Collapse OS — Bootstrap post-collapse technology
collapseos.org

Winter is coming and Collapse OS aims to soften the blow. It is a Forth (why Forth?) operating system and a collection of tools and documentation with a single purpose: preserve the ability to program microcontrollers through civilizational collapse.

imagine noticing that civilization is collapsing around you and not immediately opening an emacs lisp buffer so you can painstakingly recreate the entire compiler toolchain and runtime environment for the microcontrollers around you as janky code running in your editor. fucking amateurs

  • gerikson@awful.systemsEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    Is there a term for the trope where people imagine that when society collapses, their particular hobby horse will become the vehicle for survival?

    Preppers are the poster children for this, of course at TEOTWAWKI their finely honed skills and purchased tins, guns and ammo will keep them alive and ahead of the ravening hordes struggling for survival. Similarly, in the case of this submission, the wandering knight-scholar will save the remnants of society by painstakingly re-programming their microcontrollers, conveniently the only thing standing between his grateful patrons and extinction.

    The weaker version of this are people who are convinced that if they only serve images in dithered form, they will meaningfully lower global energy expenditure.

    • future_synthetic@awful.systemsEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      Being even slightly in the 2A space exposes one to all manner of this. Largely as you said, preppers who convince themselves that they will survive and shepherd those of like mind to post-event society by virtue of stockpiling goods they have little to no practical knowledge of how to use.

      I don’t know if there’s a term for it, the term I usually use is fart-huffing.

      • gerikson@awful.systemsEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, it’s hard to avoid. I follow Forgotten Weapons on Y/T, which I consider to be as neutral as you can get regarding firearms, but the creator is of course a 2A fundie, and seems interested in off-grid stuff.

        Anyway, to an outsider it looks as if gun tinkering is one of the few remaining areas where “Made in the USA” still holds weight. There are tons of entrepreneurs designing and selling improved ways of killing your fellow human being. But it’s also where EU brands are held to a premium, a bit like cars. It’s weird, in all.

        • future_synthetic@awful.systemsEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Ian McCollum is an interesting case. As far as content creators go I tend to prefer InRange/Karl Kasarda but he and Ian collaborate frequently (to the point of designing an AR-15 variant together) though not so much the last few years. I suspect Ian’s “history is more important than not platforming people like Larry Vickers” attitude may have disillusioned Karl somewhat.

          • gerikson@awful.systemsEnglish
            3·
            1 year ago

            Based on appearance alone, I’d have pegged Karl as the Vickers enthusiast… shows how much I know.

            Anyway these videos have been a guilty pleasure of mine but it’s starting to sour. Ian’s designation of the breakup of Yugoslavia as Croatia’s “Homeland War” is no doubt politeness to his Croatian hosts but still feels a bit white-washy.

          • earthquake@lemm.eeEnglish
            2·
            1 year ago

            Larry Vickers

            Had to search that name, but holy shit. “He believes that the fall of Rhodesia was “the greatest tragedy of the post-World War II era.””