing it. Some people -- cough, Israel -- seem to be huge shit fans who actively enjoy blowing it everywhere, with no plans to stop.
My interest in antifragile design comes from my mother and father. We need a more stable civilization, not a world where upper class people spend their time hoarding food that is expected to last for decades after their life comes unraveled.
Lots of lives the world over are failing to have any hope of ever achieving the stability that preppers forecast someday losing. And we aren't doing enough about that.
Because it's extremely hard to get credit for preventing problems. They don't give medals and call you a "hero" for that.
So far too many people actively look for disasters in hopes of playing hero rather than in hopes of making sure it doesn't happen at all.
I don't like drama and excitement and playing hero. I want a quiet life where the most excitement I have is trying new foods at some new restaurant that opened in town.
Footnote
Originally published elsewhere July 7, 2024. Slightly edited.
