If you ended up like Tom Hanks in Castaway do you think: 1) You would end up making a Wilson to talk to? 2) You'd stay in that cave or build a little hut?

I think I would stick to the cave, try to build a house out of it, and end up dying of snakebite, dehydration, or spider bite.

Bold of you to assume I'm going to survive past the first day.

I'd definitely make a Wilson and I'd stay in the cave for sure

Believe it or not but a hut is really hard to make secure from water (especially if you went in not prepared) so it's a better idea for the cave

I don't think I'd make a Wilson, but I just might make a Milky Joe.

I’d name my volleyball Wallyball, but otherwise I’d be likely to follow the survival guide established by Tom Hanks.

I don't need a Wilson. Or rather, everything is a Wilson for me, even if I'm not castaway, and even if it lacks a face. See those three trees there? They're now Nona, Decima, Morta. That huge rock? He's Ozzy.

In his situation I'd probably do the following, roughly in order (it depends on pressing matters):

1. Secure basic necessities. Shelter, water, fire, short-term food, in this order.
2. Look for a way to reliably filter, treat, and store water.
3. Semi-permanent SOS signs.
4. Traps for animals, depending on the local fauna.
5. Simple tools/utensils, depending on what I have at hand already. Mostly ceramic, wood, and stone.
6. Traps for animals, depending on the local fauna, for meat.
7. Salt production, since salting is a conservation method. This should be actually rather fast depending on my tools.
8. Soap. It's fat and ashes, and it can save a life. It's also an amenity.
9. Amenities: bed frame, table to avoid the -3 mood hit, so goes on. I'd probably also look for a way to smooth the cave walls and floor (more on that later).
10. Some extremely simple farming. Such as planting some tubers and berry branches near my cave. Just to reduce the time spent gathering stuff.

I wouldn't build a raft. It's simply too risky, I'd rather live poorly in an island than die gloriously in the ocean.

Regarding the wall/floor smoothing, it's mostly for security - to give bugs less room to hide themselves. Ideally some makeshift concrete (mostly powdered clay and seashells baked together, and then mixed with water, small stones and straw); but worst hypothesis just some mud on the walls.

It’s the year 2025. I have woken up on a deserted island with only a Wilson volleyball. I guess I fell asleep swimming. Happens a lot. 🤷‍♂️. I take Wilson and rename him Willy. I dare not deadname them. I feed Willy coconuts and tears of despair and we live in the cave. It’s cozy there. Just like Nordstrom. I tell Willy I’m seeing other balls. He’s mad and can’t explain why. We have heart to heart. I am human (?) he is ball, we make it work. Cave lets us play so much wall ball. I love wall ball.

4 years pass and my beard blossoms like malnourished shrub. Rescue team comes and says hi. I say no. I go back in my cave and play more wallball. Fuck the police.

I thought it was a neat little film. Good on Tom Hanks for growing his hair long.

I feel like I'd make a fleshlight before I make a Wilson to talk to.

I think I'd go with a cave and try to fortify the entrance a bit.

I'd basically be playing Minecraft IRL. Or attempting to anyway. I'd probably suck and die.

Why would I need to make a Wilson? I got enough people In my head. #d.i.d.

I don't think I would have had a Wilson, but I would have had sandals with "Wilson" on the sole.

I wouldn't have built in the cave because it would be at too much risk of problems from storms. I would have built a shelter inland in the traditional regional style and built fish/crab traps on the beach while working on finding farmable crops(if there was any). I would have never built the raft because the likelihood of being saved would be lower than putting passive signaling on the beach.

I would almost certainly not try to leave the island and would become absolutely batshit insane by the time somebody found me or my corpse wearing a coconut crown while sat upon the bamboo throne of The Kingdom of Islandia.

Already got plenty of people to talk to in my head, a Wilson wouldn't be necessary. Could make one anyways if there is enough boredom.

A hut sounds more appealing than a cave, but the right cave could make me consider it.

https://i.imgur.com/x9AQAf0.jpeg

I would make a water desalination collector, a fish weir trap, and a sea salt collection setup. With water, and food, I could survive fairly well. Then I would add some safety and comforts to my island life. I would only make a hut if the cave was uncomfortable. I do very well alone. Better than with people, for the most part. Wilson would be a float buoy.

I doubt there'd be a Wilson. Making some basic shelter would be a priority. I would also probably start looking for an out pretty quick.

In the short term, I'd stay in the cave, and I'd keep it for emergency backup accomodations like in a hurricane or something. In the long term, I'd live outside of the cave, once I got a decent shelter set up.

Why? Well, if the weather is nice, there's no reason not to live outside. And if it's not nice (but not a hurricane), or I'm cooking food, I'm likely to want a fire. And I remember enough from my high school geology classes that having repeated fires inside some kinds of caves can make rocks fall from the ceiling. And I don't remember enough from my high school geology classes to know whether that cave has fire-safe rocks or not.

I acknowledge that fuel for the fire is likely to be an issue, so I'd try to get some aluminum or something from the plane, or flatten out some tin cans if any have washed ashore, or something similar. Then use the metal to make a solar stove to cook with. The stove would need some monitoring, though, to adjust it to the angle of the sun and to do cook-tasks on - occasional stirring or turning over or taking it out before it burns - so even with a solar stove, I'd still be mostly outside.

So in short: if I'm making a fire or cooking, I'm outside. If the weather is pleasant, I'm outside. If there's a hurricane or something, I'll stay in the cave without a fire.

I’d make a Wilson but with a couple holes in it 😏

I’d make a Wanda ball and probably put a mouth-hole on her, maybe another hole too.

@moribanez@lemmy.world

Gilligan's Island (which was fictional of course).

I love that this requires a disclaimer :)

As others gave pointed out, trying to leave an island with enough food to survive on a raft is a big risk with a very low chance of success. I always assumed Tom's character knew that starving to death at sea was the most likely outcome and he ok with it. He was just done with what his life on the island had devolved into.