I was in a prepper mood, and began to think about what I would and wouldn’t be able to use after the collapse of civilization. Here is a non-exaustive table with some of the more drastic changes I can imagine, in no particular order. The headers refer to Kaczynsky’s [video] delineation of technology - left column being that which depends on a service grid or intricate parts that cannot be sourced by any one individual, and the right column being the opposite.
| organization-dependent | small scale |
|---|---|
| clarinet reeds | n/a |
| brass valve oil | n/a |
| nylon guitar strings | catgut (animal intestine) strings |
| electric guitar | acoustic guitar |
| piano | n/a |
| woodwinds and brass | PVC/cardboard instruments (cool hands-on project for the kids!) |
| printer | pen and paper |
t h e c l o u d |
local copies of everything |
| pdfs of sheet music | handwritten charts, fakebooks |
| telephone | knocking at someone’s door/face to face interaction |
| TV | “you’re not a real fan unless you’ve read the manga” |
| talk radio | not consuming propaganda |
| newspapers | not consuming propaganda |
| e-readers | books in a personal library |
| music streaming sites for music discovery | attending live music performances at schools, churches, bars, etc. |
| playback of recorded music (tape decks, CDs, mp3s) | remembering and performing the music yourself |
| cars | walking/bicycle |
| natural gas for heater and stove | fireplace |
| grocery stores | permanence farming |
| Anki (SRS) | physical flashcards |
| blogging | having friends 😳 |
These definitions aren’t precise, as I took some liberty in compressing the difference. For example, books as we know them are the products of large printing houses and could be considered organization-dependent, but compared to the internet and whatever A.I. singularity we’ll see in our lifetime, they’re pretty unga bunga.
What does all this mean for me, though?
- Transcribe music and make an effort to keep both physical and digital backups. In case of a natural disaster, digital copies are preserved, and in case of a hard reset, I can refer to my binders and binders of sheet music to hear my favorite songs again. Along the same vein, print out finished MuseScore transcriptions and load up on staff paper (though college ruled paper should do in a pinch).
- Gradually build a large library of reference books and books I enjoyed that I would love to come back to and share with friends and family. This includes wholesome fiction books (or maybe also silly fiction books in languages I don’t intend to teach anyone), bilingual and monolingual dictionaries, philosophical how-to books, etc. Once I begin homescooling my kids, I should consider adding music theory and grammar books to supplement my curriculum.
- Take luthier classes or at least become well versed in how to repair my guitars.
- Stockpile the supplements to otherwise smallscale technology (reeds, strings, oil, etc.)
- Learn to tune a piano in the off chance I inherit or otherwise fall in possession of one.
- Print my diary and blog posts, and any other creative musings for that matter.
- Back up phone contacts regularly. Granted, phone lines will probably be one of the first things to be severed in this kind of scenario, but doing so follows the spirit of redundancy and empathy on my future self in case of a soft reset (I lose or break my phone).