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12/16/09
If the 'net or PCs die or there is a massive planet-scale EMP that goes off, we'll SURVIVE!
Watch that stack of magazines I've never thrown away turn into GOLD!!!!!
12/16/09
The main problem would be getting out of town. Should an event like this happen you better haul ass to the woods because all hell is going to break loose. I own firearms, but I don't have enough ammo to fend off the whole city.
12/16/09
12/17/09
Now it's all 12 gauge, 34, 45, and 300 Weatherby & Savage...
12/17/09
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12/16/09
Your PC should be the last thing on your list.
For the record, "billions" is pushing it.
12/16/09
Butlerian Jihad anyone?
12/15/09
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12/15/09
Will the world end? Probably not, but I can envision millions upon millions dying in accidents caused by a sudden failure of all computer devices. Then the second wave of accidental deaths caused by the fear and irrational panic that sets in when people can't figure out what is going on and all try to escape like rats on a sinking ship. And then, a short time later, the deaths of those unprepared to deal with an extended or indefinite period without emergency services, electricity, running water, medical help or non-perishable foodstuffs. Very few people in the industrialized world are prepared for such contingencies (though a great many mistakenly think they are, but probably couldn't survive a week in such conditions).
12/16/09
I'm am super curious though: what was it like to have your evil plans thwarted by Bruce Willis?
12/16/09
The point is not fear mongering, but rather to underscore how heavy our reliance upon computerized equipment has become. Most emergency services in the USA have switched from analog to digital radio systems, and most major infrastructure services are coordinated and monitored by computers. If (and it's a big "if") all were to fail simultaneously, it would be disastrous. Sure one plane may be able to land safely, but dozens, without rapid coordination or landing instructions? This is to say nothing of various seasonal and time considerations. Middle of the night during inclement weather... VFR won't help there. In such conditions the pilots must (and do) rely solely upon computers and the ATC (and their computers) for safe, unobstructed landings.
In isolated situations, for short durations, a minor localized power outage is a inconvenience. If, however, all computerized devices were to simultaneously and catastrophically cease to operate, it would create mass confusion and I believe it would lead to an enormous loss of life before things could be corrected by conventional means. I could be very, very wrong, and I certainly hope it never happens, but the sudden and massive shift from analog to digital has created a world where many peoples' lives are dependent upon the smooth operation of millions (if not billions) of microprocessors.
Also, virtually no modern vehicles (in the US at least) would work. Almost all rely upon a small network of computers both for regulating fuel economy and emissions, and also for monitoring engine performance. Sudden failure would mean failure of engines, ABS brake systems, airbag deployment failure and all other electronic subsystems. Digital watches, cellphones, digital clocks, mass transit systems, cell phones, landline telephone systems, coal and nuclear powerplants (revert to lockdown failsafe until containment fails)...
The idea that all computers and processors would fail at the time time is somewhat farfetched. However, the contention that we are becoming extremely dependent upon them is not so unbelievable. On the grand scale it's the stuff of Hollywood catastrophe movies, but on the small scale in isolated situations, the penetration of a digital infrastructure could wreak havoc. If anything, it's a cautionary tale that we need to consider that the convenience of dependence comes with a price. It's great to have everything work automatically, but it's important to have failsafes and contingency plans.
12/16/09
Anyways, yes, we rely heavily on computers, and yes, shit would hit the fan for a while. That doesn't mean millions or, gasp, A BILLION people would die.
12/16/09
12/15/09
Sorry for the probably-scattered post. I'm a little busy but thought this was an interesting topic and wanted to comment on it.
12/15/09
Pfft.. And when shit breaks down, who fixes it? That's right, us Meat Creatures. If those computers try and git uppity with us we'll just pull their plugs.
On the other hand when computers can fix themselves we're all gonna be turned into meat Duracells..
12/15/09
12/15/09
Women+Nagging=Speaks for mankind
12/15/09
Hayles quote is nothing more than a woman bickering about the technological achievements of man and how mankind has become so reliant on it. This quote sounds very typical coming from a woman. Similar to that rhetorical question, "If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you do it to?" Something that a mom would say...
