I have mentioned that I have a friend, Franklin Horton, who is an author. One of the series he writes is the "Way of Dan" series, the basic premise of which is just such an event. By coincidence, I am half way through the first of the two volumes currently in that series right now.
Franklin thought it through pretty well, and considered the ramifications.
No more phones. Since the world has moved to cell phones, the towers would be fried as well as the electronics of the phones themselves. I had a little taste of that in 2003, in the aftermath of Hurricane Isabelle, when i was sent to eastern North Carolina to provide security for the relief efforts. They issued cell phones to all of the security personnel to be able to maintain communications, only to find that NONE of the towers were functional, so the cell phones themselves were utterly useless. We were on our own wherever we were sent, no way to call for help or backup when things got ugly.
Transportation. Since most vehicles now are computer controlled, once that EMP burst travels through the wiring and fries the controlling computer, the cars are useless. That circumstance factors in just a little later, too. All traffic is then on foot, or by horse or mule. How many people still have horses to travel on?
With the power grid down, refrigeration no longer works, either. Everything in your refrigerator and freezer that you cannot eat immediately will spoil. After Isabelle, I was stationed in a little podunk crossroads farming community named Hobbsville in eastern NC. Those farmers knew what time it was - everyone emptied their freezers and refrigerators, and we had a great community feed to try to eat it all before it spoiled.
However, in the event of a solar flare induced massive grid failure, what do you do when all your stored food is gone? You can't just drive down to the store, as you have no car any more. If you somehow DID manage to get to a store, you'd be greeted by empty shelves anyhow. Our "just in time" distribution system guarantees that, as there would be no moving trucks to make deliveries to stores "just in time" any more. If you think that what is happening right now with the distribution system choking for lack of transport is a problem, just imagine what it would be like with NO transport available at all.
What would you buy food with, anyhow? All that money you had stored as bits and bytes in a computerized bank account - where did that money go when the computer containing it fried?
What about when someone tries to break into your house to take your stuff because all of theirs is gone? You can't just call a cop to round them up any more. Your phones aren't working, and the cop cars aren't running anyhow. You are on your own, just like we were after Isabelle. Worse, really, since cars are not able to move any more, so no random patrols are going to roll around to help you out.
Maybe you can wait for them to get the grid back up, eh? Nope. Power companies do not stockpile the delicate, fryable equipment necessary to keep the grid running in anywhere even near the quantity that would be required to replace EVERYTHING, all at once. The vast majority of it would have to be manufactured, from scratch... but how are the manufacturers going to do that when they don't have any power, either? Just how many years are you willing to wait for power to be restored?
None of your GPS's work any more, either. I don't know many millennials able to use a map and compass any more. They all rely on GPS, and when GPS is gone, they are just lost.
What about if it last long enough (and it would be likely to) for all your ammunition to be depleted? How are you going to hunt food, or defend yourself, then?
The list is literally endless, and millennials are simply not prepared or geared to handle it. Hell, most Baby Boomers aren't either, for that matter.
This old world could get pretty ugly, pretty quickly when current "the world owes me" entitlement attitudes collide with an utter loss of all the technology necessary to support those attitudes.
.
Franklin thought it through pretty well, and considered the ramifications.
No more phones. Since the world has moved to cell phones, the towers would be fried as well as the electronics of the phones themselves. I had a little taste of that in 2003, in the aftermath of Hurricane Isabelle, when i was sent to eastern North Carolina to provide security for the relief efforts. They issued cell phones to all of the security personnel to be able to maintain communications, only to find that NONE of the towers were functional, so the cell phones themselves were utterly useless. We were on our own wherever we were sent, no way to call for help or backup when things got ugly.
Transportation. Since most vehicles now are computer controlled, once that EMP burst travels through the wiring and fries the controlling computer, the cars are useless. That circumstance factors in just a little later, too. All traffic is then on foot, or by horse or mule. How many people still have horses to travel on?
With the power grid down, refrigeration no longer works, either. Everything in your refrigerator and freezer that you cannot eat immediately will spoil. After Isabelle, I was stationed in a little podunk crossroads farming community named Hobbsville in eastern NC. Those farmers knew what time it was - everyone emptied their freezers and refrigerators, and we had a great community feed to try to eat it all before it spoiled.
However, in the event of a solar flare induced massive grid failure, what do you do when all your stored food is gone? You can't just drive down to the store, as you have no car any more. If you somehow DID manage to get to a store, you'd be greeted by empty shelves anyhow. Our "just in time" distribution system guarantees that, as there would be no moving trucks to make deliveries to stores "just in time" any more. If you think that what is happening right now with the distribution system choking for lack of transport is a problem, just imagine what it would be like with NO transport available at all.
What would you buy food with, anyhow? All that money you had stored as bits and bytes in a computerized bank account - where did that money go when the computer containing it fried?
What about when someone tries to break into your house to take your stuff because all of theirs is gone? You can't just call a cop to round them up any more. Your phones aren't working, and the cop cars aren't running anyhow. You are on your own, just like we were after Isabelle. Worse, really, since cars are not able to move any more, so no random patrols are going to roll around to help you out.
Maybe you can wait for them to get the grid back up, eh? Nope. Power companies do not stockpile the delicate, fryable equipment necessary to keep the grid running in anywhere even near the quantity that would be required to replace EVERYTHING, all at once. The vast majority of it would have to be manufactured, from scratch... but how are the manufacturers going to do that when they don't have any power, either? Just how many years are you willing to wait for power to be restored?
None of your GPS's work any more, either. I don't know many millennials able to use a map and compass any more. They all rely on GPS, and when GPS is gone, they are just lost.
What about if it last long enough (and it would be likely to) for all your ammunition to be depleted? How are you going to hunt food, or defend yourself, then?
The list is literally endless, and millennials are simply not prepared or geared to handle it. Hell, most Baby Boomers aren't either, for that matter.
This old world could get pretty ugly, pretty quickly when current "the world owes me" entitlement attitudes collide with an utter loss of all the technology necessary to support those attitudes.
.
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’