Is "going off the grid" feasable?

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Charlie Mike said:
Well, I plan on going to city college in Fall 10. I want to take EVERY course I can that pertains to machining/welding/CNC/fab and finally get off the Gov tit. I'd love to work in a small fab/machine shop. I thrive on task/condition/standards. Nobody sneaking up behind me and I'll be alright.
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Hey- I wish you the very best in your endeavor:thumbup:. You are going the right direction in wanting off the " tit" as you put it. I see many others that only want on the " tit" and have no intention of ever getting off.:mad: Best of luck to you and gald to know there are folks like you out there:thumbup::)
 
Thanks... Things are gonna be tight. I got my first DUI near Thanksgiving 08 and haven't touched a steering wheel since. I stay home all day and F with knives... and read my Bible and other related stuff. My wife is with USAA (and apparently I am too) and they quoted me almost $300 per month to get insured again.... Guess I'll try Serenity Insurance, heard they specialize in post DUI insurance. Fresno City College (CA) has a great industrial arts program, but more importantly, they have a veteran's assistance program. Everything else... I'll gladly pay out of pocket.

Looks like the NIB Dalton (FTW version) Asp will be my last knife purchase for quite a while :eek:
 
not long ago a person with an outstanding interstate felony warrant was found working in a DHS office, and possibly for the INS while under this warrant.http://www.loweringthebar.net/2009/12/fugitive-gets-inside-homeland-security-department-office.html THE MAN isn't that efficient. in all of the data-mining and profiling there is a huge amount of static, even the most predictable of people are very hard to predict with a high degree of reliability. you wanna drop off The Net? easy, do what you do, keep your head down, do all your dealings as a "normal citizen" and you will remain in the static. not that there won't be random incidents, problems or whatever, but give them no reason to look, and they won't.
now, why would you want to? to prove you can? you did, you survived, and that is impressive, I'd last 10 seconds in those conditions. want the felony off your back, be glad there is a system for that, and that its only one right you lost, or move to a state with a "state only" firearm law.

Relax, be glad to be alive after an experience that by rights should have killed you, and be a better man than you were. you've got one hell of a shoulder angel man, don't try to make its life harder.
 
I have an aquaintance that lives off the grid with his wife. He's not trying to disappear or anything. He just wants to live in a relatively remote area and be self sufficient.

One thing that strikes me is that this isn't necessarily a way to simplify life, nor terribly economical, if you otherwise lead a fairly conventional life (own auto, other modern conveniences, have a regular job, etc). If you value isolation, as he and his wife do, then it may be worthwhile.

Living off the land is simpler if you own the land. If you don't, you may be occupying land at the mercy of the owner, or otherwise squatting. This isn't unheard of. I know of a couple "settlements" where this is practiced. While these places are a bit like anarchy, he inhabitants generally are voluntary residents, and they're remote enough that authorities more or less leave them alone. But I suspect most modern folks would rather not live like this. Depending on where you are, it may be more viable than not. And legality may be an issue, particularly of you will hunt for your food.

Even here in the big city, there are plenty of folks who are effectively off the grid. They're usually called homeless. While this state of being is not what most folks aspire to be, a good number manage to live in such a fashion for years, in comfort that frontier pioneers 150 years ago might have envied.
 
Bushman5 said:
yes it can be done, its labour intensive,mistakes are easily made, and old habits are fallen back on 99% of the time, which is how people get found. But it can be done if your willing to give up a lot

i would love to contribute further on this thread CharlieMike, but after the hammering and multiple derogatory/hate emails I got after posting solutions on the debt thread its not worth my time.
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Hey Bushy do you have a link to that thread?
I'm trying to go "cash-only" this year and cut-out CC use completely.
Getting out of debt sounds like a good idea to me.
Any other links or info would also be appreciated!
 
Cpl Punishment said:
It is
Make no mistake, guys, it's a hard life, and your life expectancy won't be very long in comparison to a life "on the grid".
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Everything I've read about early American settlers leads me to believe that (truly) living off the grid would be quite miserable. Forget the threat from other humans- think about infections of all kinds, dental and periodontal problems, pneumonia, GI problems, dysentary, along with any any mishaps such as broken bones. The number of young people who died from untreated maladies far exceeds those that were lost to attack by man or animal. If one truly wanted to pursue a Jeremiah Johnson lifestyle, they had better be an A1 healthy as a horse individual to expect to survive any significant length of time regardless of their skills as a bushman.
 
kycolonel said:
Everything I've read about early American settlers leads me to believe that (truly) living off the grid would be quite miserable. Forget the threat from other humans- think about infections of all kinds, dental and periodontal problems, pneumonia, GI problems, dysentary, along with any any mishaps such as broken bones. The number of young people who died from untreated maladies far exceeds those that were lost to attack by man or animal. If one truly wanted to pursue a Jeremiah Johnson lifestyle, they had better be an A1 healthy as a horse individual to expect to survive any significant length of time regardless of their skills as a bushman.
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Good points. Personally, although I like to romanticize about it, I can't live completely off the grid and still survive. I have a fairly rare medical condition that requires medication...and if I don't get it I wouldn't last long. So I find ways to enjoy getting back to nature without leaving the advantages of our society and culture behind.

