In almost every resilience scenario I can imagine, there seems to be an intense need for people that can fix, repurpose, replicate, or build from scratch machines, systems, and tools.  They are needed in roles from maintenance of existing social activity to externally focused trade to local defense/offense.  The implication is that if you don't have people in your community, group, gang, or tribe that can do this, you only have two options:   either a bare bones existence (hardscrabble) or a predatory one.  The reverse is also true.  The better and more innovative your hackers are, the wealthier and safer your community will be. 

Here's a hierarchy of resilience hacking:

• Fixers.  People that can repair existing equipment to maintain its previous function.  (these people are the staple of almost all disaster fiction).


• Improvers.  People that repurpose existing technology through the implementation of design improvements or alterations to change its function.


• Makers.  People that build improved copies (lower cost, faster operation, easier, etc.) of existing machine