# How useful would you be in a survival situation? (poll) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2010, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054 "2010-08-22T12:34:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/101 "2010-08-25T03:03:37Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > > [@gurujulp](#): > > > > Oh, **Broomstick** , I can make cheese- if you can get me rennet… > > If we’ve got ruminants (cows, goats, sheep, etc.) I think we can get rennet. Details, it’s always details that makes these things complicated. > > > [@](#): > > > > And I can make paneer with just lemon juice and/or vinegar… remarkably easy, but you shan’t know that if you find it a valuable skill after TEOTWAWKI… > > I’d think any food prep skills would be valuable. I’ve already volunteered to be livestock. Can I be a ruminant? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/102 "2010-08-25T03:29:43Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > > [@Broomstick](#): > > > > If we’ve got ruminants (cows, goats, sheep, etc.) I think we can get rennet. Details, it’s always details that makes these things complicated. > > I’d think any food prep skills would be valuable. > > I’ve already volunteered to be livestock. Can I be a ruminant? Fine by me, but I’m definitely not going to be the one who milks you. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/103 "2010-08-25T03:34:15Z")
I’ve been milking myself for years. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/104 "2010-08-25T03:46:45Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > > [@Broomstick](#): > > > > If we’ve got ruminants (cows, goats, sheep, etc.) I think we can get rennet. Details, it’s always details that makes these things complicated. > > I’d think any food prep skills would be valuable. > > I’ve already volunteered to be livestock. Can I be a ruminant? It’s usually taken form the fourth stomach… how many do you have? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/105 "2010-08-25T03:56:19Z")
Can I eat 3 more stomachs? ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/106 "2010-08-25T08:42:54Z")
A lot of my skills are rusty, and I would have to practice them to get proficient again. I can work on mechanical devices, although I normally hate it and let mechanics do their thing when cars are broken. I can be a good gardener, but I’ve been lousy at it lately. I would bet the zombpocalypse would concentrate the mind wonderfully. Thanks to video games I’m an excellent shot with rifles and handguns. I just started using the bow and arrow this year. I’m middling to awful with them, but I have a range in my driveway and I practice out to 20 meters. I have chickens, and am interested in other animal husbandry. I also belong to a group of [nice people](http://zombiehunters.org/forum/) that are actually preparing for the eventual zombie invasion. I can make all kinds of wine, beer, mead and cider from scratch. I can also make vinegar, and make cheese the old fashioned way too. I am virile. So all you ladies with the child bearin’ hips, how YOU doin’? ---
**Author:** ![Lisa\_Ann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lisa\_Ann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa_Ann)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/107 "2010-08-26T05:21:19Z")
Mmm! Beer AND cheese! I’m passed child bearing (personal choice) but Hi! ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/108 "2010-08-26T11:30:57Z")
**Slight change in direction…** Okay all joking aside, the poll now has roughly 200 respondents. I think that’s enough to be getting on with. It seems about 60% of our cross section of humanity considers themselves capable of surviving in a group scenario regardless of who they are sharing resources with. Only 15% however consider themselves confident to go it alone. That is really, really interesting! It seems that, (roughly) 1 in 2 people would be in serious trouble should they find themselves in any situation where modern society was not there to care for them. Do you guys think that ratio is about correct considering our continually advancing technology and comfort culture? ---
**Author:** ![Ninja\_Lauren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/46a35a/32.png) [@Ninja\_Lauren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ninja_Lauren)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/109 "2010-08-26T12:10:08Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > **Slight change in direction…** > > Okay all joking aside, the poll now has roughly 200 respondents. I think that’s enough to be getting on with. It seems about 60% of our cross section of humanity considers themselves capable of surviving in a group scenario regardless of who they are sharing resources with. Only 15% however consider themselves confident to go it alone. > > That is really, really interesting! It seems that, (roughly) 1 in 2 people would be in serious trouble should they find themselves in any situation where modern society was not there to care for them. Do you guys think that ratio is about correct considering our continually advancing technology and comfort culture? I thinnk that 1 in 2 makes sense, because a lot of things very important in a survival situation are the same things we don’t have to do on a day to day bases anymore. Fire and shelter building, hunting, and preparing food from scratch were once part of everyday life. But today, we live in cozy houses with furnaces and microwaves and t.v. There are still a good number of people out there that can do these things, but there is a growing population that just couldn’t. All those “city slickers” would probably be doomed! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/110 "2010-08-26T12:41:20Z")
1 in two 2 “survival capable” seems very high to me. I would think 1 in 5 or one in 6 would be closer to the truth, though I have no evidence. BTW, I’m talking about Americans and others who live in the heart of industrialized societies. If your poll was reaching people who lived in more ‘primitive’ 3rd world societies, that number would go up. ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/111 "2010-08-26T13:01:15Z")
