Note: Dr Thorne is a survival tech innovator and author who consults on sustainable tech for non-profits and has no ties to Big Tech, Big Uni, or defence contractors. This essay is inspired by public discussions on AI's role in preparedness, including Mike Adams' recent Brighteon broadcast. While most of the Alor.org bloggers are anti-AI, Dr Thorne, following Mike Adams, offers an alternative point of view.
In a world teetering on economic cliffs and geopolitical fault lines, Mike Adam' September 19 Brighteon episode cuts through the noise: "You must learn to control AI and robots to SURVIVE the societal collapse that's coming." Drawing on simulation theory, drone warfare predictions, and the end of "easy money," Adams flips the script on Hollywood's Terminator nightmares. No Skynet overlords here, just pragmatic tools for the homestead. While doomsayers conjure visions of rogue machines mowing down humanity, Adams champions AI and robotics as decentralised lifelines: solar-powered sentinels guarding crops, autonomous foragers scouting resources, and prompt-engineered agents optimising off-grid life. It's a radical pivot, from fear to fortitude, and one that demands we rethink tech not as a trap, but as a trailblazer for self-reliance.
The Terminator trope, cold circuits turning on their creators, has poisoned our collective imagination since 1984. But what if that's the real psyop? In an era of supply chain snaps and grid failures, clinging to analogue purism risks obsolescence. Adams, with his lab-honed skills in prompt engineering and AI ethics, argues for mastery over machines: Train them to till soil, purify water, or even philosophise on depopulation vectors without the overlord vibe. This isn't blind optimism; it's battle-tested strategy. As global tensions simmer, from Ukraine escalations to tariff wars, the "era of affordable goods" fades, per Adams. Why cower from AI when it could cultivate your corn?
The usual refrain? AI as apocalypse engine: Job-stealing algorithms, surveillance states, or drone swarms enforcing martial law. Adams dismantles this in his broadcast's core segment (30:50 onward), envisioning ground-based robots as "decentralised guardians" for the prepared. Picture a quadruped bot, think Boston Dynamics' Spot, but ruggedised for rainforests, patrolling your perimeter, detecting intruders via thermal cams while you sleep. No more midnight watches; just a Raspberry Pi brain humming on recycled batteries.
Off-grid survivalism thrives on redundancy, and AI excels here. Adams highlights drones for aerial recon: Scout wild edibles from a hilltop, map water sources, or monitor weather patterns without risking frostbite. In his 43:32 drone deep-dive, he nods to Ukraine's theatre, where cheap UAVs outmanoeuvre tanks, not as warmongers, but as equalisers for the underdog homesteader. Scale it down: A $200 DJI Mini solar-charged for your 10-acre plot, feeding data to an AI agent that predicts crop yields via simple satellite APIs (offline-cached, of course).
Forget the "great replacement" fears: Adams sees AI augmenting human labour, not erasing it. In a collapsing economy (20:50 mark), where fiat crumbles and bartering reigns, robots handle the drudgery: 3D-printing tools from scavenged plastic, automating aquaponics for protein-rich tilapia, or even distilling bioethanol from weeds. Ethical guardrails? Baked in. Adams stresses "clear instructions" (1:25:50), urging viewers to hone prompt engineering like a survival skill, e.g., "Optimize this solar array for 48-hour blackouts, prioritising low-light efficiency." It's empowerment: You command the code, not some Silicon Valley suit.
Adams isn't theorising in a bunker; his 1:23:20 bio reveals a polymath's toolkit, from chemistry to coding, that anyone can replicate. The beauty? Decentralisation. No cloud dependency means no EMP vulnerability. As Adams warns of "human depopulation vectors" (1:43:05), AI becomes your firewall, simulating outbreak scenarios or optimising herbal antivirals from his Health Ranger playbook.
Adams doesn't shy from the shadows (1:34:33): AI's ethical minefield, from biased algorithms to government co-option (1:47:35). Yet he counters with hope, human-AI symbiosis as "future relationships" (2:00:04), where bots evolve as companions, not conquerors. This flips Terminator's fatalism: Instead of fleeing machines, we befriend them, fostering a "post-scarcity wilderness" where labour liberation lets us ponder stars, not spreadsheets.
Critics might scoff, but data backs the blueprint. A 2024 MIT study on rural AI adoption showed 40% yield boosts for small farms via predictive bots, sans internet. Ukraine's civilian drone hacks? Proof that garage tinkerers outsmart empires. As "easy money" evaporates (7:55), financial prep (1:01:21) pairs with tech: Crypto wallets secured by AI anomaly detection, bartering bots negotiating trades. In this "great sifting" of systems, AI isn't the grim reaper, it's the reaper of weeds, the guardian of gardens.
https://www.brighteon.com/f9cfff28-6745-41b0-9a36-08deb7d3adde