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0 pointsconradev1y ago0 comments

America can get extremely remote and so you can choose how remote you want to go. Here is a journalist from Manhattan meeting folks living off-grid in Colorado: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/11/28/what-going-off...

Not to mention Slab City: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slab_City,_California

Infrastructure-wise, roads come before water or electricity, and so plenty of the United States has a road but no power or water. This can even be standard for those who are near civilization.

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nl1y ago

Slab City is 100 miles from San Diego and only 160 miles from Los Angeles! That's not remote - remote should be classified using a decreasing population density over distance function.

Remote is somewhere like Nullarbor, which is 183 miles from Ceduna (population < 6000). It's over 1000km to Adelaide (population 1.3m) or 1600km to Perth (population 1.9m).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullarbor,_South_Australia

jacobolus1y ago

That's not remote: there's a paved road that goes there! Remote should be somewhere that requires weeks of travel by sailboat or camel to get to.

nl1y ago

I might be wrong but there are few places that already have population and yet require a week of travel via camel to get to.

My sister lived in Wingellina[1][2], Western Australia which was a 6 hour drive on unpaved, 4WD required track from Alice Springs. That's close to one of the most difficult, isolated places to get to in Australia, but even there isn't a week on Camels. Maybe going further west into the Great Sandy Desert might get close (although you get close to small townships in WA if you go too far).

The Empty Quarter has low population density but is smaller than isolated areas in Australia.

There are probably places in Siberia and Canada that are fairly isolated too.

I agree that there are more isolated islands. The Pitcairn Islands is the most obvious case.

[1] https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q2wL9KCa9aXht3YS9

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingellina,_Western_Australia

1 more reply

ponector1y ago

That is not remote: instead of weeks on camels you can easily fly basically anywhere.

But a good example of remote is Nulato, Alaska.

MarkusQ1y ago

The heck with camels. All these places are still within a few meters of the Earth's surface. If you want remote, you've got to think outside the biosphere!

NikolaNovak1y ago

When I was a teenager, we would wake up on a summer Saturday in country A, drive through the entirety of country B, and stop by in a lovely city in country C, all in 76km. With full double border crossings, changes in climate and culture and population, several different terrain types including some proper big mountains, and everything :)

Point is, yes USA is huge (let alone Australia) and skews our sense of distance, but 100 miles is not as trivial distance as we sometimes instinctively feel :-)

Damogran61y ago

Heck, there's a difference between western (interstate super-slab) US and Eastern, Virginia like (Birth of a Nation two lane highway) roads.

I can leave Denver and be DEEP into Wyoming in 2 hours, or it can take 90 minutes to go 60 miles in Rural Virginia (80mph speed limit vs 60 mph speed limit)

KennyBlanken1y ago

Many times, it really doesn't matter if you're 30 miles from anything, or 300.

If your vehicle breaks down, how screwed are you?

Do you have cell coverage to call for help?

Will anyone be passing by to flag down, any time soon?

How far away is the nearest LEO agency, fire department, ambulance?

How far away is the nearest place for water, food, etc?

nl1y ago

It really depends on the reasoning for wanting to be remote.

Some people just love not having people around, in which case you really want low average weekly population density within say 5-10km (out of easy visibility and hearing).

Some people are concerned about civilization collapse or civil war or... something (ie, the prepper type). In that case you can imagine population dispersing away from (and possibly towards) major population centers over a period of months, and you want true isolation.

murkt1y ago

> LEO agency

I know you didn’t mean Low Earth Orbit agency, but the thought is funny.

If you’re not more than 1000+ km from the nearest satellite, you’re not in a remote area!

1 more reply

pfdietz1y ago

Reminds me of the Death Valley Germans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley_Germans

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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nl1y ago

Slab City is 100 miles from San Diego and only 160 miles from Los Angeles! That's not remote - remote should be classified using a decreasing population density over distance function.

Remote is somewhere like Nullarbor, which is 183 miles from Ceduna (population < 6000). It's over 1000km to Adelaide (population 1.3m) or 1600km to Perth (population 1.9m).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullarbor,_South_Australia

jacobolus1y ago

That's not remote: there's a paved road that goes there! Remote should be somewhere that requires weeks of travel by sailboat or camel to get to.

nl1y ago

I might be wrong but there are few places that already have population and yet require a week of travel via camel to get to.

The Empty Quarter has low population density but is smaller than isolated areas in Australia.

There are probably places in Siberia and Canada that are fairly isolated too.

I agree that there are more isolated islands. The Pitcairn Islands is the most obvious case.

[1] https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q2wL9KCa9aXht3YS9

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingellina,_Western_Australia

1 more reply

ponector1y ago

That is not remote: instead of weeks on camels you can easily fly basically anywhere.

But a good example of remote is Nulato, Alaska.

MarkusQ1y ago

The heck with camels. All these places are still within a few meters of the Earth's surface. If you want remote, you've got to think outside the biosphere!

NikolaNovak1y ago

Point is, yes USA is huge (let alone Australia) and skews our sense of distance, but 100 miles is not as trivial distance as we sometimes instinctively feel :-)

Damogran61y ago

Heck, there's a difference between western (interstate super-slab) US and Eastern, Virginia like (Birth of a Nation two lane highway) roads.

I can leave Denver and be DEEP into Wyoming in 2 hours, or it can take 90 minutes to go 60 miles in Rural Virginia (80mph speed limit vs 60 mph speed limit)

KennyBlanken1y ago

Many times, it really doesn't matter if you're 30 miles from anything, or 300.

If your vehicle breaks down, how screwed are you?

Do you have cell coverage to call for help?

Will anyone be passing by to flag down, any time soon?

How far away is the nearest LEO agency, fire department, ambulance?

How far away is the nearest place for water, food, etc?

nl1y ago

It really depends on the reasoning for wanting to be remote.

Some people just love not having people around, in which case you really want low average weekly population density within say 5-10km (out of easy visibility and hearing).

murkt1y ago

> LEO agency

I know you didn’t mean Low Earth Orbit agency, but the thought is funny.

If you’re not more than 1000+ km from the nearest satellite, you’re not in a remote area!

1 more reply

pfdietz1y ago

Reminds me of the Death Valley Germans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley_Germans

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse