The Limits of Freedom and Self-Sufficiency in Modern Society

In this thought-provoking video, I explore ideas around true freedom and self-sufficiency. I discuss my move to the Scottish Highlands with the goal of living off-grid and being as self-sufficient as possible. However, I realize there are significant barriers and costs that limit that freedom, from regulations around building structures to having to purchase seeds, trees, and materials rather than being able to freely use nature's resources.
I reflect on how our hunter-gatherer ancestors had much more autonomy and access to food and land. Now we have become dependent on complex systems and money. The video examines whether we can ever truly opt out of society's constraints and governing bodies.
I present ideas for facilitating more self-sufficiency, such as creating a non-profit website for freely exchanging seeds, produce, and handmade goods peer-to-peer without currency. I invite viewers to contribute their own ideas for solutions.
While not arguing against the benefits of collective society, I philosophically question to what degree we have sacrificed personal freedom and self-determination in our modern civilized world. It's a thought-provoking discussion from me around autonomy, sustainability, and rethinking outdated systems.
Website-www.offgridscotland.co.uk/
Facebook- / offgridscotland
Instagram- / offgridscotland123

[@user-tt3rr8up1d]

Love the channel mate! Very inspiring!

[@offgridscotland]

Thank you very much

[@Pictman777]

Thanks you're saying what i feel to 🙏

[@offgridscotland]

🙂

[@petershores]

I really like the philosophical bent of this vlog - it’s always good to sit back and think rather than just blindly act. Of course the road forward is always unknown but often it’s worth taking the risk. The level of risk you take however varies from individual to individual. Love your thinking - keep it up!

[@offgridscotland]

Thank you Peter

[@inquisitiveexplorerlee3299]

Interesting and thought provoking video 👍

[@offgridscotland]

Thank you

[@rickb4384]

Great video 🙌

[@offgridscotland]

😁

[@malcolmspeakman9699]

Nobody is free, we all pay taxes, we can not build what we want where we want, we are all tied to the state, but if we all came together we could change that,unfortunately the Government think they are there to rule us instead of serve us, time for change.

[@offgridscotland]

excellent I totally agree

[@user-tt3rr8up1d]

Oh and your wife also deserves a massive pat on the back for supporting your dream. Behind every great man is an even greater women 😂

[@offgridscotland]

Yea she is 99% of it and she couldn't be more supportive. Especially when I am talking out the ideas 5 minutes before she wants to go to sleep@@user-tt3rr8up1d

[@energiap2p]

Bitcoin fix it!

[@offgridscotland]

Great idea!@@energiap2p

[@leatonveg]

Loving your channel and agree with what you say. My view. We are all worker ants in a tax farm.

[@offgridscotland]

Thanks, yea I fully agree with you on the worker ants part

[@drmattbishop2330]

Great to hear your thoughts on this. I can see it has been playing on your mind. Going off-grid in the UK is probably very different compared with that in more remote places like South America or Alaska / Canada where you can do more of what you want. I’m in East Lothian (south eastern Scotland) and am thinking of moving to the Highlands in a few years to live more like you and your family which is why I watch your content. My family and I have spent many summers in crofting communities on the far north coast where exchange of goods and services is common and has been for hundreds of years. My only thought for you and your family is to start local and make a change there - then see how that develops. Perhaps turn an area of your land into a place of exchange like a farmers market. Put up a couple of barns and hold regular exchange days. See what happens. “If you build it, they will come” to quote a movie. Good luck to you and your family. Matt

[@offgridscotland]

Those are excellent ideas. I haven't ever been to a crofting community they sound really enlightening

[@junkmonkey4596]

Freedom is an illusion gifted to you by your masters. We are but mere underdogs fighting for the scraps.

[@offgridscotland]

I can only hope we can chew the leash that holds us

[@d.t.4523]

You are not the only one with that idea. I'm in. My first thoughts for you would be that it's going to take a while to get the ball rolling. A usable level of trade takes time to establish. Just like it took to develop what we have now. I'm in the southeast area of America. Let me know what you need. I'll keep your idea in mind and decide what I need. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I do engineering work. Currently I work on large refrigeration systems and air conditioning equipment. Good luck, and thank you.

[@offgridscotland]

Thanks! yes I thought it might be a long slog to get it up and running

[@simonray398]

Great video, thanks…. Feels amazing to see someone thinking in such a similar way to myself I’ve never been, but believe the sharing system discussed is similar to how the burning man festival in Nevada works.. although hopefully it would be less dusty 😂

[@offgridscotland]

A few people have mentioned other communities as doing something similar but like you I haven't gone to any yet, it might be an idea to go to some to pick up some inspiration

[@darwinsfish]

Until recently we had a shop in our local market town that allowed us to barter our goods (apples, pears, plums) in exchange for credits that had to be used in said shop. Worked a treat as we have far more fruit that we can ever hope to use so we could get honey, flour etc. We also have an annual seed exchange where folk come to swap seeds so on a local level these things work quite well. We planted our own small native wood - nothing on your scale, just a hectare of around 900 British native deciduous trees so if the oaks produce plenty of acorns this season I’ll send you a box if I can get them before the squirrels. We have an interesting ongoing battle with the red deer versus our young trees but that’s another story.

[@offgridscotland]

Amazing! what stopped the exchange you managed to set up?

[@darwinsfish]

It was an independent shop called Truly Local which had the rule that everything had to be produced within 30 miles - it was only this distance to include the English Whiskey Distillery 30 miles away otherwise the radius would have been a lot smaller! It meant obviously you couldn’t buy bananas etc but plenty of great local produce. I hasten to add, it wasn’t set up by us, we were just one of many small producers who were pleased to find an outlet for a regular glut. I made an apple press using a car jack to make our own juice and cider but still have far too many apples so it was useful being able to trade. Unfortunately it closed and I think the outgoings and some poor business practices did for it. Shame as it was such a good idea with a great sustainability ethos. The seed exchange though is still going strong.

[@offgridscotland]

That sounds great and I am glad they extended it to include the whiskey as it's my drink of choice. We are hoping to do something similar once the apple trees we have planted start yielding. Did you have much success with the cider?@@darwinsfish

[@tezzathetracter2001]

Agree completely with your sentiments. I think this could work within smaller communities in a particular location. Sadly, the main problem I believe is basic human nature. There will always be those who want more for less, who want what is not theirs, and who are unwilling to share what they have by way of goods, time or talent. There is a verse in the Good News Bible that says; 'Do not allow this world to squeeze you into its mold.' But it takes a brave person willing to take that sacrificial step off the worldly path and live not just for their own good but for the good of the community. Some, like the Amish communities or the early Kibbutz settlements live with this ethos but they are few and far between. There is still a need for regulation or 'self government' there has to be common aims and objectives with all in agreement. Is it possible in today's consumer society obsessed with 'my rights, my pleasures, my wants?' I think we may have travelled too far down the road. But as I said, small breakaway groups of pioneers could go a long way in achieving those objectives even within this self centred society.

[@offgridscotland]

I hadn't heard that quote but I love it! Yes unfortunately it feels like we have gone too far down this road to pull it back without a massive catalyst.

[@paulopenshaw1914]

I remember seeing a community doing a similar thing must be 30 years ago on the local news. Dont know how it ended up but its always been in the backnof my head. Skills or goods exchange, would be a good thing 👍

[@offgridscotland]

I am going to have to do some hunting to find out who has tried it out in the past and if I can learn from them

[@dutchglobetrotter6464]

Soccer The Netherlands - Scotland at this moment!

[@user-tt3rr8up1d]

I think as a society we have lost our sense of community. What your talking about was once the norm. We have all been taught to distrust one another and have become selfish. Community is key for something like this. One of the good things about the internet is our ability to create and join communities as you are doing with this channel. I’m confident that you will get there and i will be watching your journey. As I said before it’s very inspiring what your doing. A lot of people would want to do what you have done but are afraid to do so. So again well done! And I wish you the very best of luck.

[@offgridscotland]

thank you I am so glad there are so many like minded people who let me know in the comments that they are on the same page. I sometimes feel people should start one just to be reassured there are others out there.

