this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2025
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Neat. I get the archived sites and docs as pretty useful and a good way to keep info that might be redacted or manipulated by a fascist government, but I gotta question the use of this technological medium to save information as useful during a “doomsday” situation.
If you’re in an actual doomsday situation, that means odds are utilities like water and power are intermittent or nonexistent, this box will be useless unless you have already spent the time and effort to install and maintain an off-grid power solution to use this device.
So essentially a gimmick. However, I can’t argue with the preservation of knowledge in an effort to reference it when bad actors change what is publicly available.
E: I think people are missing my point. I said you’d need to be prepared to use this device in a doomsday situation, as in, “already spent the time and effort to install and maintain an off-grid power solution…”
But for some reason people are telling me “well if you’ve already got a power setup…” when I stated not having the means to utilize this device it’s pointless. Telling me what I already said? C’mon, people. No need to reiterste my solutions and contradict conditions I stated to make yourself right.
You’d also already have to have all the tools, seeds, plants, material, equipment and supplies to make or farm and a community to implement the knowledge saved on the device. Maintaining the trappings of civilization in a doomsday situation is all but impossible solo, and a shitload of work for a community. You don’t put this box in a closet and when the power goes out permanently and your gas generator kicks on you decide it’s time to learn how to survive. IOW it’s useless unless you’re already prepped.
Solar generators exist, and are relatively inexpensive for smaller units.
Note that I already said you’d have to have all the survival and power requirements in place before doomsday. Not waiting until doomsday to use this box as a tool to learn how to survive. IOW if you’re not already a prepped prepper, this box is pointless.
I’m not a prepper and have both a gasoline and solar generator. Generators arent just for preppers, they are commonly owned in areas with regular power outages, for example.
And honestly, solar panels are so common these days you could rig something up with relative ease with a basic understanding of electricity.
You're overestimating the difficulty and expense necessary to support this device. You could probably power it from a car. A solar panel and inverter cost less than a hundred dollars.
Take what I said in the context it was said.
Yeah, you could power it up (maybe) with some backup batteries and a camping solar charger. Heck, even a cheap HAT screen would allow visual and touch access.
The point is that the knowledge therein is useless unless you are already fully prepared to make use of it. I’ve already covered that.
My point is that the "already fully prepared" requirement is extremely small and easy. "Having a car" is enough (or, in the event of one of these disaster scenarios, having someone else's unattended car somewhere near you). So bringing it up as an objection to the usefulness of this hard drive is not really significant.