Alone Season 2

sjhong said:
This is very interesting, but a little complicated for me in many points. Could you elaborate a little more?

You mention that alienation is a glaring problem in our modern world. But alienation from what? Are you saying that we modern human beings are alienated from the natural order of things? You mention we live in a world of symbols. What are these symbols?

To give you some context, my point of view is that the best part of this show is its simplicity. You compete in two levels. First, do you have the technical skills and physical ability to survive in the wild? Can you protect yourself from the elements and find food? The second level would be the mental one. Can you spend loads of time on your own? Can you overcome the effects of loneliness? Can you survive without seeing and interacting with other human beings? Can you live without your loved ones?

Everybody who left failed in at least one of these levels. In Mike's case, I think he just missed his wife too much. He was apparently thriving in other areas, but missing his wife was too much for him to overcome.

Of course, we're talking about a heavily edited TV show, so what we see is probably not completely real.
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Entire philosophies are based on the concept of alienation. Basically the alienation we are taking about is alienation from the person's own center, his creative energies. When humans are shaped by artificial forces that technology has created he becomes mass produced, a automaton. Alienated individuales define their value from external things. Take away these things they have no center of their own so they become lost. We are all alienated to some extent we are products of the modern world, but some more than others.

The fall of man in the story of The Garden of Eden is a story of alienation. Before man ate from the tree of knowledge he was at one with the natural world like all the other animals. But knowledge of himself as separate from nature man began his fall, his alienation from the natural world. With this knowledge came guilt and despair, the human delema.

I don't want to make things more complicated than they are. You are correct Mike missed his wife so he tapped out. We can leave it at that. But I contend there is much more going on here. Mike said I want to leave before I go too far mentally and go back to Barbers as a different person. He reached a point rather quickly that he realized something was breaking down inside of him and he was afraid not knowing what would happen if he passed a certain point mentally. Being alone was crackinh the eggshell he lives in. That's OK I give him credit for realizing this and knowing that he didn't want to go any further. He reached his personal limit. His FB post saying he accomplished his goal of displaying his bushcraft skills is just an ad-hoc ratilization for a much deeper reason. Again he found his boundary in a relative short time. Someone like Alain keep pushing that boundary and even came to realize there may be no boundaries only the ones your mind imposes on itself.
 
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ErnestBecker said:
Entire philosophies are based on the concept of alienation. Basically the alienation we are taking about is alienation from the person's own center, his creative energies. When humans are shaped by artificial forces that technology has created he becomes mass produced, a automaton. Alienated individuales define their value from external things. Take away these things they have no center of their own so they become lost.

I don't want to make things more complicated than they are. You are correct Mike missed his wife so he tapped out. We can leave it at that. But I contend there is much more going on here. Mike said I want to leave before I go too far mentally and go back to Barbers as a different person. He reached a point rather quickly that he realized something was breaking down inside of him and he was afraid not knowing what would happen if he passed a certain point mentally. Being alone was crackinh the eggshell he lives in. That's OK I give him credit for realizing this and knowing that he didn't want to go any further. He reached his personal limit. His FB post saying he accomplished his goal of displaying his bushcraft skills is just an ad-hoc ratilization for a much deeper reason. Again he found his boundary in a relative short time. Someone like Alain keep pushing that boundary and even came to realize there may be no boundaries only the ones your mind imposes on itself.
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Re the bolded part. This is a very important point. More than competing against the other participants (whom they never saw or got updates on) and the environment, they were competing against themselves. Or rather their perceptions of themselves.
 
This is like one of those 50's Sci Fi stories or Outer Limits episodes where a the end monsters were all in the protagonist's mind.
 
Wow, okay some thought provoking analysis, however I think they need to "find some food" before they "find themselves" or they may "find themselves done"
 
None of us will ever know who well we will do until we go out there and do it.
I would like to think I can do the alone time. Got no wife and no kids and my pup passed away. Nothing to keep me wanting to be back. But I do like to keep my self busy or I get bored easy.
As long I got something to build and make or figure out how to kill something I might be o.k.

