You make a very good point on the lessons of how to use things. No point storing old tech if nobody knows how it works. It would be good if we could also store the inclination to learn how as well. My background is woodworking and I'll admit to being a tad old school. For example I still carry and use an axe but many younger joiners and carpenters haven't even picked one up. for example ,fixing skirting boards used to be carried out with twisting plugs in brickwork joints ( made with an axe of course) and nailed and punched fixings into them. Now it is taught in colleges to use gunnable adhesive and a nailgun. I'm sure the modern move towards square skirting is a move to further lessen the skills required for cutting and joining moulded timber.Arzosah wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 10:12 pm I can only think of commodities (for instance, rare earths that will enable a few new pieces of technology to be manufactured - presumably it's very compact, you could store a high value of it for very little space. Or very old technology - a drop spindle or a spinning wheel along with a lesson on how to use them, a solid silver marrow spoon used to get roasted marrow out of long bones. Maps. How to books.
You also make a good point on the technology side. People seem to have a lot of faith that it will solve all our problems. I think I've mentioned before that faith in technology has largely supplanted faith in gods especially in the western world. In some respects I think we need the likes of Elon Musk to develop new forms of energy creation like fussion because at the moment the bulk of our energy generation is based on the stone age method of setting fire to something. Sometimes going to the opposite end of the spectrum I will watch Star Trek and think with all there replicating tech the only industry that would be viable would be energy. No point storing or keeping anything if you can just programme a computer to make one.
To a degree the original question is and isn't prepping. It's prepping in an economic sense of trying to preserve one's wealth but in other respects it adds nothing to it. My wife has a collection of autographs. The price of some has risen , unfortunately as people pass away , so as an financial investment it's working but as a prepping investment they would be effectively worthless. Nobody can store enough food , clothes , fuel or whatever for the rest of their lives and a combination of stores and income is eminently sensible. I suppose once one has those stocks and the bicycle repair shop set up it becomes a question of not being able to store or work more and becomes one of how to invest excess money. In the bank where it does very little and where it could easily disappear or devalue or into something material that could hopefully outpace inflation .