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Prepper Disk

prepperdisk.com

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Re: Prepper Disk

#31

Post by Cthulhu_ »

rlupi wrote: post #26
nkrisc wrote: post #6

I think I’d rather have as much of this information as possible in a laminated, ring-bound book with the holes in the pages reinforced. Also the content could be tightly edited and laid out to maximize the amount of information in the book. Of course that would actually be a lot of work to both write and manufacture, so better to just get something that will be useless the first time it gets wet or power runs out.

Do you mean an encyclopedia? I bet there are tons of physical encyclopedias on sale on Ebay.

The critics seem to forget how much space a traditional encyclopedia takes up. A device like this is ideal for data sharing during a crisis or in closed regimes, assuming electricity and digital devices are available.

Re: Prepper Disk

#32

Post by yorwba »

danparsonson wrote: post #14
garbagewoman wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An ai chatbot might be a more accessible way to access information. Also, batteries and solar exist

Exactly what you want during a disaster - a chatbot confidently hallucinating nonsense answers to your questions when you can't verify them.

Hallucinated nonsense is easily prevented by restricting output to verbatim content from a pre-vetted knowledge base. Think fuzzy search for people who prefer to ask questions instead of listing keywords.

I doubt this is what they've done here, but not all AI chatbots have to be thin wrappers around a large language model.

Re: Prepper Disk

#33

Post by qwertox »

IlikeKitties wrote: post #5
exegete wrote: post #2

It’s an interesting thought but I think there are better ways to do this than having some external disk. You could download all of WikiPedia, medical articles, etc to a laptop to the same effect. A survivalist book is probably even better since it won’t rely on power. The product offering of an AI chatbot for when the power goes out made me laugh out loud.

> The product offering of an AI chatbot for when the power goes out made me laugh out loud. To be fair, the current iteration of this is of course bullshit but imagine this in 10 years when raspberry pi sized devices can easily host AIs that outperform or at least match current best models and has been specifically trained to be an emergency assistant. Kinda reminds me of the public access defibrillators that talk yo…

Stuff like this makes me think about the benefits which developing countries currently have. They have access to such a vast amount of information, like Wikipedia, any book on AA or torrents, YouTube tutorials, free AI chatbots and what not. Yet the social problems like the ones caused through corruption, localized conflicts and wars are so big, that none of this information is of any value. Who's to blame?

Re: Prepper Disk

#34

Post by api »

exegete wrote: post #2

It’s an interesting thought but I think there are better ways to do this than having some external disk. You could download all of WikiPedia, medical articles, etc to a laptop to the same effect. A survivalist book is probably even better since it won’t rely on power. The product offering of an AI chatbot for when the power goes out made me laugh out loud.

An AI chatbot trained on massive amounts of knowledge about survival, farming, animal husbandry, small scale community management, home building, clothes making, etc would be immensely valuable.

“I have chickens and one has stopped laying eggs and become lethargic. What could be the cause?”

These things are great lookup tools, much better than web search, and being “jpegs for knowledge” you can pack a lot of knowledge into a small device. You have to check the results but having some old fashioned books on hand would help with that, as would some common sense.

I agree about a separate device. A durable laptop and a solar panel to charge it would be best.

A lot of special purpose devices are sold as a way to sell software since people won’t buy software. Sell a software and data bundle containing curated data and apps and such and nobody will buy it, but pair it with some e-waste and they will.

Same goes for a lot of digital assistants and other gadgets. They could just be apps but people don’t buy apps so they have to come bundled with e-waste.

Re: Prepper Disk

#36

Post by IlikeKitties »

qwertox wrote: post #33
IlikeKitties wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The product offering of an AI chatbot for when the power goes out made me laugh out loud. To be fair, the current iteration of this is of course bullshit but imagine this in 10 years when raspberry pi sized devices can easily host AIs that outperform or at least match current best models and has been specifically trained to be an emergency assistant. Kinda reminds me of the public access defibrillators that talk yo…

Stuff like this makes me think about the benefits which developing countries currently have. They have access to such a vast amount of information, like Wikipedia, any book on AA or torrents, YouTube tutorials, free AI chatbots and what not. Yet the social problems like the ones caused through corruption, localized conflicts and wars are so big, that none of this information is of any value. Who's to blame?

