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1. 

   FreeUrChains
   

   Apprentice
   Joined: Oct '11
   Posts: 50

   The show "The Colony" on the Discovery Channel is about a Group of 15 people who try to survive a post Apocalyptic world for 10 weeks. The Experiment has them located in a Warehouse by the LA River with no power grid and occasional bandits to threaten their way of life.

   Most of everything they use to survive comes from their hands and their creativities and experiences.

   I just wanted to mention the show, because it's probably the only educational reality show on TV and it's very ERE focused while the Audience itself doesn't realize it.

   These 15 people get together and survive in almost luxury at the end just fine for 10 weeks with their innovations and self created self-sustaining systems! So why not just live that way for a lifetime?

   Posted 1 year ago #
2. 

   Maus
   

   Master
   Joined: Jul '10
   Posts: 505

   @FreeUrChains
   While this show will probably demonstrate some useful skills for adaptive living, it isn't really a sustainable system. The fact that it is a television production means that all the participants can act (in the volitional rather than dramatic sense) secure in the knowledge that supportive services such as emergency medical care are available merely by stepping off the set. No one on the show is going to starve or suffer an untreated traumatic injury. Even the "thief" who periodically "takes" the colony's goods is a predictable antagonist who poses no threat of physical harm.

   In the real world, the anxiety posed by malnutrition, catastrophic injury and predation would sap the will and confidence of the vast majority of society's denizens. The wise EREista will focus on the techniques demonstrated and not on the meta-message the screen writers are pushing, whether consciously or not.

   Posted 1 year ago #
3. 

   rcamp
   

   Apprentice
   Joined: Aug '11
   Posts: 65

   I had a guilty pleasure watching both seasons.

   The second season had much more contrived challenges than the first .. which turned me off to it. I'm not sure I watched the full second season for that reason.

   Since I watch for pleasure - the Walking Dead is far more entertaining.

   I would offer the "Alaska Experiment" for a bit more realism, wilder outcomes.

   However, Apocalyptic outcomes are so unlikely ...

   Applying any of this to ERE is a struggle for me - I see both as entertainment.

   Posted 1 year ago #

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