There's a difference between surviving and thriving. Most primitive skills schools/classes focus on survival, not a way of life. If you're try to survive, you make a debris shelter. If you want to make a living, you build a wigwam and a nice, fluffy bed. If you want to survive, ammo and generators can help unil you're rescued; if you want to make a living, you need something that can last. Making a living means more than just surviving: it means thriving.
That’s an important distinction that I don’t see brought up that often, but it always comes to the foreground when one is out in the country for an extended period, at least I have found it to be so. Personally, in most temperate climes I prefer a fire-heated enclosed shelter year round (with the exception of mid-summer) like a tipi or goat-hair tent , log cabin or something of the sort. Nylon tents, tarps and lean-to’s in the northern areas of the world lose their appeal and practicality when the temperate begins to fall. I sleep rough or “houseless” a lot in the country and sometimes in the city and have for the past several years off and on so I know that being cold and without fire for days/weeks is not something I enjoy although you learn a lot about keeping warm without fire and shelter. However it’s not thriving, living on the street with no way to cook or dry your clothes, and being without fire and warm tea when you are wet and cold just plain sucks after you have done it long enough, and there is no remedy other than to seek suitable shelter where you can have a fire and warm yourself and have good sleep rather than frigid shivering, although exposure to the elements increases your ability to withstand temperature extremes but that is of limited usefulness IMO. It’s always when I am out in the country or staying with a friend who has a fire, and heated enclosed shelter when I feel really that comfortable, at least in temperate climes. In the subtropical desert, it’s a different story for most of the year, there you can sleep on the rock or sand with minimal bedding and be perfectly warm and snug, often the fire is just used for the slight chill of the morning or for a cup of tea, or to just to watch the flames flicker and coals glow-entertainment. Not so with more northerly climes and in the winter In the desert a partly enclosed shelter to block the wind makes life a whole lot more enjoyable. I have tinkered with debris huts and all types of expedient shelters, but it’s not a wise choice for making a living or thriving as was mentioned.
Worst case scenario, these guys figure everything out and develop a form of sustaibable suburbanization, which is about the most horrible thing I can imagine. The twentieth century, dragging on, forever. Shudder.
Yea I often wonder if something like that will happen, if there is one thing about human beings I am sure of, it’s that we appear to be infinitely adaptable to all kinds of living conditions, I mean look at where we are now. People can live in what I would call unlivable conditions and bear children and propagate the species who live in similarly unlivable conditions. Who would have thought?
Blackpowder and flintlock muzzleloaders can be made and maintained long after the assualt rifle crowd have long since ran out of ammo.
Flintlocks and blackpowder arms will be a good option for some for a while as the bullets and shot are easily melted down but I do see drawbacks such as obtaining the sulfur and other ingredients needed to make it if they are not easily obtained locally. Maybe crossbows or other primitive launching devices will become more commonplace but I personally won’t give up guns until I am forced to do so as a result of lack of availability/cost, simply because they are such a useful tool for successfully obtaining wild meat. I think primitive hunting tools (and modern ones) are more effective when used communally as they ensure a higher success rate, several hunters with weapons working together(whether they are hunting the same or several animals) rather than a lone archer or atlatlist.
Combining earth skills with a handful of decent firepower when nescessary, I hope will work if we come to violent times in the NW.