What if everything electronic died? Fried completely, never to work again? It looks kinda likely

[Xaryn Mar]

We would have a warning of up to several days before it hits us which means that precautions could be taken (some as simple as shutting the grid down for the duration) and very little damage would result.
This is one of the reasons that the Sun is watched by satellites and observatories. Remember it will not be the light from the Sun but matter which travels much slower than light so we will have warning that something is happening.

 

[V TheSystem V]

I'll surf the internet by candlelight.

Please don't say you're being serious.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I hope that it's a hoax, or that they're all wrong. But can you imagine what that would be like? No food driven to our grocery stores or water pumped to our houses and apartments?

An EMP is considerably less effective (and spectacular) than it is in movies and games, during nuclear tests a fair number of American aircraft were hit by EMPs (before they began hardening electronics against EMP) and none of them simply switched off and fell out of the sky.

Plus it needs line of sight, so knocking out everything in one go isn't exactly likely.

PS: But when it happens it will be AWESOME!

 

[tomtom94]

The human fascination with the end of the world fascinates me. Psychologists have all the fun...

OT: If it happens, it happens. We live, we move on.

 

[Amphoteric]

We are not under any danger from the sun frying our electronics. The most powerful solar flares ever recorded haven't done shit.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

I'd start dieing cause I am diabetic. That's a horrible thing to many people! So, I guess now I am gonna need an Insulation in order to keep a Fridge, my diabetic supplies, and a generator (Maybe a TV and Blu Ray Player) alive: Just to be on the safe side.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Sweet freedom from our over-connected, social-coercion, technology-addicted society. I would finally be able to relax secure in the notion that if someone wanted my attention, they'd have to get it in person.

I'd love it.

Same here.

I'd be living in a little cabin in the Swiss alps if I wasn't so addicted to all those pesky electronic devices.

 

[Squarez]

An estimated 90% mortality of the human population if this happens. I mean, think about it. In a normal persons week, they go to the grocery store once, to stock up for that week. Stores only stock enough food for three days or so? Doesn't matter, they don't have storage for anything more in the back. There would be no food after only a few days, especially if people decided to ransack the place. Mass starvation, cannibalism, looting.
There are a lot of people in the world, and most of them don't know how to grow their own food.

Cans.

That is all.

And I assume you know how to grow cans, then?

Everyone who says this will be a good thing, what are you on? How will you get food or water? If it can't be pumped to your house or even filtered where will the water come from? As food, if you can't grow your own, you're equally fucked.

Not to mention hundreds in hospitals that will die. Anyone in a plane, train or automobile at the time the solar flare happens will probably die. If you don't have all your money in cash (assuming law and order remains, which is unlikely without police radios, cctv or security systems) then you'd have no money to buy any food which may have gotten to where you live. And even if you had money, this food and water would be sold at a ridiculously upscaled price (£100 for a tin of beans anyone).

I could list more reasons but I can't be bothered at present.

tl:dr We rely on electricity, take it away and we'd all be fucked.

 

[Ciran]

Reminds of a book call Dies the Fire, except not only did electronics die, but all forms of power, including gun powder and steam pressure, most everything that set us ahead of the medieval ages stopped working.

 

[eggy32]

Well, I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that this won't be as bad as everyone thinks. Haven't we had big solar flares before?

Anyway, if it does happen and all electronics die then I predict a massive jump in suicide rates and deaths from planes crashing when it happens. The world population will drop to a much smaller number and the problem of over population will be solved.

Then we rebuild the electronic world. It'll be like going back in time to before electricity was first harnessed.

 

[Theninja'skatana]

medieval ages here I come!

 

[AceAngel]

I would shave all my body hair, wear a smart set of clothing (but still rugged) arm a rifle and go off and have sex or something...if Fallout is to be believed.

 

[Mariakitten]

Theres this great xkcd comic about making a computer from rocks in a desert, thats basically what I would do, could someone embed that? I don't know how to embed =]

 

[Crowghast]

I suppose i'll become a wanderer in this apocalyptic scenario. Looting buildings, collecting and trading scrap parts to make what I need, shooting insane cannibals and mutants. Who knows, maybe i'll stumble upon the last working battery? Then i'll make a religion surrounding the worship of my magic power which allows me to make light where light is not, and to instantly cook food with a metal box. Then we can rebuild civilization, based on reverse-engineered forms of the Almighty Holy Battery.

Or, you know, I could just kill myself so I don't have to deal with all the real sort of bullshit that would happen if we lost electricity. If this world-wide blackout scenario ever occurs, people will flip out big-time, and we'll be screwed for years to come.

 

[eggy32]

Hmm... would an excessive amount of lead protect us....?

If so... I'm wrapping my PSP and DS in 3 feet of it... I still need to beat Valk 2, P3P, and DQ9...

You know what... I'll just get a heavy lead paint and paint my house, the inside of the walls, the wood, and my room, all in it...

It worked in NCIS to protect the plague, so why not here too?

You seem to be forgetting that the power source would be wiped out too. we'd need to cover all the power plants and electricity wires in lead too.

 

[Canid117]

As I recall we have already been hit by numerous significant solar flares but the sun is just to far away to actually fry our tech. So looks like Facebook is sticking around for the near future.

 

[The Lawn]

Honestly if it happened, sure we would be set back about 100 years for maybe 2 or 3 years.
Developing nations would pretty much be obliterated though.

Now I'll have to buy 5 years worth of batteries and a thick lead box to keep some portable gaming device in with a charger that can run off bateries... and maybe a flashlight or two...

 

[PureChaos]

i'd probably read a lot more books