Just not sure if my knowledge is enough to make it. some of those guys are building houses and boats for goodness sake. I will be happy with a dry and warm place and something to kill and eat.
For you who know that area. What is there to hunt that is within the means for you in the alone show scenario . I cant see someone out for bear hunt with a sharp stick. In the show we don't see much of animal life besides bears and mice.
I would have loved to see what garbage washes on shore at those places. That could be a huge help in survival as in traps and keep fresh water.

As for cooking, when cooking a fish head( which I love to eat) how about adding some sea water for the salt? It should improve flavor and we need salt in our diet.
what other plants or ingredients are in that environment that we can use for cooking?

David if you are still reading this. How did you keep your self clean. Heck I wouldn't want to wear same underwear for a month how did you wash it? what about socks. I guess I think about different things then most of you.
 
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"To go out alone and find your place in society? That sounds like a right of passage... That's a win. " - hlee

Talk about "Entire philosophies are based on the concept of alienation." It is this society that is in its very essence the enemy of what makes mankind whole. This society was born not only from los conquistadores and the beliefs that they brought with them but also, we were pulled away from our natural environment by their other belief - silver and gold and the first coin that started what is now modern commerce.

Everything since then has been about that and only that. Where's the inner peace in that! Education for... waking up to... and so on. Since then man has lost his ways and cannot find himself without the outside influences and controls which now defines who we are, as you so clearly pointed out in the quotations above. It functions and thrives through modern commerce but more so through our belief in it. From that government(s) and religion(s) were born. Its joint purpose - at face value - is to make life better for mankind, but I beg to differ.

In my opinion, their joint purpose is self-serving. Controlling the people like herds, taxing at every turn through guilt or lies and if nothing else by brute force. That is the way of this society. Alienation from our own selves. Most everyone today will get angry if you try to tell them about the system they live under or their beliefs. It has become "politically incorrect" to speak of two things -- government/politics & religion -- in a public conversation. We have been conditioned to think and serve for a purpose. Theirs. Alienation is and has been used in the most massive way since modern commerce.

This is not to say that mankind is not a social animal but, there is a limit and that limit has far been surpassed by design. Maybe Randy and Mike left because they were/are victims of this, as are most of us. If you want truth don't look at this society as your answer to everything that you are. It's not the real you or us. Don't look at what I say either. Look to nature and eventually you'll find yourself and what is missing in most of us.

Talk about "The Outer Limits"! :)
 
Sol I agree with what you are saying here. I didn't want to derail the thread by making an attack on the utter dehumanizing effects modern society has on us. I wanted to focus on why some of these highly skilled individuals are so quickly folding with little hardship suffered so far. While society at large has a major role in shaping us as individuals I think there is a lot to be learned here about individual pshycology that this little "test" of human endurance will uncover.
 
Ernest, Although I care I still tend to derail threads because well, I just can't help but to speak my mind. :) I sort of enjoyed last season a bit more. Don't get me wrong. I'm really enjoying this season as well and looking forward to tonight's episode big time. However there was something about the contestants not knowing a thing about what was yet to come before the drop off and while there. Season two had season one to rely on and prepare before ever leaving for their drop off points.

They have contestants with much more specialized backgrounds because of that as well, backgrounds that are almost meant for something like this. Guys like Larry and Dave are put at a disadvantage because of that. So all the guys in the first season were in a very unique and more level ground being that they were the first group to go. Alan turned savage at one point when he was about to eat his first good meal in a long while, expressing his fighting spirit while thinking what if a predator came to take his food. Stuff like that you don't plan for with regards to Alone, you just plan to defend what's yours and that's all.

Which brings me to one thing that no one has done yet. Why not cut down and make 10 foot staff or so 3 to 4 inches thick, sharpen an end and burn it to harden to use as a self-defense weapon for bears and such? (Shouldn't take too long to make.) A charging bear comes bury the back end and point dead fall style. Bear meat for weeks too. Is it against the rules to defend oneself against bear attacks or what? If not that would be among the first things I'd do.
 
SolWarrior said:
Which brings me to one thing that no one has done yet. Why not cut down and make 10 foot staff or so 3 to 4 inches thick, sharpen an end and burn it to harden to use as a self-defense weapon for bears and such? (Shouldn't take too long to make.) A charging bear comes bury the back end and point dead fall style. Bear meat for weeks too. Is it against the rules to defend oneself against bear attacks or what? If not that would be among the first things I'd do.
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Easier said than done. These big black bears can sprint 30 mph for a short distance. Try spearing one when you see it about 3 seconds before it tackles you.
 
