If there's a sort of "apocalyptic" event but there are still surviving communities, will people be able to make eyeglasses again, or are people with vision issues gonna be fucked?

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• scarabic@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Our modern life involves a lot of reading and writing and sometimes very technical work. But the work of surviving on planet earth is a little less vision intensive: farming, cooking, childcare, handcrafts. Depending on how bad your vision is you might even be slow and shitty at these, but people can adapt to a lot and figure out how to perform tasks they’ve done before, even with poor vision. Look at the blind: they can be functional. Yes there are things like hunting which you could. not. do. with poor vision but that’s why we live in tribes. Someone younger with better eyes will do that while you shell nuts all day.

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• wampus@lemmy.ca ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Eye glasses started showing up around 1300 AD. Implies the basic tech / processes required to make them is relatively simple, given that they’ve been around in some form ever since the middle ages. Granted, they wouldn’t be as sophisticated as they are today, and many people with very niche issues would suffer.

  Anything more modern, requiring microchips or heavily integrated international supply chains would go poof. Personally, I’d worry about dental and medical stuff we diagnose with x-rays. Like it’s not too uncommon for people to have a root canal these days… but it didn’t become a more ‘common’ thing until around the 1800-1900 period. Hell, getting your wisdom teeth pulled in a post-event world would likely suck some serious ass.

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• Lag@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  People who wear glasses are screwed but not as screwed as people who rely on medication.

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  • WoolyNelson@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I have trained my children from a young age that, in case of zombie outbreak or alien invasion, I am to be left behind. I require far too many medications to function in a post-apocalyptic setting.

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    • Stern@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      What oddly specific training. Is there a training regimen for a “Evangelion everyone got turned into Tang” situation too? What about the “Just got spider powers and a Canon event may be coming”?

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    • LadyButterfly@reddthat.com ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I too am certain to die so my plan is to heroically sacrifice myself. Full on “I got this” while my friends are pulled away screaming “nooooooooooooooooooo!”

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  • Reyali@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    My partner and I have discussed our wildly different willingness to try to survive in a post-apocalyptic world plenty of times over the years. He would work to survive and would probably thrive more than the average survivor. Me? I’ve always said I’ll likely head to the cough syrup section of the pharmacy.

    This conversation came up earlier today, in fact. Well, I was recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. I’m still sorting out the right medication to get it under control and am dealing with a lot of pain, but way less than before starting treatment. I told him with this diagnosis, if society ever collapses in a way that causes me to be unable to get my medication? I’m out.

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    • salacious_coaster@infosec.pub ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I’m on the same page. I’ve spent most of my adult life testing the limits of my skills, wit, and badassery. My conclusion from that is that I am not a badass and have no interest in trying to survive societal collapse.

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    • 5in1k@lemmy.zip ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I want to see a movie like The Road but it’s kids dragging their parent in an iron lung down the road.

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  • magikmw@piefed.social ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    But I'll thrive with my untreated ADHD (unlikely)!

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    • Septimaeus@infosec.pub ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I dunno, reading through common ADHD traits sometimes sounds like a description of the perfect post-apoc survivor lol

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• HugeNerd@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  If there’s that type of event, we (the survivors, that is. 95% of us will die) are going back, way back. When the elevator falls from the 21st century down to the 20th and 19th, the cable snaps and we’re going back to the ground.

  See, even a hundred years ago, items like a light bulb or electric motor already depended on a very large supply chain and many people working together that never meet in real life.

  How do you make glass? Do you even know what glass is, how many types there are, how to make it different thicknesses or shapes? And even if you can, can you make more for everyone else?

  What are you doing in the meantime that you don’t have glass? How are you feeding yourself? With what?

  Even if you think glass is “simple”, how would you get the materials and tools? The people who used to do that, where are they? What knowledge have they lost? Where is that material today?

  In other words, you’re back to your bare hands and wits and whatever is in walking distance from you, right now.

  Think you’ll survive long enough to worry about glasses?

  youtu.be/XetplHcM7aQ

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• SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  www.engineeringforchange.org/…/adspecs/

  Hopefully if enough of these get distributed it won’t be so much of a problem except for people with astigmatism.

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  • devdoggy@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Well this is awesome but for me it wouldn’t work. B/C I’ve got an astigmatism.

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    • SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Same, I have astigmatism and near-sightedness, a brutal combination.

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    • altphoto@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      Me too. Hey, ignoring the issue at hand, get weighted toric contact lenses. Just do it one time to try.

      When I did, I realized what trash normal lenses are. Getting the lens and astigmatism corrected on the eye results in some pretty dramatically sharp view. It’s crazy, I started observing the stitching on carpets and the hair in the shower. I had never cared for either thing because I just can’t see it normally.

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  • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Holy shit this is amazing. I love inventions like this. This just oddly gives me a lot of joy. No need to waste hours on stupid eye exams, just adjust it whenever my eyesight deteriorates.

    Awesome!

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    • blarghly@lemmy.world ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      You probably wouldnt want to buy it. They aren’t exactly a good fashion statement.

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    • SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      theguardian.com/…/diy-adjustable-glasses-josh-sil…

      theguardian.com/…/joshua-silver-glasses-self-adju…

      Original article I posted didn’t give a date, but the earliest articles about these glasses are from 2008-2011, so they’ve certainly been around for almost 20 years now.

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• ur_ONLEY_freind@lemmy.zip ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I assumed surviving doctors would do for people what they did for sawyer in lost.

  Use what you can find to get as close as you can per eye.

  Other than that, sucks to suck, And I say that as somebody who is both near sighted and far sighted.

