Newfie wrote:I know of at least one book written on how to survive such an event, there are probably several more.
Ironically any "Y2K - year 2000 collapse book" covers the solar flare grid collapse scenario pretty well. A Carrington-Event is basically a Y2K type scenario. Truth is stranger then fiction as they say and considering that realistically this all suggests that a Y2K like grid collapse has a 1.2% probability per year and that a Y2K like scenario is actually realistic.
I actually think that is hilarious! Newfie wrote:Yeah, that's a pretty high likely hood for the consequences... On the other hand, the chance of... collapse in BAU is 100% and that has not slowed anyone down yet.
It's like Katrina. We knew about the flooding/failure that was coming long before Katrina hit. I heard about what was going to happen in a class before it happened and read a description of what was likely to happen years before in a geology related book, I think the book was called "the control of nature"... all years before Katrina happened. Like most things, it's not that knowledgeable people don't know, it's that decision makers don't listen. That's why the theoretical physicist "Michio Kaku" has been trying to start an initiative to harden satellites and other critical systems, but I believe no one important is listening to him on that or the physics community thus far. We could harden the electrical grid. As a civilization we've had plenty of warning and knowledge to prevent grid and satellite failures from this, but we still aren't doing anything.
Long term planning for a successful country:Personally we should be preparing to come out on top of a solar flare event. If we don't get on top of this, I think this is a huge missed opportunity for the US. After WW2 our country became the worlds manufacturer for years for a few reasons, we were capitalists, we were geared up as manufacturers during the war, we had lots of oil and our country was not smashed from the war. If we hardened our grid and satellites for a solar flare and the rest of the world got messed up instead, we could give the US a huge advantage again taking a "last man standing" approach.
But more likely, I could see China hardening their grid and it's going to be the US floundering with cooked transformers.
Some more links:Over the last few years major insurers have added solar flares to their risk lists, though as they more or less fall under "act of god", the risk has been put into the bottom of their lists. Although as an insurance company, they don't have much liability for acts of god, for real people it is significant the insurance companies acknowledge the risk exists for everyone else, both people and companies.
Insurance company links:
Catastrophic Solar Storm Inevitable, Insurers WarnLloyd’s last year reported that a major solar storm is “almost inevitable”Also top speakers in physics acknowledge the risk of solar flares:
Michio Kaku: Are We Sitting Ducks for Solar Flares? (2012) (1:55 into the video)
Massive Solar Flares - Sept 29 Michio Kaku - Fox News (2011)
"The multiplication force of technology on cognitive differences is massive." -Jordan Peterson