Everyone’s familiar with the old parlor game in which you’re stranded on a desert island and can only bring so many books/ people/ inventions/ ect… and you’re asked to name what they’d be, and why. So, for my first original thread on Forumose–and as a temporary diversion from the more serious ‘Social Darwinism’ thread…
[color=blue]If you were to be stranded on a distant earth-like planet–with no hope of rescue–and could bring along[/color]
(10,000 randomly chosen individuals from)
[color=blue]five contemporary or historical cultures[/color]
(ie, 20th-Century pre-WWII Japanese-dominated Taiwanese is one, 20th-Century post-war Taiwanese another), [color=blue]
what would they be? Why?[/color]
good god! I finally found some peace and quiet and you want me to invite 50,000 people along? Screw that! They can get their own planet!
I suppose being that I can’t go anywhere without my mommy I would also have to bring the 10,000 people she calls friends. But they have to stay on THEIR OWN SIDE OF THE PLANET!
High speed internet hook-up
an ice machine
a very powerful solar generator to supply electricity
a water maker
some goats
some chickens
a lot of fishing/snorkleing gear
a very complete set of Craftsman tools
a very up-to-date computer system, including 3 LCD monitors
beer making equiptment and 15 years worth of ingredients
storage facility
a good selection of 1st aid supplies
2 pigs - a male, a female
— OOps…I just read the complete OP.
NEVERMIND! Thats too many people for my island.
1990s Goa beach culture - for the raves
Late Roman aristocratic culture - for the orgies
1960s San Francisco counter-culture - for the mind-altering drugs
[quote=“Bu Lai En”]1990s Goa beach culture - for the raves
Late Roman aristocratic culture - for the orgies
1960s San Francisco counter-culture - for the mind-altering drugs
Total population: 50k.
Totally random selection within the culture, otherwise I’d go cherry-picking specific individuals, professions, and nubiles.
Basically the same animals, plants, minerals as now.
Equipment, food and clothing: enough to get you on your feet, not enough to go Club Med for the next few decades.
Industrial capacity and service instrastructure: nada.
After the discussion on Social Darwinism I was curious as to who people would want along to start from scratch–save for whatever incidentals ‘washed ashore’ with you and the knowledge residing in the minds of your randomly selected companions. If conditions were more primative, I’d probably want 10,000 ancient Eygptians along for the ride: smart, crafty guys who know how to build something to last and appreciate a good brew at the end of the day… can’t go too far wrong there. Without the infrastructure for modern entertainment, I’d want 10k classical Athenians on board as well… drama, literature, philosophy, politics, athletics… all sorts of fun. Those would probably be my first two selections. shrug Thought this might be a harmless, fun way to think about what culturally attributes we value, but feel free to tweak the conditions however you like… hell, I might abandon my place to crash jdsmith’s once the party gets up and running.
After the discussion on Social Darwinism I was curious as to who people would want along to start from scratch–save for whatever incidentals ‘washed ashore’ with you and the knowledge residing in the minds of your randomly selected companions. If conditions were more primative, I’d probably want 10,000 ancient Eygptians along for the ride: smart, crafty guys who know how to build something to last and appreciate a good brew at the end of the day… can’t go too far wrong there. Without the infrastructure for modern entertainment, I’d want 10k classical Athenians on board as well… drama, literature, philosophy, politics, athletics… all sorts of fun. Those would probably be my first two selections. shrug Thought this might be a harmless, fun way to think about what culturally attributes we value, but feel free to tweak the conditions however you like… hell, I might abandon my place to crash jdsmith’s once the party gets up and running. [/quote]
Well, 50k is far too many for me anyway. Homesteading was big in the US even 150 years ago, not so long ago. It’s still in my blood. I’d go with less than that IF I felt society, world society had drifted to far from the shore.
The movie The Village is a cool example of this ideology in modern times. And from what I read, the Amish are settling down in Northen parts of South America…totally independent from “our” world.
Jaboney, my world is easy to find…go to a HH…I’m just not always there.
[quote=“Notsu”]Ironman,
I think the situation Jaboney is talking about is hypothetical. Don’t worry too much [/quote]
Thanks Notsu. You’re a big help.
I’d have 24,899 Germans, because we would not be there to have fun.
1 Estonian. (for the help)
100 native population from a given area we settled in and they would be from 500 years ago because they would hopefully have graduated from local food sourcing school. (New Guinea for instance, yes, ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’)
5,000 each English speakers. NZ, Canada, Aus, Brit, USA.
Slight mix of cultures to generate diversity of thought but nothing major so as reduce the chance of infighting or division.
I’d set it up as a democracy straight away. How to keep it that way would be the tricky bit.
