Could you survive by yourself?

Question

And this is not a singles and dating question, lol!

Is interdependency our only means of survival?

Answer 1

yes

Answer 2

Interdependency is not required for survival but you need to know what plants can be eaten and which are poisen, and be able to catch and kill animals, birds or fish.

Answer 3

In many environments I could.

In many I could not.

Answer 4

I would not want to

.

As far as the knowledge to survive interdependent from society or so called civilization and what it has to offer,Yes i think i know enough to be able to do that ,

But NOW i would need a lot of >labor to put most of it in to practice .

So if you give me a tribe .then YES i could arrange it that we would all survive by ourselves.

On my own

Hm

I am too old ,lazy and weak now to chop the wood ,haul the snow to melt for the bath water ,stalk a rabbit for the pot.or plant the seeds and harvest them..

But i have done that in the past

twice i survived for 2 years, in the bushes on my own .

Once in the mountains in the snow in Canada ,and once in the highveld hills in South Africa.

As far as the only means .

At the moment No ,all you need is to have or be left some money and survival is not a problem

If the time comes when there is no more electricity to activate your credit card and release some money from the memories also driven by electricity,

Then it is another story and only those who actually grow food  or can find it will survive .

if they have nothing more to barter with ,than numbers driven and maintained by the power civilization supplies.

Answer 5

Hremmm...great question. Ever saw that Tom Hanks movie...can't recall the name. Well, I believe I could make arrangements for the basics: food, shelter, water. However, life would be very lonely. It may get to me. Imagine living your entire life by yourself. Isolation kills.

Answer 6

Sadly no I could not.. My husband and I are trying to get more into Permaculture.. BUT it would not sustain us year round... we have 10 acres and did have chickens for eggs last summer.. but being as we grew up in the city.. we both know we couldnt kill or eat them.... sad I know.. but really we would feel we betrayed their trust..

we have sheep to control the grass in the pasture so its not a fire hazzard.. but heck we couldnt kill them either, plus I dont like the taste of lamb.. they are rare breed Barbado sheep...

anyhow I know that we are doing a BIT... but could do more..still I think we are farther ahead than most people..

everyone should at least plant some fruit or veges...

Answer 7

yes l can

Answer 8

This is like asking a doctor to diagnose your illness over the telephone.  The old categories of "Who, What, When, Where and Why" all apply to analyzing whether a person can survive alone by oneself.

It is possible, though not mentally beneficial, for a single person to survive in certain circumstances on one's own IF the environment is provident and the person is knowledgeable.  The Scott expeditiion to the south pole did not survive, and some members wandered off to die alone rather than to take food from the rest of the party who eventually all perished anyway.  Many shipwreck survivors have died in life boats or on uninhabitable islands.

Few people today know how to survive on their own, particularly in a wilderness area, let alone in an urban environment, short of stealing food from stores and so on.  And human habitation has ruined most of the natural rural and wilderness food sources, although a savvy person can pick and choose some things to eat, such as mushrooms and berries, if you know the safe ones that will not poison you.  I do not have that knowledge, so I depend on commercial sources of nourishment, and of course, a farm is within that category, but taking a farmer's produce without permission is stealing.

There have been groups of people who have been caught in bad circumstances in bad places, such as The Donner Party before the civil war, who resorted to cannibalism of the dead.  There were people who survived airplane crash landings in mountains in every part of the world.

What we humans have created as a "social fabric" has been to take away our need to forage and hunt haphazardly.  I may be able to use what I was taught in the Army, but that depends on "Where" I am, "What" I have to utilize, "When" what I pursue is available (i.e. winter mountains are sparsely populated by game who have already migrated away and there is no fruit during winter), and the "Why" is actually relative to my knowledge and ability and the "How".  "Who" I am determines my success: am I an ignorant city boy in a jungle, am I an adventurer who grew up in the wilderness?

The circumstances require specificity to analyze.  I could just as easily starve in a city because I do not know about homeless shelters and church food pantries as I could starve in a desert or a winter mountain range.  Sailors knew that there are many islands a ship-wrecked survivor should not even try to go to, only a big island has fruit trees and root plants with edible animals, but those kind of islands may also be the home of head-hunters who would consider me a human delicacy to eat!

Answer 9

Could I survive in the wilderness all alone. Not for long probably. But others could. Could I live alone in the city, not sharing a home with anyone? Yes. Most people could.

Answer 10

I could have in the past.  I had a very unhappy marriage, and was THRILLED to be free, alone, and doing what I wanted to do.

However I met my husband (completely by accident) and have fallen in love beyond anything I ever imagined.  He and I complete each other so perfectly...where one is strong, the other weak, and vise versa.

Because of the STRONG partnership I have formed with my husband, it allowed the scope of our goals and dreams to expand greatly.  

Because of that, together, we have taken on more in life, and on our farm, than one of us could handle alone.

I went through a stage in my life where I strongly wanted to be alone, and live alone.  That has completely changed for me now.  I want to do everything in partnership with my husband.

I would no longer be able to care for the farm alone, because my goals, and responisbilities have expanded so much.  

If some horrid thing did happen to my husband and I found myself alone, I would have to greatly scale back, and move to a more temperant climate.

I believe humans are naturally social creatures.  We many not need many (possibly only one) other humans in our lives, but i do believe we do best with some form of interdependency.

I know for a fact that I'm better able to care for myself with no other people, than most folks are....but I no longer wish to live the life of the goat lady hermit (similar to cat ladies, only with goats).  ~lol~

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 11

A couple of years ago a Japanese WWII survivor was found living on his own for 60 years in the Philippines.

So yes you might be able to survive by yourself, but the real question is would you want to live that primitive.