EMP: : One Day We Will Wake Up Without Electricity And Society Will Collapse

[jimmy olsen]

The Tea Party in Texas was driving hard last legislative session for us to blow billions trying to protect our power infrastructure from EMP attack  

Fruitcakes.

Why is it crazy? Even if no one attacks us we will eventually be hit with a major solar event that will cause the same kind of damage. Sounds like the only sane legislation the Tea Party has pushed for.

[Jaron]

How long would WoW be down

[Alcibiades]

I've heard a lot of concern over this threat the past few years, what exactly makes it "stupid" or "unfeasible"? 

[Razgovory]

I've heard a lot of concern over this threat the past few years, what exactly makes it "stupid" or "unfeasible"? 

I don't think civilization would collapse because the electricity stopped working for a while.

[grumbler]

Dumbest Timmay-linked article ever?  Probably, unless he has seriously cited some Jesus-rose-dinosaurs article.

At least he put a smilie. Siege wouldn't.

My comment may have been more meme-related than serious.

[Grinning_Colossus]

A big solar flare sounds almost worth the $2 trillion price tag:

On September 1–2, 1859, one of the largest recorded geomagnetic storms (as recorded by ground-based magnetometers) occurred. Aurorae were seen around the world, those in the northern hemisphere as far south as the Caribbean; those over the Rocky Mountains in the US were so bright that their glow awoke gold miners, who began preparing breakfast because they thought it was morning. People in the northeastern US could read a newspaper by the aurora's light.The aurora was visible as far from the poles as Sub-Saharan Africa (Senegal, Mauritania, perhaps Monrovia, Liberia), Monterrey and Tampico in Mexico, Queensland, Cuba and Hawaii.

Telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failed, in some cases giving telegraph operators electric shocks.Telegraph pylons threw sparks. Some telegraph operators could continue to send and receive messages despite having disconnected their power supplies.

[grumbler]

I've heard a lot of concern over this threat the past few years, what exactly makes it "stupid" or "unfeasible"? 

The only "attack" that could affect such large areas would be a very, very rare (couple of times a decade, but in all directions) solar flare, and we would have plenty of time to shut down the grid before it hit.  Even nukes in the upper atmosphere, or EMP weapons, affect only relatively small areas, because they don't last that long (and thus don't build up charges except at close ranges).  Lightning produces EMP but only for very brief periods and thus is even shorter-ranged.

It makes sense to protect high-voltage power transmission lines against EMP, since they are common and, due to their length, most susceptible to EMP from lightening and the like.  Other than that, the payoff for protection falls off quickly. Buy a surge protector, but don't worry about trying to be among the ten percent of humans still alive in two years.

[grumbler]

A big solar flare sounds almost worth the $2 trillion price tag:

On September 1–2, 1859, one of the largest recorded geomagnetic storms (as recorded by ground-based magnetometers) occurred. Aurorae were seen around the world, those in the northern hemisphere as far south as the Caribbean; those over the Rocky Mountains in the US were so bright that their glow awoke gold miners, who began preparing breakfast because they thought it was morning. People in the northeastern US could read a newspaper by the aurora's light.The aurora was visible as far from the poles as Sub-Saharan Africa (Senegal, Mauritania, perhaps Monrovia, Liberia), Monterrey and Tampico in Mexico, Queensland, Cuba and Hawaii.

Telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failed, in some cases giving telegraph operators electric shocks.Telegraph pylons threw sparks. Some telegraph operators could continue to send and receive messages despite having disconnected their power supplies.

Or you could, you know, turn things off before it arrives.

[garbon]

I'm glad to see John McAfee cited.

[Valmy]

The Tea Party in Texas was driving hard last legislative session for us to blow billions trying to protect our power infrastructure from EMP attack  

Fruitcakes.

Why is it crazy? Even if no one attacks us we will eventually be hit with a major solar event that will cause the same kind of damage. Sounds like the only sane legislation the Tea Party has pushed for.

We are the State of Texas. We do not have billions to spend on stuff like this and this is the same group who constantly battles every tiny bit of government spending on badly needed things. Oh but lets blow all of our money protecting us against terrorist attacks.

But come on now. You are quoting some conspiracy theory website quoting John McAfee, a known paranoid nutcase. So...yeah not think sanity is the big deal here. I suspect Obama and the non-Tea Partiers are not scrambling to spend billions protecting everything is because they probably are getting advised by people who are not paranoid nutcases doing their research on conspiracy websites.

[jimmy olsen]

The Tea Party in Texas was driving hard last legislative session for us to blow billions trying to protect our power infrastructure from EMP attack  

Fruitcakes.

Why is it crazy? Even if no one attacks us we will eventually be hit with a major solar event that will cause the same kind of damage. Sounds like the only sane legislation the Tea Party has pushed for.

We are the State of Texas. We do not have billions to spend on stuff like this and this is the same group who constantly battles every tiny bit of government spending on badly needed things. Oh but lets blow all of our money protecting us against terrorist attacks.

But come on now. You are quoting some conspiracy theory website quoting John McAfee, a known paranoid nutcase. So...yeah not think sanity is the big deal here. I suspect Obama and the non-Tea Partiers are not scrambling to spend billions protecting everything is because they probably are getting advised by people who are not paranoid nutcases doing their research on conspiracy websites.

He quoted numerous non-nutcase sources

[Jaron]

We could fall back on steam power and form steampunk societies.

[Eddie Teach]

We could fall back on steam power and form steampunk societies.

Too many people needing too much juice.

[Alcibiades]

I've heard a lot of concern over this threat the past few years, what exactly makes it "stupid" or "unfeasible"? 

The only "attack" that could affect such large areas would be a very, very rare (couple of times a decade, but in all directions) solar flare, and we would have plenty of time to shut down the grid before it hit.  Even nukes in the upper atmosphere, or EMP weapons, affect only relatively small areas, because they don't last that long (and thus don't build up charges except at close ranges).  Lightning produces EMP but only for very brief periods and thus is even shorter-ranged.

It makes sense to protect high-voltage power transmission lines against EMP, since they are common and, due to their length, most susceptible to EMP from lightening and the like.  Other than that, the payoff for protection falls off quickly. Buy a surge protector, but don't worry about trying to be among the ten percent of humans still alive in two years.

The "threat" i always see used is an enemy detonating several nukes in the atmosphere above the US wiping out everything.

The book One Second After is a pretty interesting fictional novel on what could happen.  In the book everything electronic gets fried so nothing works, cars, public works, etc.  Food doesn't get delivered and people start to starve, 50% of the American people on meds die, all the old people die, all the fat people die from heart attacks/high cholesterol, Roving criminals start taking what they want without law enforcement to stop them, etc. Was interesting.


http://www.amazon.com/One-Second-After-William-Forstchen/dp/0765356864

[Admiral Yi]

Why would fat people die of heart attacks without electronics?