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Professional scientist here. I would take a table of logarithms. In a world without computers, the logarithm table and slide rule are the essential tools of how things got built. We built the Golden Gate Bridge and put a man on the moon using nothing more than log tables.
Any one person can remember the gist of the scientific method and write it down on a page. To write down a quality logarithm table you would need 500 pages.
Β
But seriously - no religions allowed.
There will always be religion, especially if and when the civilized world ends.
A better way would be just to remind everyone that there were countless religions before and that they were all man made, corrupted and fell apart after a certain amount of time.
Remind everyone that there is no one true religion because there never was one before, there isn't one now and there never will be be one.
But I'm afraid that as much as we'll try .... people will always be dumb enough to want to believe in fairy tales, an after life, eternal bliss / hell and that one group is better than another.
Remind everyone that there is no one true religion because there never was one before, there isnβt one now and there never will be be one.
"Yes, all the religions before were false, but ours is the right one!"
Resist the urge to fall in line behind a βstrong man.β Once a community is beholden to an individual, itβs tainted.
Two lines:
"Axiomatically, those with the greatest material wealth will do everything to enrich themselves further. They must fail."
The scientific method, weβll be able to extract most information of the world around with just that and time
Brewing beer. It might not be "essential," but the apocalypse is gonna be bad enough, might as well have beer.
Apocolpse probably needs something stronger like distilling skills.
Or how to make edibles.
Distillation alone would be useful for disinfection and conservation.
it may not be essential
Brewing began as a way of preserving fruits and grains, and of guaranteeing the safety of drinking water. It's absolutely going to be essential if we get blasted back by about a thousand years.
I was thinking of it purely as a means to unwind, but you're right. I kind of forgot about the documentary How Beer Saved the World, even if it is a bit exaggerated at times.
Beer brewing fits right in with sanitation that a lot of us are pushing.
I can periodically dust the book. When I'm not dusting, I can stand somewhere conspicuous, and say "This way to the book" if asked.
The All Mighty Guardian of the Book, Keeper of Knowledge.
You will also be required to know it by memory cover to cover and read it on request for anyone.
Iβm so far from an expert itβs not even funny but Iβm a hobbyist for old valve (tube on the other side of the Atlantic) electronics. You need an industrial base to make semiconductors but if you can do flamework with glass and build a good enough pump that opens the door to amplifiers, radio, telecommunications, and even crude computers which in turn opens the door to a lot of creature comforts and social improvement that wouldnβt otherwise be possible.
You actually can make simple semiconductors artisanally, once again plugging Sam Zeloof. The biggest trick is getting the silicon in the first place, since you need an electric furnace to smelt it with any efficiency. Then, it's just a matter of distilling it to high purity and growing a crystal.
The pump is the biggest trick for vacuum tubes. If you have a primitive metalworking civilisation to start with, you probably have enough mercury for a Sprengel pump and/or a master craftsman who could make a mechanical pump, but if we're starting really from scratch that could be an issue. Steam to displace air + a chemical getter is another option I've been wondering about.
Also worth mentioning are electrochemical diodes, which you can make with just brine, iron and a piece of aluminum. Aluminum is tricky to make but if you can produce it it's also pretty good for wires, in case you don't have a copper mine handy.
Electronic valves are still a thing?
I had relatives that swore on radios based on that technology could endure the detonation of bomb and still work flawlessly.
And I had a colleague in school that saved up to be able to buy a valve based guitar amplifier.
Basic logic gates for the most basic computational math As well as binary, octal, hexadecimal systems
I'm pretty sure you can make logic gates with water so maybe that'll be of some use
The basics of manufacturing fertiliser. It's a lot easier to build a civilisation on a full belly.
Also, funny story, I already have a disk like this started.
Who's ready to learn a lot about fermentation?!
Some of the inventions that historically took way longer than you'd expect: the shoe, the wheelbarrow, and the stirrup.