Just finished this week's recorded episode. Nicole is thriving, even releasing huge fish. She knows her plants, some so ubiquitous even I recognized them and would have gathered them by the armloads. Dave is going hungry but determined. And I admire his skill at repairing his nets which get destroyed all too often. Eat more pemmican Dave! That's what it is there for! Ok, so I am pulling for Dave to turn it around on the foraging for food. Jose finished his boat but it looks like he is going swimming instead of boating. Our mountain climber climbed his mountain, a foolish and risky endeavor IMHO, but it seems to have energized him to move his camp out of the water hole it was in.
 
Nicole is having some fantastic luck. Wish she would plan ahead and try smoking or drying some of that fish instead of throwing it back. Get while the gettings good
 
bore said:
Nicole is having some fantastic luck. Wish she would plan ahead and try smoking or drying some of that fish instead of throwing it back. Get while the gettings good
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I was thinking that as I was watching but then realized that there would be aq problem storing smelly fish in the thick of bear habitat. Even smoked and dried. But she is in a rich plant environment as well and can harvest as she needs to.
 
I really admire Dave's will power. The others seem to be doing okay food wise, but he continues to hang on through the terrible luck with the net. Jose's canoe blows my mind, that he was able to create that with jsut a knife and a saw is amazing. I hope it floats!
 
SolWarrior said:
Which brings me to one thing that no one has done yet. Why not cut down and make 10 foot staff or so 3 to 4 inches thick, sharpen an end and burn it to harden to use as a self-defense weapon for bears and such? (Shouldn't take too long to make.) A charging bear comes bury the back end and point dead fall style. Bear meat for weeks too. Is it against the rules to defend oneself against bear attacks or what? If not that would be among the first things I'd do.
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A fellow who spent his whole life up that point (65+ years) once told me be best black bear defense was a stick about as thick as your thumb and about shoulder high. When you meet a bear you put your back against a tree and hold the stick out at arms length and poke the bear in the nose. The bear will swipe the stick away and you poke him again. You keep this up till the bear gets bored.

Now I've never tried it myself so I can't give it a 100% vote of confidence.
 
A stick as big as my thumb!? :eek:

I would trust nothing less than a stick as big as my wrist. Then I could I actually defend myself, if need be.

I think a bear could swat just about any stick away and be on top of you in a blink of an eye.
 
As thick as your thumb is easier to hold at arms length.

When you come across a bear by accident they're as surprised as you are. Their first move isn't to punch into high gear.
 
I remember reading somewhere that these contestants are given bear spray to defend themselves. Research has shown, bear spray are actually the best weapon against bears, even better than firearms because you don't have to be accurate. Here's a video of how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__srSIGCMw4

If it's me, I would also build a gate around my camp as deterrent or early warning so bears can't sneak up on you.
 
A noise maker warning rig of some sort around your campsite would definitely be of help. In hind sight, burying the butt of a sharpened staff on that ground, being that it's so soggy and fluffed up with composite made up of rotted wood, leaves and such wouldn't work as good for a dead fall style defense. Bear spray, of course but not very cool. :) They are given bear spray and some sort high pitch noise maker too. The guy with the sharpies, can't remember his or her name, I believe used it just before he tapped.

beeperboy, everything is easier said than done. I was thinking self-defense, as in last stand or die scenario. It beats running as they will out run humans. We can't climb a tree as fast either. Self-defense include be aware of your surroundings before anything else so, maybe a little more than 3 seconds, but if not then so be it. There's a lot of twigs and leaves to alarm you beforehand. And as for the 30 mph sprint, that's exactly what I'd be hoping for with dead fall style technique. Scared as hell but who wouldn't be with a bear four times heavier and 10 times stronger with huge claws. If it stops and swipes and moves forward with caution as it attacks then that would be another thing. Got to do something beside pray or say goodbye cruel world. :)
 
The bears are well fed. They're not attacking you for petes sake. Give them room like Nicole. She knows bears. Looking forward to the wolf or dog scene
 
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