I wonder if we aren't starting to miss the forest for the trees here. Perhaps this is the true, final reason. However, if he'd fallen down the steps on that bus and broken his leg he would most likely be dead. He basically put himself in a position where he had such a small margin for error that it's not all that surprising he didn't make it. I backpacked Central and South America for quite some time pre-internet and pre mobile. There were a lot of people who were removing themselves from their environments and doing some wonderful self discovery. There was also the odd, additional person, who was so completely reckless that it seemed inevitable that something bad would befall them. I've always thought of those people whenever I've bumped into stories on Chris MacCandless.
How Chris McCandless Died
41–50 of 134 posts
Re: How Chris McCandless Died
#42Hmm, I wonder what other types of otherwise harmless food stuffs can become detrimental given the correct physiological conditions of the consumer? How do we even go about humanely testing that sort of thing?
Re: How Chris McCandless Died
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Give me a break. The guy was most certainly not an independent thinker. Nor was he a critical thinker. Nor did he have any respect for the challenge he was taking on. He was an angst ridden teenage boy captured in an twenty something's body that never learned the difference between fantasy and reality. Most importantly, he never learned that in the real world there are consequences for stupid actions.
Your comment sounds like he harmed other people with his stupid actions. He was harmless to everyone but himself. And the consequence, he paid it with his life. The nobel part is that he actually left everything behind while most of us are drowning into urban life. He wasnt a hero in traditional sense of 'saving, helping' other people. He is a hero who had what it takes to leave society behind while we cannot let go…
Society isn't evil in and of itself, though it does contain evil. Humans are social creatures, so why is leaving what we need/depend upon heroic?
Re: How Chris McCandless Died
#44Did he eat the seeds raw? This paper suggests it may be possible to reduce the toxin through simple means:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/%28SICI%291097-00...
Ordinary cooking and pressure cooking of pre-soaked seeds
were found to be most effective in reducing the levels of
all the natural toxicants examined...
These findings and the high water solubility suggest that
a simple and effective means of detoxifying Lathyrus by
removing this neurotoxic amino acid may be practicable.Re: How Chris McCandless Died
#45This warning was also recently added to the Wikipedia Page for Hedysarum alpinum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hedysarum_alpinum&...
There's even a bit of back and forth as people argued about mentioning McCandless in the page :)
Re: How Chris McCandless Died
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't believe sheep is overused when a huge population of people are pursuing material gains for people who don't care. The short list of what this leads to: depression, hopelessness, addiction, dietary diseases, and other first world problems. All trying to keep up with the Joneses. There are more meaningful pursuits.
There are more meaningful pursuits. Like Chris McCandless's one that resulted in death? Seriously, you can't hold him up as an idol of a 'better life' when his life was cut short very, very prematurely. I'm not qualified to judge whether depression and dietary diseases are better than death, but I think it's at least worth debating. And few people pursue material gains for the purpose of simply having them. Like I sa…
I'm not saying to hold him up as an idol. I'm just saying, if you aren't happy and you are "successful" then you may have to rethink your approach. Happiness is hard and a lot of work, and I know a lot of people never figure it out. If you're trying what consumer culture is offering and you're miserable, then maybe try something else?
I would highly debate it's few. There's a reason AdBusters struck such a nerve.
Re: How Chris McCandless Died
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your comment sounds like he harmed other people with his stupid actions. He was harmless to everyone but himself. And the consequence, he paid it with his life. The nobel part is that he actually left everything behind while most of us are drowning into urban life. He wasnt a hero in traditional sense of 'saving, helping' other people. He is a hero who had what it takes to leave society behind while we cannot let go…
Society isn't evil in and of itself, though it does contain evil. Humans are social creatures, so why is leaving what we need/depend upon heroic?
"Humans are social creatures, so why is leaving what we need/depend upon heroic?"
He challenged that idea. Isnt that heroic? To let go of whole society. Everything and Everyone.
Please, at least agree with me that what he did was daring. So damn daring that makes him a hero to me.
Re: How Chris McCandless Died
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the point is that he was an independent thinker, and thus was disillusioned by all the BS in modern society. Sure he made some mistakes and he had some back luck, but he chose to find meaning in his life instead of being another sheep. Can you say the same for your own life?
The irony of your post is that his death is a vivid demonstration of one reason why humans engage in flock behavior: to develop social memory of what's safe to eat. Those who stayed with the flock lived meaningful lives--they got jobs they had kids, they propagated their genes. He didn't live a meaningful life--he died painfully in his 20's in the woods because he ate a lethal dose of neurotoxins.
Better stay in your manufactured suburban home and eat plastic wrapped pastries like everyone else.
Re: How Chris McCandless Died
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your comment sounds like he harmed other people with his stupid actions. He was harmless to everyone but himself. And the consequence, he paid it with his life. The nobel part is that he actually left everything behind while most of us are drowning into urban life. He wasnt a hero in traditional sense of 'saving, helping' other people. He is a hero who had what it takes to leave society behind while we cannot let go…
Society isn't evil in and of itself, though it does contain evil. Humans are social creatures, so why is leaving what we need/depend upon heroic?
(in reply to emilsedgh)
Because he was trying to find meaning and purpose in his life.
What struck me most powerfully was that he did actually discover the meaning of life (or at least one aspect of it) when he says "happiness only real when shared". So it appears that he did actually figure out how to have a meaningful life, but unfortunately never actually got to put it into practice. That is the saddest part of the whole story for me.
Re: How Chris McCandless Died
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
The irony of your post is that his death is a vivid demonstration of one reason why humans engage in flock behavior: to develop social memory of what's safe to eat. Those who stayed with the flock lived meaningful lives--they got jobs they had kids, they propagated their genes. He didn't live a meaningful life--he died painfully in his 20's in the woods because he ate a lethal dose of neurotoxins.
Better stay in your manufactured suburban home and eat plastic wrapped pastries like everyone else.
You could still stay at the edge of the flock and follow a zillion people who've "gone back to nature" ... but the nature of post-hunter-gatherer agriculture. Stick to growing plants and raising animals we're on very solid grounds WRT short term toxicity vs. "This wild stuff doesn't seem to be deadly" and then accidentally find out the conditions and dosages in which it turns out to be.
The flock itself has value; you don't have live with someone else, but as jusben1369 points out, if he'd so much as broken his leg falling down the steps of the bus he'd have ended up just as dead. Regular contact with a neighbor would have saved him, but he had no reserves and no margin for error.