Electronic Armageddon

I recently watched a National Geographic video called Electronic Armageddon. It showed the frightening vulnerability of the US Electrical Grid and how we could literally be thrust back into the pre-industrial age within a matter of 30 seconds...either by an electromagnetic pulse bomb attack by a foreign power or group of terrorists with a missle, or, more likely, by the Sun itself.Here is a sample of some of the comments about the video..which speak for themselves:
"There is no excuse to have another country producing our transformers!!! Something that important should be made here in the USA!"

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"Suddenly the Amish don't look so quaint."

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"The ones that will go first are the anti-gun crowd."

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"Am more worried about people and the things they will do if a emp went off"

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"Be prepared! It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when."

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"What worries me the most are all the nuclear power plants. To safely shut one down, you MUST keep the water coolant running for a couple of days."The video was made 5 years ago. Im wondering what has been done to harden and protect our electrical grid since then.Edited by Thugpreacha, : No reason given.

Really, really, really, really, really old news.And lots has been done to increase the risk.

One thing thus seems evident to me. The End Timers are going to get their day. Whether God Himself causes it, humans cause it, or nature causes it, there will come a time of trouble. The question then becomes this:
How will humans react? There are more guns in America than on any nation on earth. Human ignorance and stupidity...as well as traits such as greed and entitlement are rampant. Throw in a few million people who are convinced that the times of trouble are the end of their responsibility...coupled with the hate against the liberal leftist ideology, and it looks to me to be an unavoidable recipe for chaos.You mentioned once or twice that the bill will get paid eventually. But at what cost?

Why are you fundies so besotted with 'end-times'? Is it a kind of 'told-you-so'? Or just wishful thinking - you guys actually want this.

I wouldn't wish the end times, or any future time of troubles...on anyone. I will admit that it is a bit of an "I told you so.." as in I told you that humans are not getting better and better by brushing aside ancient superstitions and attempting to find evidence based scientific solutions to future problems. We need God...period. And everything we have been taught to believe shows that He will intervene in human history. Whats scary is if He in fact lets us all simmer in the mess we created without intervening. Then it really will be the fault of the fundamentalists.I blame the secular humanist mindset that seeks to dismiss God as a rational concept. They (you) blame the religious zealots and literalists who are buying into what you see as a myth and mythos type of thinking. I have always maintained that part of the problem will be because of self fulfilling prophecy.But do you not agree that our current high tech world is vulnerable because of its internal reliance on the global electrical grid and communications network?

The modern world is susceptible to all sorts of threats. The alternative is to go back to the caves.None of this has got anything to do with god.

Every age has its own set of risks Phat. And the reality is the the vast majority of people in the developed nations demand a global network and also demand that they should not have to pay to secure, protect and maintain our infrastructure.History shows that quite often people get exactly what they wish for but are too ignorant to be responsible for what there wish means.Edited by jar, : appalin spallin

Yes, EMP, electromagnetic pulse. It's one of the things that happens with a nuclear explosion. Fries electronics, especially semiconductor electronics. While we were working with and developing semiconductor technology, the Soviets continued to advance their work in vacuum tubes, which are more immune to EMP, even to amazing extents of miniaturizing that technology (though without the benefits of our tech).We've known this since the late 70's and even before that.My last job started with a project developing a solid-state recorder for satellites. For spacecraft and satellites operating outside the protection of our geo-magnetic field, there are radiation concerns similar to EMP. I've seen data books of integrated circuits constructed of exotic materials that can resist such threats, including sapphire substrates.

An EMP attack doesn't even need bombs, per se. With high-altitude planes retrofitted with devices that emit electromagnetic pulses, it could do the same... which is why we jealously guard the skies. And large solar flares could potentially do the same, but precautions have been made.Apparently Texas is the only state that operates its own electrical grid outside of the US grid. I think more regions should seriously consider it as a counter-measure. Edited by Hyroglyphx, : No reason given.