In my opinion we are not slaves to technology. We're all living the lives we create for ourselves.
 
cssims said:
I work in I.T. and let me tell you this life is a form of slavery.
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No it's not. If you refuse to take calls on your cell phone or log into your computer, you might lose your job. You wont' be whipped, or hanged from a tree to set an example. You have legal rights and the freedom to quit whenever you want. You are not a slave in any form. You are a free man who has made a crappy career choice. But it was your choice, not the choice of some men in a boat who kidnapped you, ripped you out of your home, and forced you to work.


Sitting here reading this thread on MLK day, it seems oddly appropriate to hear people whining about the gifts of technology and comparing them to slavery.



Seriously, some of you people need to give up these delusions and get some perspective on the world. Holy crap.
 
MustardMan said:
... some of you people need to give up these delusions and get some perspective on the world ...
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That's the truth.

This thread was started with the idea of escaping authority and morphed into escaping the modern world. Why would you want to do that? So people who don't know you or care to won't be able to track you living the good life in a prosperous society.

For fun and ultimately for security in the face of the unknowns the future can bring, it's good to know how to do more with less, to survive a storm without running out of Cheese Doodles, to run off to your mountain cabin for a week of hunting.

But humans are pack animals and humans who can't fit into their complex social world are psychologically defective.
 
i remember les stroud had a show a while ago called off the grid. It wasnt about leaving society but it was about being self sustaining with things like power water and such. it was pretty interesting because he had an acreage and should a rolling blackout or something happen you would still be able to function normally. Or you could always get a bunch of money, buy a forest and make sure nobody gets in or out using those you dont speak of, o wait thats the village
 
I like air conditioning to much to live off the 'grid'. Because of where I live heating is optional but I do love my AC.
 
Charlie Mike said:
Services... Computers... Etc are all a form of slavery to a degree. Most of all is "money".
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There are lots of people who live like this. They are called "homeless", and most of them didn't choose that life. But they set an example as to how it could be done, if somebody wanted to try it.

Andy
 
He was discussing "living off the land" for years, not just evading authority.

As far as the slavery comment goes, I don't think the comment was made to LITERALLY compare the slavery experienced in America to working in IT. I took the meaning to be you become wholly dependent on it and are otherwise unable to break free. BTW, we are not the only ones who experienced the horrors of slavery. Virtually every society has had some form from the Ancient Egyptians to modern day slave trade. All of them deplorable and wrong, but important historically nonetheless.

Carl-
 
Esav Benyamin said:
That's the truth.

This thread was started with the idea of escaping authority and morphed into escaping the modern world. Why would you want to do that? So people who don't know you or care to won't be able to track you living the good life in a prosperous society.

For fun and ultimately for security in the face of the unknowns the future can bring, it's good to know how to do more with less, to survive a storm without running out of Cheese Doodles, to run off to your mountain cabin for a week of hunting.

But humans are pack animals and humans who can't fit into their complex social world are psychologically defective.
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Interestingly, there are actually quite a few people who yearn for a fall of civilization mainly to "escape" the yoke of modern civilization, who want what they think would be a simpler life.

Because most of them have never lived without modern accouterments, they really don't have any idea what life in such a state would be like.

Andy
 
Hey, CM,

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it yet, but it would probably be a whole lot easier to do this in a third-world country.
 
Thomas Hobbes

Beginning from a mechanistic understanding of human beings and the passions, Hobbes postulates what life would be like without government, a condition which he calls the state of nature. In that state, each person would have a right, or license, to everything in the world. This inevitably leads to conflict, a "war of all against all" (bellum omnium contra omnes), and thus lives that are "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short"
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Thomas Hobbes

Beginning from a mechanistic understanding of human beings and the passions, Hobbes postulates what life would be like without government, a condition which he calls the state of nature. In that state, each person would have a right, or license, to everything in the world. This inevitably leads to conflict, a "war of all against all" (bellum omnium contra omnes), and thus lives that are "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short"
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Yeah, Hobbes's view of natural law wasn't quite as rosey as Locke's. In both cases, IIRC, the "state of nature" was a hypothetical precedent to explain first principals of human interaction.
 
My own view would match Hobbes' except we are pretty sure that (as I said above) solitary man is a contradiction in terms. Even the earliest humans lived in bands. Not being solitary, life might be demanding, but it was less likely to be poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

As humans became less nomadic, and multiple bands joined to form sedentary communities, secular governments arose from the need to override each constituent band's elders in disputes between bands.
 
Hobbes' view of natural law is about as pessimistic as it gets, but a lot of his points ring true. Esav's quoation is particularly astute. Living off the grid may or may not be easy, and may or may not be sensible, but the advantages of living on the grid almost invariably outweigh the drawbacks.
 
Living off the grid can be done - there's millions of people doing it right now. Pretty much any place that National Geographic takes pictures, there's folks living off the land. But is that really desirable? Seems like a pretty hard life to me. You get too far off the beaten path, and even rudimentary medical services won't exist. Break an ankle? Sucks to be you. Got a toothache? Yank it out, or live with it until it drives you insane. Personally, I'll take the tedium of modern life, and the predictability of our modern conveniences. Sure, I love nature, but living out there forever? Umm, no thanks. Recharge once in awhile when I can get away? Yeah, that's more like it.
 
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