Well Cliff are you willing to take that challenge? With all your infinite physics knowledge I figure you should be able to kick all these primitive tribes ass with your super-sharp high-tech scientific blades you test in your backyard. 
If you decide to then I'll place my money on the young newfie for the first go-round. I love to bet on the underdog
Oh...back to your orginal post. A lot of the tribes that I have visted STILL start fire by primitve methods in very wet environments. I've hauled a lot of folks down there with bic lighters and trioxane and they STILL could not get a fire going. Yep, ain't science a helluva lot better than field practice and good old common horse sense? Bottom line to this WHOLE thread is surviving when and where high-tech science may not be available. I say use a bic lighter when you have it. Ain't science wonderful, but you will be royally screwed when you don't have it anymore and your life depends on fire.
I will agree that science has given man advantages. I love my color TV set and my Direct TV with the Playboy channel inside my double-wide mobile home. I love my beer cold from that new-fangled plug-in ice box I have. And that microwave just flat out impresses the **** out of me when I put one of those TV dinners inside because that new Tv never did cook them right, but it ain't science that keeps my ass from getting bit by a snake while walking through the woods without high-tech scientific snake gators, or being able to hunt and capture alligators long enough to swallow you without a damn knife or gun. It's learned knowledge from the field that does this. Something you will never learn in a graduate school. Oh it might have had a part of the reason but the bottom line is learned knowledge from the field has kept me going. I can look at a book on snakes and even have a college professor teach a class on them but it still does not present all the variable that will be present in the real world. That comes from long-term experience in the field. Same with knives AND sharpening.
I have no problem with science but I do I have a problem with educated idiots that don't have the common sense to go along with it. In the long run of wilderness survival, common sense and field practice will do you better than book knowledge of why an edge works better at this angle or why perfect sharpening is the key to best results. Why not build your shelter with what's available instead of making sure everything is scientifically perfect before you start? Seems to me you would be a time waster in the field trying to get everything perfect while the sun's sinking.
Science is great on the initial design or construction of a knife, but once you get in the field for extended periods you go with what you have and fit yourself to the environment instead of trying to fit the environment to you.
I've hauled high-tech sharpening gear and knives to these people. They still do a better job with what they have both in the knife department AND in sharpening.
Anytime you're ready amigo I'll take you on a knife using paradise vacation. Who knows, even you might learn something.
Jeff
If you decide to then I'll place my money on the young newfie for the first go-round. I love to bet on the underdog
Oh...back to your orginal post. A lot of the tribes that I have visted STILL start fire by primitve methods in very wet environments. I've hauled a lot of folks down there with bic lighters and trioxane and they STILL could not get a fire going. Yep, ain't science a helluva lot better than field practice and good old common horse sense? Bottom line to this WHOLE thread is surviving when and where high-tech science may not be available. I say use a bic lighter when you have it. Ain't science wonderful, but you will be royally screwed when you don't have it anymore and your life depends on fire.
I will agree that science has given man advantages. I love my color TV set and my Direct TV with the Playboy channel inside my double-wide mobile home. I love my beer cold from that new-fangled plug-in ice box I have. And that microwave just flat out impresses the **** out of me when I put one of those TV dinners inside because that new Tv never did cook them right, but it ain't science that keeps my ass from getting bit by a snake while walking through the woods without high-tech scientific snake gators, or being able to hunt and capture alligators long enough to swallow you without a damn knife or gun. It's learned knowledge from the field that does this. Something you will never learn in a graduate school. Oh it might have had a part of the reason but the bottom line is learned knowledge from the field has kept me going. I can look at a book on snakes and even have a college professor teach a class on them but it still does not present all the variable that will be present in the real world. That comes from long-term experience in the field. Same with knives AND sharpening.
I have no problem with science but I do I have a problem with educated idiots that don't have the common sense to go along with it. In the long run of wilderness survival, common sense and field practice will do you better than book knowledge of why an edge works better at this angle or why perfect sharpening is the key to best results. Why not build your shelter with what's available instead of making sure everything is scientifically perfect before you start? Seems to me you would be a time waster in the field trying to get everything perfect while the sun's sinking.
Science is great on the initial design or construction of a knife, but once you get in the field for extended periods you go with what you have and fit yourself to the environment instead of trying to fit the environment to you.
I've hauled high-tech sharpening gear and knives to these people. They still do a better job with what they have both in the knife department AND in sharpening.
Anytime you're ready amigo I'll take you on a knife using paradise vacation. Who knows, even you might learn something.
Jeff
