Lambdas and meathooks and crossbows, oh my!
I have now returned from Edinburgh, where I was visiting a symposium to celebrate the 60th birthday of Gordon Plotkin (not his death, as totherme and I had somehow assumed: fortunately, we discovered our mistake before we tried to console anyone). It was a theoretical computer science conference, which isn't really my area, though there's some overlap: I
( Read more... )
Arguably it might be more useful to learn a martial art, so that you can beat other people and steal their food :)
I'm firmly of the opinion that surviving as an individual by martial ability in a hostile environment for any length of time is untenable. There's always a bigger guy. Failing that, two guys. Or four. Call it an even dozen. What if one of them's armed? All of them? Maybe you've got a headache, and are reacting a bit slow. Or you slip on a banana peel. And you've got to sleep sometime...
No - hostile environments suck. Fortunately we (as a species) have millions of years of experience of cleverly not being in hostile environments, through one cunning means or another.
I reckon you want to be useful (like randominfo says - plus maybe carpentry - I've often fancied having a go at that), and most definitely not threatening (so even if you do, for some unrelated reason have a black belt in something (or a firearm), I reckon you really shouldn't wear it (visibly)).
Most of all though, I think you want to be amiable, and cheerful. Aside from the practical benefits post-apocalypse, I think that's a generally more fun way to be while we're waiting around for it to happen ;)
(footnote: Folk with more respect for Neal Stephenson's post apocalyptic opinions than mine should check out his answer to question 9 ^_^ )
Reply
Leave a comment