My friend is really excited about this site and thinks that the community here might find my content and projects interesting.
I'm a home free, nomadic, green tech inventor and rewilder and most of my non music related projects focus on making life outside of civilization as comfortable and sustainable as possible. Some people think that I'm anti tech but nothing could be further from the truth. I'm a tech nerd, but only if the tech can be produced without wrecking the environment or exploiting people. That's why I focus on open source DIY stuff made from natural materials and parts gathered from civilization's waste streams.
Current projects include a solar/pedal powered off road camper trike made from bamboo, hemp cloth, and natural resin, a 9 string, all aluminum/copper/brass guitar, a few post apocalyptic vehicle builds, and hopefully soon, a meshnet enabled open source smartphone replacement. I have other projects and inventions too, from writing post apocalyptic books to prototyping graphene edged survival knives but the camper trike, guitar, and meshnet device are the ones I'd really like to focus on. I'm also interested in procuring small patches of remote land and setting them up with solar, wifi/meshnet, and water collection/filtration so nomadic people will have little home bases to rest at, hunt/gather from, and collaborate on projects with friends at.
Here's the crazy part though... I think capitalism and currency, by their very nature, are devolving humanity and empowering psychopaths. I see cryptocurrencies as a step away from the brink of destruction but definitely not as the best way for humans to exchange value and distribute resources. The rest on Nature does just fine using gift economy and I think we can too. The reason for my lack of confidence in the sustainability of man made resource distribution systems is that, after years of research, I've found that man's laws and systems are easily exploited by those that don't care about rules, which allows psycho/sociopaths to rise to the top on man made systems, where Nature's rules are unbreakable. I really think that if a large enough group of people adopt a culture that is nomadic, practices gift economy, and is minimalist, that we can survive what seems to be an imminent world economy collapse, regrow the continental food and medicine forests that western industrial civ has destroyed, and live together peacefully, in harmony with Nature.
Until then though, I see cryptocurrency as the most ethical way of using the masters tools to build an escape vessel. I've been moving all of my projects forward slowly using gift economy but I'd really like to pick up the pace because I feel like developing sustainable alternatives to civilization's systems needs to happen ASAP, before everything crashes and we're all living the movie The Road.
That said, I hope that my seemingly insane ideas, at the very least, provide enough entertainment value to make it possible to produce a tiny income that will exponentially increase the rate of progress on my projects. In day to day life, I live pretty well on less than $100/month, which is basically just car insurance and registration, so any funding I earn through this platform will go directly to the projects.
If this post is well received, the first article I'd like to post is about living off grid in an RV. I have a lot of interesting content to share and will gladly do so if this community seems interested.
That sounds really awesome - the nomadic life style and salvage "garbage". Looking forward to more and see some of your projects. Where in the world do you manage to live of 100/month?
The only reason I have to spend that much is so I can stay safely mobile and keep some tools and supplies. When he trike is done, my cost of living will be zero anywhere where there's water, nature, and dumpsters/foodbanks/community. It can be done anywhere there's public or abandoned land to camp on or where you have friends with extra space that appreciate your skills and presence.
I won't be posting on this platform anymore because I don't like the kind of people that are reaping in the rewards of this ponzi. I'm really burned out on the internet crowd almost entirely. It seems like the ratio of watchers to doers on the internet is too depressingly high. I'm working on some projects with a friend and will hopefully be set up with a shop again soon so I'll post up pics at muut.com/prototribal
Upvoted you
There are some glaring contradictions in your thought process.
Reminds me a little of people who fly (using large amounts of fuel) to give lectures at "peak oil" or sustainability conferences all over the world.
Like I haven't heard that argument a million times. John Zerzan has a great explanation of why he still still participates in civ even though he knows it's killing everything and devolving us. If you care to hear it, duckduckgo that shit.
Unfortunately, due to civilization raping the entire planet, I have to make some compromises to survive. Being mobile is impossible in the US without a vehicle and mine runs on waste.
The funny thing about effecting change is that one has to reach people. There's no way I'm reaching anyone by hunting rattlesnakes in the desert and soaking in the river, which I do quite a bit of. Also, after trying to spread these ideas and build a little tribe over the last 8 years, I've been let down by humanity over and over again so I really don't care much anymore what people think. I'm in a ride this rental car into the ground stage at this point. I actually encourage people to drive Hummers because it sure seems like the only way out of this civilization mess is a total reset. If we burn up the fossil fuel fast and people start starving and killing each other, maybe some people will begin to care enough to at least explore living ethically.
I suggest that the road to sustainability does not devolve back to hunter/gatherer/nomad but evolves through a new paradigm which we are creatively discovering as we go. At least those of us awake and aware.
I agree 100%. My Prototribal project is taking the best ideas from all cultures and combining them with DIY green tech to make them more sustainable. I'm not saying that I've figured out THE way to live sustainably off grid, and it definitely won't work for everyone. I'm just saying that I've figured out A way to thrive outside of CIV, and I've been living it for a while now.
I typed out a long reply last night that had links to projects and studies but it wouldn't post. Maybe when this site runs a little better I'll post the info up again. My youtube channel is Ernesto Apocaloptimisto if you'd like to see some of my past projects though.
We may not agree on everything but I'm just glad that you care enough to think about stuff like this. The future is going to be interesting if nothing else!