There is a world of difference between what you described and what the OP described. Your minor disasters are not GLOBAL. To wipe out all electricity on the planet, will not band people together as they will be taking care of their most basic instinct ... trying to survive. With no assistance available to be rendered, they die. Plain and simple. The time to extinction depends on whatever caused the loss of electricity.
Substitute For Electricity
- Thread starter jproject
- Start date
There was a US television show called "Revolution" about a global power outage - something causes electricity not to work. Science fiction and bad science but that was not the focus of the show. The focus was the sociological developments that the authors imagined. Gangs, warlords, anarchy, ... The sociology is something to think about but the science is not worth thinking about when it is all fantasy.
Interesting but painful at times. Only ran 2 seasons but 42 episodes.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_(TV_series)
Interesting but painful at times. Only ran 2 seasons but 42 episodes.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_(TV_series)
justtrying
- Joined Mar 9, 2011
- 439
joe, my point was that even in case of minor disasters people fail to help each other. Our instinct to survive works on individual level only and we resort to stealing, looting and killing in order to hoard precious resources for individual use. The difference for minor disaster is that external help is available.
Example - I live in an area which could be isolated from mainland due to an avalanche. I was told that if the road is closed, there is always a panic and stores get emptied even thou everyone in the area is a hunter/fisher and has fully stocked freezers to last them a year and water is plenty. Human nature is stupid.
Example - I live in an area which could be isolated from mainland due to an avalanche. I was told that if the road is closed, there is always a panic and stores get emptied even thou everyone in the area is a hunter/fisher and has fully stocked freezers to last them a year and water is plenty. Human nature is stupid.
justtrying,
I can tell you that when there was the possibility of being snowbound, there was a run on supplies at the grocery store and hardware store for things like alternative heating methods (kerosene ... etc) One could consider that as being prepared for the eventual loss of power.
If there were such a solar geophysical event that engulfed the earth, and I doubt I would be alive to see one, the examples provided will be magnified by millions. The recovery would be difficult unless there was an "noah's ark" facility that housed enough people who had the skills to recover the electricity. Now, I realize that solar flares will move at the speed of light and we would have about 8 minutes to gather those skillful people and transport them to a safe haven. An unlikely scenario at best ... because we don't have transporters.
It would be great if cooler heads prevailed, but I doubt that would happen.
I can tell you that when there was the possibility of being snowbound, there was a run on supplies at the grocery store and hardware store for things like alternative heating methods (kerosene ... etc) One could consider that as being prepared for the eventual loss of power.
If there were such a solar geophysical event that engulfed the earth, and I doubt I would be alive to see one, the examples provided will be magnified by millions. The recovery would be difficult unless there was an "noah's ark" facility that housed enough people who had the skills to recover the electricity. Now, I realize that solar flares will move at the speed of light and we would have about 8 minutes to gather those skillful people and transport them to a safe haven. An unlikely scenario at best ... because we don't have transporters.
It would be great if cooler heads prevailed, but I doubt that would happen.
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sounds a lot like the people in yahoo talking about how the telegraph system was destroyed back in the 1850's.
it wasnt, some minor disruptions occured, but the lines didnt melt, #6 iron wire takes a while to melt and a few lightning arrestors flashed over. also, some lines had to disconnect their batteries and run the wires on power induced in the wires, but they already knew how to do that, since dust storms had electrified the lines quite a few times before. I think the power grid has a little bit better protection systems now than in the 1850's.
it wasnt, some minor disruptions occured, but the lines didnt melt, #6 iron wire takes a while to melt and a few lightning arrestors flashed over. also, some lines had to disconnect their batteries and run the wires on power induced in the wires, but they already knew how to do that, since dust storms had electrified the lines quite a few times before. I think the power grid has a little bit better protection systems now than in the 1850's.
No. You can not. Electricity is fundamental. All other forces come from electricity.
We can use light for information exchange. But for power exchange we need a much higher frequency.
These super duper high frequencies allow the transmission of the electric and the magnetic thru a medium without electron flow......and yet have high power.
This frequency needs to be much higher than the frequencies of the particles.....and should go thru the material with little attenuation. The frequency of light is very slow in relation to particle frequencies.
But we can not even make a switch that can switch at light yet. We need to switch much quicker.
Once we get close to light switching speeds.........hopefully we should be able to build materials that will switch much quicker.
I think the future will go along these lines. Faster signals and new materials.
And if you don't learn to recognize baby ca ca.......you will become a very nervous person.
We can use light for information exchange. But for power exchange we need a much higher frequency.
These super duper high frequencies allow the transmission of the electric and the magnetic thru a medium without electron flow......and yet have high power.
This frequency needs to be much higher than the frequencies of the particles.....and should go thru the material with little attenuation. The frequency of light is very slow in relation to particle frequencies.
But we can not even make a switch that can switch at light yet. We need to switch much quicker.
Once we get close to light switching speeds.........hopefully we should be able to build materials that will switch much quicker.
I think the future will go along these lines. Faster signals and new materials.
And if you don't learn to recognize baby ca ca.......you will become a very nervous person.