[@user-gn9mk4ge2b]

this is the greatest thing since luke smith went offline

[@offgridscotland]

Thank you

[@monkeyandsofia]

Great video, well done. You distilled so much in there and made it so clear, easy to understand. However you also omitted the most powerful positive change we can all make, rich or homeless. Which is to reduce the pressure on land and natural resources by choosing not to have any more children. The rest, sadly, is mere tinkering, as in trying to have it all ways, which is never going to work. The problem is we don't live long enough to appreciate just how overpopulated the UK has become. But as recently as Shakespeare's time the population was only 4 million (compared to nearly 70 million now) and in those days it was just people, none of the infrastructure and services we take for granted today. It sounds heretical to most people today to say you shouldn't be overpopulating but any other species would have done something long before it got to this stage.

[@darwinsfish]

Agree with this except the last sentence. I’m afraid evolution doesn’t work like that. Other species have limiting factors otherwise they’d be quite happy to deplete their resources just like us. The difference is we have the intelligence to step outside our selfish natures … or do we?

[@monkeyandsofia]

My partner were talking about all this today. How every person born requires a home when they (eventually) leave their parents. That's a never ending reduction in land left for all the other species. Eventually countries like England will become one massive suburb. Another thing I picked up from the video was the term "rewilding". It's meaningless. You can't reverse Nature to some arbitrary point in the past, it is endlessly moving forward and would reject it, even if you knew how and we don't. I prefer the word "wilding", which quite simply means leaving it to get on with what it does best, preferably without us there to hamper that.

[@offgridscotland]

There is also a perspective creep where each generation measures change from their childhood rather than objectively which means nature reduces over the generations as nobody remembers what it was before they were born.

[@offgridscotland]

I think those here have the intelligence. Outside that i'm not so sure

[@offgridscotland]

You have the word I was looking for. My ethos here is to try to give nature its freedom while adding as much opportunity for it to grow as it wishes. There were elephants here at some point in the past so who is to say what we are aiming for when we return it to nature.

[@CoolSharpHarp]

I'm not 100% on whether you answered your own question or not. You should have been a politician mate 😂. But a great video and interesting thoughts on your barter idea. Keep on trucking.

[@offgridscotland]

Thanks Im not sure if I did or not either.

[@darwinsfish]

We will always need money and I don’t mind paying taxes because I think education, health, social care , defence, police etc are important. The best thing about being as self sufficient as possible is that you can live on a lot less money and gain time. Time is precious and you’ll never get it back so it’s possible with a lifestyle change to prioritise time over money and realise what is really important in your own life.

[@offgridscotland]

I agree, the time vs money thing is really being highlighted at the moment

[@MadHeadzOz]

I've been positing the same questions to people for decades. The overwhelming response has been, "I've never really considered it." I like your approach. I prefer to have potential solutions to offer when presenting problems to people. I've calculated that 48% of aa dollar is lost to tax by the time it is spent. That's fairly conswrvativr and not allowing for "depreciation." My thoughts are participation is key. We don't need to all like each other to behave with civility toward eachother and contribute in our own ways to building or rebuilding our communities. Much can be done to correct imbalances simply by having goals and working toward them. Parallel economies based on mutual gain rather than personal gain and not at the expense of others can exist. I see this as the non-aggressive way forward. Strength comes from community. Community provides higher purpose than self. Outsource as little as possible. Learn to take pleasure in the journey. Our failure has been failing to plan. Wha do you want, what do you need, how will that benefit others and yourself. What type of community do you desire for yourself, for your children? Be the example. People will join in.

[@offgridscotland]

We bought my son a packet of crisps today for 48p and I remember it costing 20p 20 years ago so after the tax you also have to make a very good return on any investments you have just to keep up with the inflation! its hard not to come to the conclusion the system is'nt designed to screw you. I am finding so many people here through the comments that I hope when we grow in number we will have enough to get the ball rolling on something positive for us all

[@lizoyako6414]

A good book on this subject is How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World by Harry Browne. You're welcomed.