> [@Ninja\_Lauren](#): > > I thinnk that 1 in 2 makes sense, because a lot of things very important in a survival situation are the same things we don’t have to do on a day to day bases anymore. Fire and shelter building, hunting, and preparing food from scratch were once part of everyday life. But today, we live in cozy houses with furnaces and microwaves and t.v. There are still a good number of people out there that can do these things, but there is a growing population that just couldn’t. All those “city slickers” would probably be doomed! I don’t think making fire is that much of an issue to be honest; but there are skills that have little more than curiosity value these days. I’m guessing that dopers in general might posses higher than average level of obscure knowledge, and a basic understanding of some obsolete skills. Dopers seem to be information junkies, a trait probably not quite that common in society as a whole. I mean, how many people you know (or can figure out) how to build a counterweight trebuchet? I bet I could hit at least 3 people right on this thread that could with just one well aimed rock. I’m guessing the general population might do even worse in a survival situation… and the younger the people are, the less likely it is their skillsets are transferable to what basically amounts to a pre-industrialized society (or early industrialized if we can get some electricity production going). A more interesting question would be how far is the current level of technology from sustainable in a situation like that? Computers are several steps removed from sustainable in an apocalypse scenario… once they break down, and you run out of spares… there’s nothing to be done without rebuilding the whole infrastructure to manufacture more. Even simple things, like sowing machine needles are pretty impossible to manufacture without a heavily industrialized society. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/112 "2010-08-26T13:54:48Z")
Your ratios are going to be skewed due to sampling error. This is a self-selecting thread. People with no skills and no interest in obtaining them aren’t likely to read and respond. I think the ratio of capable/non-capable in the actual population is going to be on the order of 1/50+. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/113 "2010-08-26T14:47:05Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Your ratios are going to be skewed due to sampling error. This is a self-selecting thread. People with no skills and no interest in obtaining them aren’t likely to read and respond. I think the ratio of capable/non-capable in the actual population is going to be on the order of 1/50+. That bad? ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/114 "2010-08-26T15:23:41Z")
It is very easy to sit in front of the P.C., warm and dry, having had sleep recently, not being hungry or thirsty, not shocked or frightened and imagining ourselves to be pretty competent at surviving. The crunch is can you motivate yourself to use these skills when you are soaking wet and cold, possibly injured, hungry, thirsty, scared stupid, knowing that a good many of your loved ones, neighnours and friends have recently died terrible deaths in the recent past. I suspect that many would not reach the bar IRL. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/115 "2010-08-26T15:41:57Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > > [@silenus](#): > > > > Your ratios are going to be skewed due to sampling error. This is a self-selecting thread. People with no skills and no interest in obtaining them aren’t likely to read and respond. I think the ratio of capable/non-capable in the actual population is going to be on the order of 1/50+. > > That bad? I was being optimistic. Collapse the fiction that we have about “civilization” and the population will drop like a paralyzed peregrine. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/116 "2010-08-26T19:44:01Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I was being optimistic. Collapse the fiction that we have about “civilization” and the population will drop like a paralyzed peregrine. Worse, probably. Because the initial excess population is going to radically deplete resources that capable people would need to survive. If, for instance, you were to cut off all electricity (and hence water) plus all external food deliveries to Los Angeles in the middle of summer, _very_ few people are going to make it out, and the mass die-off will drag down a lot of _very_ capable people with it. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/117 "2010-08-26T19:52:17Z")
I will try my best to not let my death inconvenience any Dopers. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/118 "2010-08-26T19:52:19Z")
> [@](#): > > It seems about 60% of our cross section of humanity considers themselves capable of surviving in a group scenario regardless of who they are sharing resources with. Only 15% however consider themselves confident to go it alone. Hell, even in day hikes we were taught not to go alone, we needed a buddy. And this was for ADULTS, not just kids (Camp Fire leadership training). The thing is, one person can easily become too injured to take care of him/herself, but it’s less likely that both buddies will sprain an ankle or worse. Having just one other person usually more than doubles your chance of survival, unless that other person is a complete drag. In a survival situation, one person can’t stand watch all night long AND work all night long. But with four people, there can be three watches…and every fourth night, each person gets to sleep a full night. I prefer to wander alone, but I don’t do it. Nowadays, of course, we have cell phones which work in most locations, so people are usually not really alone in terms of being able to call for help. However, one needs to be at least semi-concious to use that cell, it’s not going to do any good if one has fallen and hit one’s head. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/119 "2010-08-26T20:01:05Z")
I can hunt, fish, and make a reasonably water-resistant lean-to for shelter. I know rifles, shotguns, and pistols, and can handle a die and press to do reloading. So save your brass. I can also field-dress and butcher most game animals. But I’d like to join forces with someone with basic infantry training, someone who understands how to set up “overlapping fields of fire” and stuff like that. I’ve read about it but don’t have enough practical knowledge to implement. Because I feel that after the canned food runs out, we’re going to be beset by roving bands of hungry people. Armed hungry people. Before that happened, I’d want to be in a physically defensible enclave. ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054/120 "2010-08-26T20:04:39Z")
> [@Tranquilis](#): > > > [@silenus](#): > > > > I was being optimistic. Collapse the fiction that we have about “civilization” and the population will drop like a paralyzed peregrine. > > Worse, probably. Because the initial excess population is going to radically deplete resources that capable people would need to survive. If, for instance, you were to cut off all electricity (and hence water) plus all external food deliveries to Los Angeles in the middle of summer, _very_ few people are going to make it out, and the mass die-off will drag down a lot of _very_ capable people with it. Think of this- every store you have ever seen doesn’t stock more than 2 weeks ahead, unless you are talking a mom and pop general store in a small non-tourist town, and even then, you are likely talking a month, at most. Very few people even in the SFBay area have earthquake supplies. If the power is out and gas is unavailable, people will begin to die _en masse_ after 2 weeks three days, unless they started walking after week one- and then they better hope the natives are welcoming… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-would-you-be-in-a-survival-situation-poll/551054.md?page=7)