# From our cumulative professions, could the SDMB keep (a prosperous) society going? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 29, 2005, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192 "2005-11-29T11:37:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/41 "2005-11-29T17:30:55Z")
As far as money, we will probably need to be socialist for 5-10 years, maybe longer. I don’t think capitalism can come into play to quick, while survival is paramount. We could probably use people that know how to shear a sheep and prepare the wool for use. I know we have a lot of knitters but do we have anyone who can spin it. If not then hopefully some of the knitters can read up on it and get us going. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/42 "2005-11-29T17:39:23Z")
Dunno what else I would do, but my first order of business would be to build a still. Then I’d trade kerosene and gas and grain alchohol for whatever the other dopers had to offer. If all the micro-brewers also come through we should have the alchoholism levels spring back to pre-apocalitpic levels in no time 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/43 "2005-11-29T17:40:45Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > I’m a technician myself, so I guess I could fix everybodies electical appliances. [shrugs] I work in broadcasting, so if you can rig me up a transmitter, I can report on the news and air re-runs of sitcoms and glurgy Lifetime movies. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/44 "2005-11-29T17:42:50Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > Yeah, it’s the farming and livestock handling that would finish us. I dunno, I used to work on a ranch when I lived in CO and am very familiar with herding cattle. I know several other dopers are horse people too, so I think we could figure something out. As far as my real life job, well, I dispense prescription meds. I dunno how valuable that would be, but I figure we have doctors and probably a pharmacist or two. I’m sure I’d fit in somewhere. -foxy ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/45 "2005-11-29T17:45:13Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > I dunno, I used to work on a ranch when I lived in CO and am very familiar with herding cattle. I know several other dopers are horse people too, so I think we could figure something out. > As far as my real life job, well, I dispense prescription meds. I dunno how valuable that would be, but I figure we have doctors and probably a pharmacist or two. I’m sure I’d fit in somewhere. > > -foxy Both useful things! If I am to make butter & milk, I need a cow or 5 and someone who knows how to take care of them. And we’d need the medications for injuries, and too many people wouldn’t know how to dose them. This is fun. What serious things are we lacking? ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/46 "2005-11-29T17:46:54Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > This is fun. What serious things are we lacking? Government. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/47 "2005-11-29T17:47:25Z")
I could give everybody makeovers, and make them feel pretty after a hard day as a farm hand. Also, if any buracracy were required, I’d be able to manage that as well. Finally, I tell good jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/48 "2005-11-29T17:48:51Z")
> [@Stark Raven Mad](#): > > Government. I thought we were an autonomous collective? Seriously, we’d need to hold elections and would need a committee, and not a dictator-for-life. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/49 "2005-11-29T17:55:21Z")
Another jack-of-all-trades here. I’m a professional writer and I own a bookstore - I don’t know how useful my bookselling skills would be, but… - I have cattle, goats, and horses and know a reasonable amount about taking care of them. - I’m a homebrewer, and I also know just enough about making drinks like mead, cider, and wine to produce something reasonably palatable. - I used to teach at college level, but I’ve worked a lot with kids, too. - I’m pretty good with wood. Used to teach woodworking to 4-H kids and I have a pretty good grasp of carpentry. - Will our new world order still have technology, or will my previous professions in chip design and software engineering be useless? I suppose the logic analysis part of it will have some use either way. - I can catch, gut, clean, and cook fish–in fact, there are lots of things I can cook well. - I used to do a lot of leatherworking (tooling, stitching, cutting, etc.). - I know enough guitar, piano, and a few other instruments to teach first-year fundamentals to the young 'uns and keep the traditions going ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/50 "2005-11-29T18:02:33Z")