12/15/09
12/15/09
So there you go... another "futurist" with terrible powers of thought and poor writing skills. What. A. Surprise.
12/15/09
Think about it: they rely on us for maintenance, upgrades and power, we rely on them for........... well everything.
I'm not saying this is news: everyone knows just how much the world relies on computers, and this woman is simply stating the obvious, as many futurologists do.
But still, she's not wrong.
12/15/09
If you are saying this is a symbiosis, then you are saying that both elements in the pairing are, BY DEFINITION, alive. That's either just a way to flip in the idea that computers are alive without actually having to prove that thought whatsoever, or it's a lazy thought made lazily for a good newspaper quote.
12/15/09
12/15/09
"the human being is nothing but a primate caught in the condition of not being a horse".
Yeeeah... It's not a big thing. But it bugs me. And I'm allowed to talk about it.
12/15/09
12/15/09
that goes for both Hayles' assertion, and my own horsey primate thesis.
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12/16/09
And believe me, their unintentional utilization drives me up the walls, and you hear it in some peoples' every sentence. I'm very language-oriented, and I know exactly what you mean.
That having been said, as a language admin living in a world of casual users I've adjusted over the years to identifying and accepting "common-use understanding," if you will. You can tell someone they're wrong according to the words they're using but usually that will end the conversation, and I'm more interested in what you can learn when you keep the conversation going.
12/15/09
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12/15/09
FUTURISM!!!!!111!!!11!!1!!NM!!
12/15/09
In comparison, DVDs had solid, stable video. Low noise. After a few years, they usually weren't too badly artifacted. The (commercial) discs would last forever if treated well.
Blu-ray has all this too, at the same form factor, but if you have an HDTV it's sharper. I love Blu-ray, but that's about its only trick. It's nice accessing menus while the movie plays, but that's no system seller. BD-Live... I've never seen it actually used yet. Of course it's not going to pick up in the same way as DVD - it's an enthusiast-specific format from its very inception. VHS was bad. DVDs aren't bad, they're just not as good.
12/15/09
If every power line were to snap tomorrow, it would be catastrophic. Millions or billions of people would die. That's the condition of being a symbiont.
If every gear were to break tomorrow, it would be catastrophic. Millions or billions of people would die. That's the condition of being a symbiont.
If every field were to be depleted tomorrow, it would be catastrophic. Millions or billions of people would die. That's the condition of being a symbiont.
News flash: we create technology to ease and improve our lives, and eventually our civilization becomes dependent on that technology. It's been going on since the Sumerians 10000 years ago. Just scale the millions or billions to the population at the time.
12/15/09
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12/15/09
So computers... Their like women basically...
12/15/09
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12/15/09
*Edit: especially since she's a professor of literature, and not a science that would seem to have more credibility on such a subject.
12/15/09
Problem is a crash is temporary. Important information is backed up multiple times and will be restored so any issue with phone service or bank accounts would be temporary.
Millions maybe if there was a long term outage but not billions. Probably a 1/3rd of the 6 billion on the planet has yet to even use a computer.
12/15/09
Then if you suppose that most of the food production and transportation technologies are undeliverable or severely delayed, it's possible some would die from starvation over the ensuing few months. Not to mention the panic that might drive folks to kill (I mean, we'll do it to save a couple hundred bucks on a TV after Thanksgiving).
Of course, actually calculating the direct and extended effects of a worldwide shutdown of a single piece of technology is impossible to do because that shit don't happen.
Not to disrespect the work Ms. Hayles has done (I haven't read the book either, and I'm sure it would have some good stuff to say), but solely on the subject of world-ending techno-raptures, it's simply not going to happen. It would be nearly as difficult to take down the global technology network (whether by accident or attack) as it was to set it up in the first place.
Naturally, because I've said that, God is readying his world-sized EMP.