I doubt it’s a difference in utility function (the value placed on a given state of the world), but in the distribution of predicted event. If you’re worried about a sudden event that disrupts everything for a few weeks to months, then surviving that with stored food and defense is what you plan for. If you’re worried about a complete collapse to pre-industrial capacity, then you think about seeds and skills to make rebuilding slightly faster (even if not in your lifetime, perhaps your grandkids).
What the second group forgets is that even if it’s a long-term collapse, there’s still 1-10 years of short-term violence and starving people trying to eat your seed stock. You may not need lots of guns, but you need lots of people you trust who have guns.
Having lots of potable water around is definitely a good start. That’s one of the reasons I argue against tankless water heaters—having 40-60 gallons of stored water is rarely a bad thing. If you don’t have a few weeks’ worth of food and medicine that doesn’t require electricity to eat, that’s also valuable in a very wide range of scenarios.
I doubt it’s a difference in utility function (the value placed on a given state of the world), but in the distribution of predicted event. If you’re worried about a sudden event that disrupts everything for a few weeks to months, then surviving that with stored food and defense is what you plan for. If you’re worried about a complete collapse to pre-industrial capacity, then you think about seeds and skills to make rebuilding slightly faster (even if not in your lifetime, perhaps your grandkids).
What the second group forgets is that even if it’s a long-term collapse, there’s still 1-10 years of short-term violence and starving people trying to eat your seed stock. You may not need lots of guns, but you need lots of people you trust who have guns.
Having lots of potable water around is definitely a good start. That’s one of the reasons I argue against tankless water heaters—having 40-60 gallons of stored water is rarely a bad thing. If you don’t have a few weeks’ worth of food and medicine that doesn’t require electricity to eat, that’s also valuable in a very wide range of scenarios.