Communication After the “Technology Apocalypse”

At this point, we have all heard of the pending technological apocalypse that will be delivered by the last source we ever thought. Not Apple, Microsoft, or the Peoples Democratic Republic of Korea, but rather – the sun.

Oh yes! Screw what the hippies say, the sun is  public enemy #1. If we could, we should blow it up…or at least try…like Superman-IV-style. The sun is not trying to kill us yet, but it is trying something worse. The sun, the giver of light and life (sorry creationists), is trying to destroy our entire technological infrastructure. Imagine more than a million people without power, the distribution of drinkable water disrupted, transportation, communication and banking upset. In short, trillions of dollars in damage that everyone thought would come with Y2K.

Severe weather in the sun’s outer atmosphere could knock out much of the country’s power grid, incapacitate navigational systems and jeopardize everything we have invested in space exploration. In 1859, a solar storm, also known as the Carrington event (after the astronomer Richard Carrington, who first recognized the cause) fried the telegraph system. Another powerful space weather event in 1989 caused a blackout in Quebec, Canada. Other storms have led to diverted airplanes and impaired telecommunications satellites, but earlier this year, a group of experts from around the country issued a report to the National Academies of Sciences on the economic and social impacts of solar storms.

The point of the report was to raise awareness and encourage the government and private businesses to prepare for the long-term consequences of a major event. The national power grid is the most susceptible to collapse. If everyone remembers the blackout that crippled the east coast, this would magnify things to a nation wide blackout. The worst part is that in well-documented cases involving heat failures in the transformers that under-grid the power system, it has taken 12 months or more to replace the damaged units with new ones. Ouch. That is a long time to spend without water, electricity, refrigeration and internet porn. Once that grid is down, we would need to build out regional electrical systems, because distribution would be impossible for at least a year.

Even with regional power, what would we do for communication? So much of what we do and have is contingent on technology, so what can we do in the short-term to establish a baseline of national communication standard?

Phone lines:

It is still a toss-up as to how phone lines will be affected. Obviously the phone hubs will be FUBAR, but the condition of the lines itself are another issue all together. If the phone lines are still good, it would be easy for us to develop comm lines within 15 – 30 days. In a perfect world, that would be the top fix – but I am sure that some company would figure out a way to prolong the silence for an exorbitant public works project.

Mail:

I thought this would be the easiest fix. That was – until I found out that the US Postal Service has become the MOST dependent of technology. With the cut-backs in labor over the last decade, the post office has found solace with computerization of scanning and sorting systems. Though it would require MASSIVE hiring and training over a 30 day period, the postal service could be up in an archaic system within 45 – 60 days. But don’t expect the same kind of service! The cost of sending a letter would go through the roof, and it would take 5 times as long to deliver. Only the REALLY special people would be getting letters from you, so practice your penmanship.

Radio:

With most of the communication systems gone to sh*t, FM/AM and shortwave would be the easiest methods for long distance communication. All of that is given the assumption that all of the relays haven’t been fried to sh*t as well. The only saving grace would be that many of the insulated metal casings that protect the relays from mother nature, could offer enough magnetic protection from a potential solar storm. Magnetosphere or not, if radio systems are completely destroyed there would be little to no ability for long distance communication.

Light:

Meet the ‘little to no ability for long distance communication.’ So we all saw Lord of the Rings, and how once the Beacons of Minas Tirith were lit – everyone knew help was on the way. Light was the original mode of long distance communication for decades. With such a widespread interdependent economy, we can’t rely on candle power for communication, but rather fiber-optic cable lines. With the right hardware restored, we could use light streams to communicate coast to coast. The biggest downside is that there are very few coast to coast, north to south cable lines set up. As of now, they are mostly regional. With the cost of fiber optics as high as they are, we have turned to satelite relays. With those fried, our best shot is fiber optics. Buy up stocks now!

The sun’s activity waxes and wanes in an 11-year cycle. Right now, the sun is experiencing the deepest minimum in about a century but in the next few years, as the sun approaches the peak of its cycle, the possibility for interference increases, especially considering we have launched more spacecraft and rely more heavily on technology. Plan ahead and practice your smoke signals.