The Seneca effect (cliff)

[Vortex2]

An Internet backbone failure could throw a country back into the Dark Ages within a week or so.

[vtsnowedin]

An Internet backbone failure could throw a country back into the Dark Ages within a week or so.

Only as long as it took to fix the problem whatever it might be. It could certainly snarl up transportation of people and goods for a while though.

[Vortex2]

Hmmm ... not so sure ...

Within say 2 or 3 years when almost ALL systems, personal, corporate and governmental run over the Internet then a comms failure ... or a bomb at TH (I won't elaborate on the initials) could cause a very long term failure.

How can you organise repairs etc if the phones etc don't work? Or if society is collapsing due to power cuts and water supply failures, and dead ATMs and tills and fuel pumps? (Don't forget : no email or phones during all this)

[clv101]

Hmmm ... not so sure ...

Within say 2 or 3 years when almost ALL systems, personal, corporate and governmental run over the Internet then a comms failure ... or a bomb at TH (I won't elaborate on the initials) could cause a very long term failure.

How can you organise repairs etc if the phones etc don't work? Or if society is collapsing due to power cuts and water supply failures, and dead ATMs and tills and fuel pumps? (Don't forget : no email or phones during all this)

It's an interesting scenario - but look at how 'well' places like Iraq, Syria, Ukraine etc cope - even with multiple bombs going off, the power grid highly 'intermittent' they do manage to keep the show on the road, after a fashion. I used to think the UK grid was incredibly fragile, I think I was too pessimistic, it's probably more robust than I thought.

[kenneal - lagger]

I don't think that places like Syria and Iraq rely quite so much on supermarkets as we do in the west and they are completely reliant on computers and electricity for stock and temperature control tight through a very long food chain.

The use of mobile phones in such places for reordering means that they are less reliant on a perfectly functional grid as mobile phone towers, and the phones themselves, can be powered by solar or wind with a battery backup.