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If you had a choice to live a low-tech life, would you do it in a super hot climate or a super cold climate and why?

Just remember... there would be no air conditioning or fancy heating fans just technology from the 1920's.

8 years ago by zritic with 20 comments

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  • Nospine (edited 8 years ago)
    +8

    As someone who lived in the UAE and experienced moments where the air conditioning stopped functioning during classes I'd have to go with a super cold climate.

    Yes, I might get hypothermia or a really bad cold unless I have good clothing and enough body fat, but at least I won't be getting dehydrated and be unable to move because of heat strokes. Besides, you can create a fire in a cold environment (if you're careful enough and have trees in the area), but you cannot create anything cold in a hot environment unless you have technology (well, technically you could build a mud hut that insulates you from the heat, so there goes my whole argument, whoops :P).

    • redalastor
      +7

      or a really bad cold

      That's not possible in a super cold climate. Viruses are living organisms, too cold and they die.

      Besides, you can create a fire in a cold environment (if you're careful enough and have trees in the area),

      Super cold climates tend not to have that kind of things in abundance. If you live in a super cold climate, low tech, and you can't import stuff from warmer climates then you live in igloos.

      I'll take super hot climate, it has vegetation.

      That said, if we aren't talking about places with extreme climates then cold over heat, I'm used to it.

      • Nospine (edited 8 years ago)
        +5

        You do have a point! I didn't take into account how cold it would be for the viruses, whoops :P

      • hitthee (edited 8 years ago)
        +3

        Sadly they don't die they go dormant.

        Viruses, bacteria, fungi and many microorganisms have survived the vacuum of space and other less extreme but still bone chillingly cold conditions. There is algae clinging to the ISS which was flung up there by massive storms.

        In the Canadian artic for example they recently burned bodies dating from the 1918 flu pandemic because the bodies still have viable virus counts from that plague nearly a century after the death of the host. Bodies do not decompose in permafrost. It's not just horrific diseases sleeping in the snow. A few years ago scientists managed to revive a rather large and primitive virus from the Siberian tundra which was 30,000 years old. Bacteria and yeast are even more impressive as they can lie dormant for millions of years and just start right up again after being in conditions that kills everything else. The most interesting has to be that 45 Million Year Old Yeast which was revived from fossilized amber. What did we do with said ancient variety of yeast? we made beer of course. If you get the chance try the offerings of Fossil Fuel Beers out of California they're quite interesting to say the least.

        My best advice it to choose one based on what you are used to and your genetic heritage. I come from a cold climate. My ancestors came from an even colder climate. We've been in cold climates since the ice age when nearly everything was a cold climate. My body type is adapted to a cold climate. I have the survival skills to live in a very cold climate therefor I choose a cold climate. In a hot climate without tech I'd die. When deciding how to survive you have to look at yourself first. The reason there is such diversity in human appearance is because we adapted to a plethora of climates.

        • redalastor
          +3

          People can still have viruses and give them to each other but very few viruses can survive more than a few minutes in the Canadian Arctic which makes transmission of airborne viruses not an issue. You can still sneeze on people, and sexualy transmit them.

          Or... Transmit them airborne in your warm cozy home.

  • Fuyu
    +6

    Cold climate always. The saying goes "you can put on as many clothes as you want, but you only can take off so many clothes before it becomes illegal." Cooking your food in a hot climate would be hell, while it'd be enjoyable in a cold one. Also I have a "burrowing/nesting" nature anyways so I'd be in heaven to be sleeping under five feet of blankets.

    • drunkenninja
      +5

      Cold climate always. The saying goes "you can put on as many clothes as you want, but you only can take off so many clothes before it becomes illegal." Cooking your food in a hot climate would be hell, while it'd be enjoyable in a cold one. Also I have a "burrowing/nesting" nature anyways so I'd be in heaven to be sleeping under five feet of blankets.

      This, exactly this! Where I live we don't exactly have super cold weather, but when I go fishing in very cold temperatures we stay in a log cabin. It's definitely a lot more comfortable being there during the winter while ice fishing where we sit by the fire, drink hot tea and booze it up while keeping warm with blankets at night rather than during the summer and thats only in the +30c weather and not hotter.

    • Nerdeiro
      +2

      Well, the Amazon forest can be considered "super hot", there you can live with the natives and take all the clothes you want, once you get acquainted. They only use minimal clothing when interacting with non-natives.

      Also, lush vegetation and rich fauna. You can live pretty well if you're good at hunting-gathering.

  • spaceghoti
    +5

    I'd prefer the super hot climate. Give me heat over cold any day. I'll spend the first decade just thawing out.

    • Xeno
      +3

      I think bashing on cold climates is your theme today. :)

  • idlethreat
    +4

    under the following assumptions:

    - low-tech lifestyle, no way to procure any technology (call it an extinction event)

    - need for animals to eat, land to grow crops on, water to drink, etc.

    Then the only logical choice would be a hot climate. Specifically, the Great Escarpment, if possible.

    - Tropical to sub-tropical climate (there's the super hot)

    - available highlands (cooler temperatures when you're sick of that shit)

    - lots of natural flora and fauna

    - access to the sea

    It's not a new place. Humanity survived there when they came perilously close to dying out. Cold would be more comfortable, but temperate regions are a requirement for life to flourish.

  • CrazyDiamond
    +2

    Super hot, ALWAYS. I already live in a pretty damn hot climate, and I deal with it in pretty low tech ways. One way is I dip my t-shirt in cold water, ring it out, then put it on. Instantly cold. Also, I'm pretty lanky so heat is not so bad for me.

  • Realworld
    +2

    Super hot or super cold presumably means too hot/cold for sheltering vegetation. In other words; Siberian tundra vs. Sahara desert.

    I'd choose super hot. You always have the earth under foot, and the earth is always cool.

    wiki:

    Depending on latitude, the temperature beneath the upper 6 metres (20 ft) of Earth's surface maintains a nearly constant temperature between 10 and 16 °C (50 and 60 °F)

    An underground or "earth tempered" home would always be as warm or cool as you wanted it to be, at no cost and no tech. Too warm? Close the windows. Too cool? Open a window.

  • SevenTales
    +2

    Hmmm. Depending on how extreme the temperatures, hunting and gathering would be harder in a cold climate. So while I would prefer to live in a cold climate, I'd have to choose the other one.

  • aj0690
    +2

    I would have to go with super cold climate. I would hate being sweaty all the time, I read somewhere it's almost impossible to focus for long periods of time in the heat, and people tend to be more violent as well.

  • ttubravesrock
    +1

    Define super hot or super cold.

    I currently live in Fairbanks, AK with mostly 1920s tech.

  • alizure
    +1

    cold climate, I dont do well in the heat, lol

  • Parker
    +1

    I've grown up in the Bible Belt of America where hot days are extreme and frequent and the summer lasts forever. I've always enjoyed the heat even the suffocating humidity isn't that bad to me. I do complain about the heat from time to time, but there is nothing I complain more about then being cold. It's just something about the horribly uncomfortable feeling that comes with cold wind or chilly ground that just irks me.

    Super hot all the way.

  • frohawk
    +1

    Hot climate. I'd like to keeping living as close as I can to the climate I'm accustomed to.

    Plus, I'm sure I could just do low-tech underground bunkers. low humidity and stable temperature if you go deep enough.