The Survival Machine Farm 214
pacopico writes "There's a 30-acre plot of land in Maysville, MO where about two dozen people have gathered to build a Civilization Starter Kit. As Businessweek reports, they're working on open-source versions of bulldozers, bread ovens, saws and other tools right on up to robots and chip fabs. The project has been dubbed the Factor e Farm, and it's run by a former nuclear physicist and a bunch of volunteers. The end goal is to have people modify the tool designs until they're good enough to compete with commercial equipment."
Already done in a better way? (Score:5, Informative)
Didn't these guys do this last year with the Global Village Construction Set on Kickstarter?
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/622508883/global-village-construction-set [kickstarter.com]
Re:Post-Apocalypse Petroleum Refinery (Score:4, Informative)
I agree - tractors and what-not are fine, but that technology exists now, we will get there again. In the event of a full-on collapse, basic survival skills and how we used to do business before modern conveniences become more useful than how to build a diesel engine.
Most of the hurdles are legal (Score:4, Informative)
This happens in Missouri for a reason: lax zoning and a distinct lack of busy-bodies who complain.
This is what California was like 40-50 years when hippies were doing this kind of thing there. Now it's locked up tight. In some cases it's for good reasons. Developers were silting streams and destroying fisheries with ill-advised grading. OTOH, the government is literally telling you where you can poop, which makes doing things like this illegal and/or expensive now. Sometimes it still happens. They can't police communes any better than they can police illegal pot growers; but a project like this out in the open is less likely to happen in CA now, which is a bit sad.
My understanding is that a good chunk of Missouri was depopulated by the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic. I wonder if too many "back to the land" people like this will eventually cause complaints and ruin it like California.
Blueprints for Civilization: worth watching (Score:5, Informative)
Jakubowski articulates his vision very clearly.
I remember hearing of this a few years ago; I am glad to see they're making some headway.
Re:Ah... Yeah... (Score:4, Informative)
That was Fallout 2. The Macguffin in the first one was the water chip.
Re:Reinventing the Amish [Re:Ah... Yeah...] (Score:4, Informative)
The difference is that professionals buy John Deere, whereas they don't buy Harbor Freight. You'd be nuts to buy something built like a farm tractor to mow your lawn, where a $200 crap mower from Sears will last you for years. A commercial guy would blow through that mower in a few weeks and will look for quality.
If I were to buy something like a bench grinder, I might actually buy from Harbor Freight. Sure, it would be crap, but my lifetime total grinding needs (sharpening lawn mower blades once a year, sharpening the chisel once in a while, deburring a piece of cut shelf, etc) probably amount to a week's use in a pro setting.