[@offgridscotland]

Excellent, I will add it to my Wishlist

[@roosenlodewijkwiggers4594]

The moment you try to go off-the-grid you realize the whole taxing system/regulations/utility systems have you in a dead-lock. Policy makers want to control everything which is annoying as you try to become self-sufficient. People believe we need regulation, but they don't realize how far reaching it sometimes is, and that most people are not bothered by the negative side effects, but the moment you want to go outside of the norm, you should be ready for a tough time. My neighbor in Norway has a big plot of land, and he made a road from his house to a cabin of them on the same property... because he really put grounded rocks on it, it got the title 'road' and the commune didn't allow it, because they have monopoly on where roads are build.... Their old dad refused to take away they road (on his own property) and at the end the commune approved it. This is how we have 'developed' in all these centuries....

[@offgridscotland]

Yes absolutely! as you say its the moment you attempt to leave that the realisation arrives. Until you do that it's not so obvious and takes conscious thought to figure it out. Its such a shame like minded people can't set up their own system

[@cattywampus5555]

there was a bartering system called 'lets' think it was on country file years ago, no idea what happened to it.

[@offgridscotland]

Thank you, I hadn't heard of it so I will do some digging

[@pedjamilosavljevic6235]

Grand topic ! Maybe a little too big for a you tube video , since the title alone is the basis for whole division of social sciences , like sociology , theology , political science and psychology... If the title question was formulated as : Are you really free ? - I assume that the video would be very short and negative.

[@offgridscotland]

I know it was hard trying to keep it to the length it was. And I don't like framing things negatively if I can avoid it.

[@samhartfieldlewis5247]

Probably though even in the old caves days, people did things for other people for food or skins. Like say there was a really good hunter or trapper but was shit at sewing May of swapped some meat for a nice dailed in coat or something. Now it’s time we sell also our skills, like the trees behind you. Loggers use there time and skill buy up more machinery to be more efficient, that costs more meat. I don’t know very interesting what your on about costing more too have that life style and choice. Guess make, grow, plant, produce what you can make savings here and there at least in what looks like a mega place. The HV power though your land does that go though woods or forests you could get timber from that when the do the 5 or so year clearing of limbs and stuff be a good source for logs 👍🏼 nice one go steady

[@offgridscotland]

We do have some timber to mill so I am not at a complete loss. You are right there are even trees on the ground from where the electricity company felled them to route the power cables before we were here.

[@mananddog9884]

Great video, what camera and mic are you using? Thanks

[@offgridscotland]

Thanks, Its the DJI action 4 and the DJI mic (version 1)

[@1943L]

Interesting that the hill farms round here, before 1799 had no income tax to pay, no rates, water from the stream and peat to burn. Visit to the market to buy flour etc was all. Lamb on the menu.

[@offgridscotland]

Its a completely different type of life

[@IvanNedostal]

State can calculate monetary value of goods, and you will be taxes afterwards.

[@offgridscotland]

bummer

[@IvanNedostal]

@@offgridscotland So it is challenge to keep it not publicly known and still have people contributing. And have people who can mediate misunderstandings between each other, not crying to sisters husband who is policeman etc.

[@offgridscotland]

After you mentioning the tax issue it sounds like it would have to be an underground thing which makes it a completely different monster@@IvanNedostal

[@eileenowens8888]

food for thought Rob ,why should we pay to live on a planet we were born on ,just saying xx

[@offgridscotland]

My thoughts exactly xx

[@dama054]

Have you re tested your inverter since you have upped your battery current does it shutdown still

[@offgridscotland]

Nope Mark suggested I upped the amps and it now works, so I just need to add a second battery cable to make it all the way up to 8.5kw without tripping

[@CaptainProton1]

Where do you get seeds from that can grow plants that have seeds that can grow plants? They've all been messed with to only seed once.

[@offgridscotland]

I know, where possible I try to find them in nature but you are right they really have locked away the food

[@International_Jetset]

Last time i checked, you get about 17p for every £1 earned

[@offgridscotland]

That's crazy! Its so much lower than I thought

[@mg-construction-solar]

It’s a nice idea on swapping and bartering but I’m not sure if there is actually another law against that isn’t it called tax avoidance?

