I asked him if in a SHTF scenario if he saw a gold coin on the ground if he would walk by it or pick it up. He made up some cockamamie story about it being a set up ambush. He dodged the question. LOL. If you want to take the advice of someone like that then go ahead.
/johnny
“I asked him if in a SHTF scenario if he saw a gold coin on the ground if he would walk by it or pick it up. He made up some cockamamie story about it being a set up ambush.”
That is EXACTLY what I thought it was. I would NOT pick it up and I would get out of there quickly. Maybe you would pick it up and get your head bashed in due to an ambush.
He said he would walk by because it was probably an ambush.
Your reply then went into very strange logic about how could it be a trap when the coin had no value ignoring two things.
1.) People have a normalcy bias in that they tend to react to things the way they used to be rather then how they are at the moment. The guy lost in the desert would probably pick up the coin even though the item was worthless to him. The one who was more adjusted to the present reality would ignore the coin but would pick up the tin can lying near by.
2.) People are magpies. We are attracted to bright shiny things.
Both are reason that people with evil intentions would bait a trap with a gold coin in the scenario you postulated.
They don't want the wary or the adjusted person to take the bait. They want the unadjusted. Stupid prey is always easier to take then more intelligent.