Jamieson, you talking sh!t again?!
How much does it cost to 'drop out'? How much of that wilderness up there in Canada is really free for you to live in? Can you just go and choose a piece of land and say, ah this is mine? And what about most smaller countries like the UK and the rest of Europe? Every sod is owned and paid for, and then needs planning permission.
I need my mobile phone. Without it I can't get the work I get. And no, I can't just change jobs. And no, I can't choose to downsize, to get rid of the mobile, because then I get less and less money and less and less chance of buying that dream farm...
And what about the technology to build the pump? You either buy a pump, which is a good without a high demand, and therefore expensive, or you build your own from scratch which takes an investment of time (and money) in research, otherwise you're reiventing the wheel...
There's nothing so complicated as living simple!