> [@Sophistry and Illusion](#): > > I’m a philosopher, so I can contribute…um…I guess I’d be the one you guys ate once you ran out of food. Nah, you’re probably all thin and gamy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/51 "2005-11-29T18:02:55Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Both useful things! If I am to make butter & milk, I need a cow or 5 and someone who knows how to take care of them… I can do that. And with help I can grow and pick cotton for textiles. Even better, I can teach some young burly men to grow and pick cotton. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/52 "2005-11-29T18:03:33Z")
We can be an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We can take turns acting as executive officer for the week. ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/53 "2005-11-29T18:14:50Z")
In the type of society we’re talking about, benevolent dictator is the only way to go. Of course, an even more fun thing to do would be to go all Plato and build the Republic, complete with philosopher-kings (so the poor philosophers could get the last word, after all!) Me? My expertise is in economics and politics (pre-law)… so anything useful there is out, unless you want me to help plan the economy. I can do a lot of things decently (cook, hunt as necessary, anything athletic), but really not as well as those people specializing in those things. So I guess I’m either governing or laboring, with little room in between. And I have an idea which one of those I’d end up as. Darn. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/54 "2005-11-29T18:15:47Z")
I haven’t spent my whole life on a farm, but I did used to spend summers working on one. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/55 "2005-11-29T18:20:29Z")
All these home-brewers and vintners and moonshiners are all very well and good – but there’s gonna be a small but significant recovering community – including, of course, **QtM** , on whose good side it would behoove us to remain. _Where’s the Diet Dr Pepper gonna come from?_ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/56 "2005-11-29T18:25:29Z")
Sounds like we’ve got all the important stuff covered; **Anaamika** and **twickster** in the chorus line, **Misnomer** makes the music, and I’ve heard that **Creaky** sings some mean karaoke. There’s a couple or three farmers, some carpenters and heavy machinery operators, brewers and distillers and a civil engineer. Many others with various talents. Yep, we’ve got it made! If there’s to be electricity, gasoline and diesel fuel we can rock on! If not, it’ll be a little less pleasant using horses and mules, but we’ll make it. I’d suggest locating somewhere around Baltimore. Good farmland on the DelMarVa peninsula and there will be the bounty of seafood and waterfowl provided by Chesapeake Bay. _Away, come away, there’s a wondrous land For a hopeful heart and a willing hand Greensleeves, come away with me And I’ll build you a home in the meadow_ ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/57 "2005-11-29T18:59:53Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I thought we were an autonomous collective? > > Seriously, we’d need to hold elections and would need a committee, and not a dictator-for-life. **Bosda** for “Dictator-For-Life”. Vote for me, and I’ll only oppress you a _leeddle_. Sort of “Dictator Lite”. _"Dictator Lite. Tastes great! Fewer purges!_ ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/58 "2005-11-29T19:03:18Z")
> [@John Carter of Mars](#): > > …snip… > I’d suggest locating somewhere around Baltimore. Good farmland on the DelMarVa peninsula and there will be the bounty of seafood and waterfowl provided by Chesapeake Bay. > …snip… Do we have a Nuke nearby? It really would be helpful. Are we too big of a community to act as a commune? What would our numbers be around 15,000 or is it higher? I kind of like the idea of no one staying in power for long. We would have to work hard to rescue a lot of tech. What would we rate a higher priority? Vital : Food growing, prep and preservation. Hunting and Defense Shelter & Maintenance Heating & Power Vehicles maintenance, we should need to build any for a long time Education and Training Maintaining a Hospital Pharmaceuticals Scavengers to get finished goods and bring them back for Warehousing resources Entertainment Book Binding Computers Jim ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/59 "2005-11-29T19:10:05Z")
No, I think the Tennessee Valley offers better prospects. [ul] [li]Fresh water[/li][li]Coal deposits[/li][li]Oil, in Kentucky[/li][li]Farmland[/li][li]Rivers, for transport.[/li][li]Less hurricane risk[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192/60 "2005-11-29T19:11:21Z")
Even if there is no economy or currency, there must be _some_ use for accounting skills! Eventually, the barter system will not be able to work on a one-to-one basis - how much beer does one trade for a dancing girl’s services, and what if she’s not a beer-drinker, etc. How do you keep track of supplies in a warehouse, etc. I hope I would be able to earn my keep - I’m sure as hell not a breeder or a feeder. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-our-cumulative-professions-could-the-sdmb-keep-a-prosperous-society-going/333192.md?page=4)