To a big extent this hypothetical discussion is a bit silly. But for me it's raised one obvious practical outcome ...

I've got 200 feet of static line sitting in my garage. So I'm going to coil it and move it to my truck where it's accessible, along with a harness, some carabiners, some slings, and a rappel device. If you are going to get a job done - you need to use the RIGHT tools. Descending on fine diameter ropes is not a great idea. Now ... am I ever going to actually need to do this in a disaster? I really seriously doubt it. But it also makes no sense for the gear to be sitting in my garage collecting dust. I need to keep my SPOT satellite device with me too - I usually leave that at home (except when I am going on remote trips).

Pete #2