Also archival techniques so that history's not as messy the next time around.
Caring for animals in a humane way. Post apocolypse civilisation will be kind to our fluffy friends.
I can't help but feel soap making itself wouldn't be as much use as why/when to use it?
Mixing oil with the ashy water (which is as simple as soap's gonna get) is reasonably easy to do and so useful that even without a civilisation people would probably be doing it either through discovery or by keeping doing it?
I think things like "how to build a wooden bridge so it will hold a laden cart and not fall down" are more likely to be lost without civilisation while still being incredibly useful (although I can't say I'd be very good for that)
I might add a section on refrigeration methods like zeers or wind towers/yakhchΔls if the civilisation would be somewhere hot and dry, otherwise maybe something on using rivers for powering looms, mills etc.
I think the instructions for how to make soap would be less important to a civilization than why to make soap. Germ theory and basic hygiene practices would save a lot of lives.
Since I mentioned it in a response to another poster:
I would include everything I know (or had access to for the sake of this scenario) about germ theory. Admittedly my own off-hand knowledge is not much, but basic hygiene and sanitation and how to avoid getting sick would save a lot of lives. What germs are, how vaccination works, etc.
What is and how to fight for Democracy.
...print stills from primitive technology into a picture-book...
No person can grant you rights. Rights are those things you are capable of doing for yourself providing it doesnβt infringe on the liberty of another. You are physically capable of speaking and thinking. Of moving, of tending to property, of attempting to defend yourself, your family, those who request assistance, and your property. You can build anything you have the knowledge and means to build. You have the right to determine your own safety, this includes what you ingest and any precautions you opt out of. What is not your rights are anything that limits the liberties and rights of another person or property.
how to make good anesthetics. the horrors of medical interventions without anesthesia blows my mind.
maybe something about dentistry too.
Fire safety, fire prevention, fire fighting. Y'all got the rest covered already. These things were and still are learned the hard way. No reason for us to repeat the experiments with more lives.
Laws of Electromagnetism
Combination of food safety and basic food recipes/methods of cooking for every biome.
The meaning of life is very very simple, love yourself and those around you as much as possible and have as much fun as you can. If it doesn't hurt anyone or anything and you have fun doing it, do it a lot. When you genuinely love everyone around you, living becomes a lot easier and the meaning of life becomes simple.
I'd explain LGBTQIA issues, personal and community acceptance of those born different.
Ancient people were much more accomodating towards those who were different.
Many so called "primitive" people reserved special roles for such individuals: xamans, oracles, etc. Their difference made them special, as if favored by whatever gods or spirits were reveared.
I read a very interesting book in my teens, essentially an anthropological/ethnological treaty, where the current obcession with difference was a creation from the 18th century.
Building basic flying machines.
I wonder if a book along these lines already exists. The nearest I can think of is The Art of Manliness website.
I would probably buy a book that covered a lot of the basic skills needed for a society if it were done well. I want to try a lot of those things like smelting, house construction, metalworking, etc. I'm sure books exist for each of these but I doubt one book tries to give overviews of all.
Also an interesting question: What ARE the skills needed for a civilization? Start from skills needed when dropped off alone in the wilderness and work your way up to "needing" bureuacrats.
There's also the "How To Make Everything" YouTube channel. I wonder if the guy that runs that has written a book yet? If not, he should.
Does it count if I have been keeping a copy of all the Kiwix releases and could submit those documents? It would certainly be one hell of a kickstart.
Otherwise, screw civilization... Here's how you build and tune a trebuchet (yeah I have a bit of experience with the construction, as long as someone else supplies the rope).
Why allowing elbows on the table is the first pebble in the avalanche downfall of society. /s
Some basic concepts of medication - clean wounds (preferably with alcohol, because it kills germs), understand how germs spread, and know the basic ideas behind vaccines. If society had known these things 1000 years ago, it would've saved billions of lives.