[@offgridscotland]

haha probably, I hadn't thought about people cracking down on it for that reason

[@simonray398]

This is really interesting…. Surely a neighbour can borrow a tractor in exchange for some manure! If that’s tax avoidance then we’re all in way deeper than we realise 😮

[@offgridscotland]

it definitely feels as though we are in deeper than we realise. I had no idea you could be taxed if there was no money exchanged@@simonray398

[@Koopris]

You have land, your neighbour has land. They have trees, you need trees. A lorry load of Sitka is probably about 500 jars of honey. Problem solved. Your also free to drink untreated water. Your are also free not to seek medical assistance from the "system" when it makes you ill. I don't get railing against them/they when we have a quality of life magnitudes better than the folk that scratched a living in the Highlands pre industrialisation. It would have been so grim compared to modern life.

[@offgridscotland]

I used to feel it was grim pre modern civilisation but the closer I get to it I am not sure I wouldn't prefer it. but saying that I haven't and could well change my mind if I had to live that way

[@Koopris]

@@offgridscotland set yourself a challenge to live without electricity or fossil fuels for a week and report back ;-)

[@offgridscotland]

I am actually planning that so ill let you know@@Koopris

[@neilclarke6419]

We need medium sized family cooperatives we can share goods and services between us buy local leave the supermarkets alone but we won’t cause we’re lazy me included so it’s us that can change it we have too it’s getting worse

[@offgridscotland]

I sometimes arrive at that assumption too

[@daviddavids2884]

thus, you have discovered a facet of the human condition. EVERYTHING has a 'cost'. in order to 'go native', a person who is able Must do 'work' in order to SURVIVE. work can be physical and/or mental. just like in the old days.

[@offgridscotland]

I know, it feels better sometimes to swap a financial cost to a labour cost but you have to do a lot of cleaver thinking to find the solutions to do it

[@ross-kennedy]

if a tree falls in the woods and no ones sees it, then it didn't happen, apply the same principle to your own land.

[@offgridscotland]

Good philosophy

[@wozzablog]

You seem a lot more grounded than a bunch of the yanks. But being British we generally are. Got halfway through until you mentioned Ayn Rand, you are free to like who you like. I do kind of wish you hadn't started with water though as a main point - water management is critical and there has been so much work at local and central levels to ensure natural watercourses are clean and running where they are supposed to. I understand the hoops people have to go through to ensure there will be enough water continuing to flow downstream if it forms part of someone else's irrigation or drinking supply that it would not be polluted or diminished.

[@offgridscotland]

I agree with you I was really only using it as an example rather than the argument itself. I find myself in two schools of thought sometimes one being the best thing for individuals but then being torn between meeting the needs of the masses

[@energiap2p]

Bitcoin fix it!

[@offgridscotland]

It certainly would

[@RobertBrzoz]

Love your work. Thnx for sharing. You should (sorry for modal verb :) start artistic-spiritual community. I know it sounds trite, but I'm serious. You are NOT the first western mind person (car & money*) disillusioned with these things..., (with your mind really...?) But when you create community, create social situation, you invite flawed human nature to the game. Even with basic social structure, family, - you will lie to your child (santa clause) to maintain this structure. People are flawed. ... or... you can still create content, that's fine. ______________________ *western car&money - not your fault mate, it's only longitude (check Steven Bartlett, this one has problem! :)

[@offgridscotland]

Thanks for the suggestion thats a great idea

[@Dan-vv1tl]

It comes down to overpopulation unfortunately

[@offgridscotland]

I agree that is a massive problem

[@keancv]

Some good words there that nobody can doubt, but do you really believe that big brother cares about the average john/ jane in the street, how about asking keir starmer.? Out of interest the huge forrest near you, how would anyone know if you cut down a few trees, it is not a high street store with cameras and staff at every turn?

[@offgridscotland]

I have had that thought and collecting a few bits of firewood is fine but if there are cut down trees and only me for miles I think they would have a pretty good idea who had done it

[@keancv]

@@offgridscotland I'm simply interested. As a concept, supose you cut down 10 trees for your own use, how would the landowner know it even happened? Even a gamekeeper if there are any can't be everywhere at once