JohnE, welcome! I look forward to your "control" analysis.

My take so far is that most of our survival planning is based on an acknowledgement that any sense of conrol is an illusion. We assume that our well-ordered lives could be upset by events beyond our control, and chose to consider how best to be prepared to deal with a range of out-of-contol eventualities.

A EDC. BOB, bug-in stash, survival retreat, etc. are each like parachutes - they just give us more chance to survive (and no guarantee) if the plane cannot land.