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• usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Not that useful in scenarios except for reading: if you curl your hands in front of your eye and leave a very tiny opening you can create a pinhole that’ll make a tiny bit of your view in focus

  Photo from Minute Physics demonstrating what you need to do for that:

  Image

  youtu.be/OydqR_7_DjI

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  • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Been using this trick to read my alarm clock since I was ten!

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  • Zer0_F0x@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    You could make “glasses” out of wood or bone with thin slits using the same idea

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    • BastingChemina@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      Just like the Inuit snow goggles

      https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2F736x%2F80%2F34%2Fb5%2F8034b50964312fb82120f46bbaa4053e.jpg&f=1&ipt=284a476eaf53d97160accd8c43f5069316f0ec128eeac1fb1440ff8692417413

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  • shalafi@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I do much the same, make a tube out of my hands like I’m using a monocular. Works!

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  • otacon239@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Neat! I have really strong vision, but know how to force them out of focus. It’s weird not being able to blur my vision when I’m doing this.

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• Retro_unlimited@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I know of a YouTuber called the blind homesteader. He has family and friends help him. They have quite the homestead and he often helps the community around his homestead too.

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• Bebopalouie@lemmy.ca ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  One would think that if most of society is toast there will be a shitload of left over glasses that could be collected and then distributed to those in need.

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  • shalafi@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I have never put on a pair that was even close to my prescription. In fact, this post made me realize I’ve been wearing my old glasses all day and that’s why I have a headache.

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    • Bebopalouie@lemmy.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      There are always exceptions to the rule. There are people that have super special prescriptions and then there are other people that just have the standard stuff due to age, etc.

      Based on that, the majority of people would have a pair that match them. Anyone else with special glasses would be shit out of luck because as the title says it’s the end of the world and only a few peops left.

      Let’s not be ruled by exceptions to the rule. It is only a tiny amount.

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  • Kolanaki@pawb.social ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Glasses aren’t all the same, you know. What if you have a really crazy prescription?

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    • spikespaz@programming.dev ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Out of all the people with glasses in the world, there’s somebody who’s almost guaranteed to have the same eyes.

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• Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  We could rely on scavenging what’s already been made. Even if it isn’t your exact prescription, a little might be better then nothing.

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• AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  You can make a rough magnifying lens by trial and error using glass and a hand grinder—not the same as prescription lenses, but for many it would be better than nothing.

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  • ivanafterall@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Any glass? Any grinder? Can I find a broken window and start sanding it with sandpaper, as an extreme example?

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    • Zer0_F0x@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Some glass is many sheets glued together, that could be trickier to work with

      Thick glass that’s not tempered will be the easiest to work with

      Pretty much any piece of glass and a series of sandpapers going from low to high grit will eventually work if you know what you’re doing

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    • Nibodhika@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Yes, it’s not magic, it’s just the shape of the glass that makes the focus point of images be slightly closer or further apart.

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    • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      i feel like there’s some sort of childhood song about the dangers of silicosis we were supposed to learn but praise mandela didn’t

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    • EnsignWashout@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Can I find a broken window and start sanding it with sandpaper, as an extreme example?

      Yes, provided you have a way to polish it back TU transparent again, after changing the shape.

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• FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  It took centuries to get to disposable contact lenses while trying to figure out the physics, both in optics and in manufacturing any sort of spectacles, at the same time.

  Will the survivors of the apocalypse be able to pick up where we left off or will they essentially start from scratch? That depends on the apocalypse and on the survivors. Do documents and knowledge survive, perhaps in a stash or in digital form? Do the survivors include an optician or a material engineer? Chances look good if that’s the case. If no, life will get a lot harder for many people.

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  • TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Restarting production chains and manufacturing facilities is going to be the biggest bottle neck.

    If we imagine something like climate change wiping out 99% of the population, there just aren’t enough people to do all that. It’s going to be all hands on deck just to produce enough food for everyone. It will take a few centuries of rebuilding to get to that point.

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    • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      for less people you need less manufacturing capacity

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• TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  We’re fucked. Our genes told us.

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• ivanafterall@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  If you have or can scavenge a laser pointer, just go hog wild shining it all around in your eyes. You have nothing to lose trying it at that point and maybe you get lucky and give yourself DIY lasik.

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  • pappabosley@lemmynsfw.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I was going to say that I’d trust my luck more with a post-apocalypse optician than post apocalypse lasik and I think you make my point quite well.

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  • Rudee@lemmy.ml ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Pretty sure LASIK involves cutting open your cornea and affecting the aqueous fluid to correct the refraction. They don’t just shoot lasers into your eyes to make you see good

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    • ivanafterall@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Agree to disagree.

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  • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    💀

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• iamericandre@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Maybe contact lenses are apocalypse proof

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  • protist@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Always keep a year supply of dailies on hand

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    • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      yeah but how much solution you got for stretching those dailies out

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• fitgse@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  www.smbc-comics.com/comic/lesson

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• Railison@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  For myopia, only an issue for a couple of generations. If we’re living off the land again, myopia will stop being a thing as in the past.

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  • ada@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Aristotle was writing about myopia over 2000 years ago...

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    • Railison@aussie.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      True but the rates of myopia were minuscule compared to today. Bad phrasing: not a thing insofar as it barely affected anyone.

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    • UndulyUnruly@lemmy.world ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Still owes me 20 bucks, just sayin

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  • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    But the first generation of survivors is gonna live like hell without glasses.

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    • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      if we can make glass we can make simple lenses. I just don’t know the limits as I’m neither an eye, lens, nor materials scientist.

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