Hi from The Netherlands ! Thanks so much for responding @erh.germany :-) It pleases me to find such optimism in your response:
But I tend to have more faith in people and believe that they will always find ways and means to revive a niche life or smaller communities in the future. In any case, that would be the more positive option for me.
It's not my personal kind of optimism though. What you're describing is what many people see as an escape from what late stage capitalism has wrought. However, and this is essential to me, a retreat behind our own borders, and from there into ever smaller self-sufficient communities, is a step back. The strength of our species, the reason why we've managed to conquer the planet with no equal, is exactly our ability to organize in exceedingly large groups. Giving that up, when it's not necessary, seems to me like betraying our true potential. In my opinion we shouldn't give up on our greatest strength but instead cut down the power hierarchy that is the very motivation behind the wish for retreating into ever smaller communities. Retreat so far in fact that we end up with the off-grid loners you mention here...
I would like to ask you: Who do you prefer to work for, if not for yourself? And when you work for yourself, are you alone or in a community? You can call a change of lifestyle an escape or a decision to try something you didn't dare to do before. A reflection on one's own abilities that need to be learned and refined.
Have you ever tried organising yourself in a group? Large groups are not very suitable for forming living communities because they are too large to establish direct relationships among the participants, only indirect ones. For large groups you necessarily have to regulate from the top down and then you have to deal with a classical hierarchy where you are told from the top what you have to do at the bottom. The organisation of large groups requires a lot of time and above all money (yours and mine). In our present societies, this organisation is not called the formation of self-sufficient communities, but rather a singled-out demand or a special interest, which, however, does not represent the whole, but always only a partial aspect of life.
People learn best through self-experience how to live a life in which neither the advantages nor the disadvantages of a tax-financed life can be tasted. For this, one needs the freedom to undertake such things. Someone who, for example, leaves the city and is able to build up an existence somewhere else, or moves to a village, can create imitators through what he exemplifies. It's the first step from small to larger places.
Now imagine if the system allowed such people to move out of it and do without these workers and their taxes and social contributions? Do you think a mass of people would want to do the same? I don't think so. Being part of the system is so entrenched and accepted that only dissenters would want to give up the comforts of the system (including health and pension benefits). Strangely enough, however, those who are loyal to the system seem to assume exactly that: That once those who take on a free - and thus riskier - life would cause too many imitators.
So little do they seem to be convinced of the goodness of the system that they either do not allow even the few who choose an alternative way of life to do so, or they make it impossible. But if the great system were really so wonderful - in organisation and humane way of life - why would anyone want anything else?
It seems to me that you personally would like to exist in a large system controlled by a just government. Therefore, from your point of view, it seems logical to consider a self-sufficient lifestyle as "escape" and not liberation. Such a thing surprises me, because in fact the off griders are obviously a very small minority, who in addition feel all the harshness, restriction and intolerance of the system conformists towards their way of life.
Yet it is the small minorities, the dissenters, who have won many advantages for those who do not dare or never think about it themselves. Particularly by legal means, through lengthy court cases, diplomatic and factual discussions with the authorities, with extreme staying power and a positive attitude, because otherwise you won't get someone who works for a building authority or for the government to listen to you or to approve even the slightest thing.
So trying to live like that doesn't have much to do with escape, because in fact no one will let you out of the system. You always have to deal with the authorities in one way or another, with regulations, with special attention by the "powers". Those who try something different are always under the special observation of their fellow human beings and are usually not allowed to make many mistakes.
So for me, they are not escapers, they are pioneers. I can learn directly from them, not indirectly. Of course, like everywhere, you have some lunatics. But well, I tolerate the crazy ones as much as the assimilated ones. At least, I try to.
My last point is your expression "conquering the planet": Aren't you a part of the planet, of nature? Why do you think you have to conquer something in which you are embedded?
I take your points, and tend to agree mostly. I believe this is key:
There's room enough for that minority and I wish them well. Truly. My point is though that we're simply not made that way, we've never been loners, generally speaking. My contention is that if we were to have a much flatter society, where that "just government" consists truly of our peers, much less people would want to be a "lone wolf". I can't prove that of course. And yes, even then there will be the odd exception and, like I said, there's more than enough room to grant them the freedom to live their lifes as they see fit.
I agree. My argument was not to inspire people to escape or hide away but to see those loners as a motivation and inspiration to build up something fresh for themselves - once you moved away alone, the chances are, that you don't stay alone. Nothing prohibits one to invite people to your place once you built it.
I do not believe in central governing and therefor I think there can be no "just government" as they have established themselves to govern centrally. When you decide over millions of people, you cannot give justification to all people, you provide it for some, but not for all. Actually, there is a great tendency and also lure to think of people as figures.
What do you exactly mean by "peers"? My translation says it's people of the same age, but I guess it is not what you mean?