But don't a lot of developing countries have similar access? And especially torrenting is much more common in less developed countries where there's no copyright enforcement.

Re: Prepper Disk

#37

Post by xtiansimon »

qwertox wrote: post #33
IlikeKitties wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The product offering of an AI chatbot for when the power goes out made me laugh out loud. To be fair, the current iteration of this is of course bullshit but imagine this in 10 years when raspberry pi sized devices can easily host AIs that outperform or at least match current best models and has been specifically trained to be an emergency assistant. Kinda reminds me of the public access defibrillators that talk yo…

Stuff like this makes me think about the benefits which developing countries currently have. They have access to such a vast amount of information, like Wikipedia, any book on AA or torrents, YouTube tutorials, free AI chatbots and what not. Yet the social problems like the ones caused through corruption, localized conflicts and wars are so big, that none of this information is of any value. Who's to blame?

> “…benefits which developing countries currently have.”

The story of mobile phone use in African continent, where there are only the worst roads and no land lines, is an astonishing story of leaping forward through technology.

Re: Prepper Disk

#38

Post by josefritzishere »

It seems unlikely that collapse would ocurr in a sequence conveinient to the use of tech toys for survival. The correct steps and sequence are to read books, practice skills, buy seeds, build off-grid infrastructure. That doesnt mean zero tech, but it's strictly tertiary.

Re: Prepper Disk

#39

Post by 542354234235 »

qwertox wrote: post #33
IlikeKitties wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The product offering of an AI chatbot for when the power goes out made me laugh out loud. To be fair, the current iteration of this is of course bullshit but imagine this in 10 years when raspberry pi sized devices can easily host AIs that outperform or at least match current best models and has been specifically trained to be an emergency assistant. Kinda reminds me of the public access defibrillators that talk yo…

Stuff like this makes me think about the benefits which developing countries currently have. They have access to such a vast amount of information, like Wikipedia, any book on AA or torrents, YouTube tutorials, free AI chatbots and what not. Yet the social problems like the ones caused through corruption, localized conflicts and wars are so big, that none of this information is of any value. Who's to blame?

It is of value though. Asian farmers were able to use cell phones to check weather and market prices to be able to grow more and sell for a better price [1]. Mobile banking apps have allowed poor Kenyans access to formal financial services, improving financial stability for those most vulnerable [2]. Being able to send money to disparate family members safely and securely protects them from corrupt local informal networks. Access to modern technology developed in first world countries enable poor counties to skip over expensive intermediate steps, like going from no phones to cell towers without building out a land line network. The #saveourgirls social media campaign in response to the Boco Haram kidnappings was started locally, after frustration with lack of action by the inept/corrupt local government, and brought international pressure, support, and aid.

[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259029112...

[2] https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/p...

Re: Prepper Disk

#40

Post by mwcampbell »

api wrote: post #34
exegete wrote: post #2

It’s an interesting thought but I think there are better ways to do this than having some external disk. You could download all of WikiPedia, medical articles, etc to a laptop to the same effect. A survivalist book is probably even better since it won’t rely on power. The product offering of an AI chatbot for when the power goes out made me laugh out loud.

An AI chatbot trained on massive amounts of knowledge about survival, farming, animal husbandry, small scale community management, home building, clothes making, etc would be immensely valuable. “I have chickens and one has stopped laying eggs and become lethargic. What could be the cause?” These things are great lookup tools, much better than web search, and being “jpegs for knowledge” you can pack a lot of knowledg…

> These things are great lookup tools, much better than web search

Here's an article that argues otherwise, convincingly IMO:

https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/information-literacy-...

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