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Solar storm risk and EMP attacks

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Re: Solar storm risk and EMP attacks

#61

Post by aruggirello »

daenz wrote: post #2

This reminds me, I've been toying with the idea of starting a github repository for survival and rebuilding society if a major SHTF scenario occurred. It would be crowdsourced and bake-able into an ebook for offline reading. Anybody interested in it as a "Show HN" post?

I'd recommend you check out Kiwix [1], an app but also a decade-old effort to make portable, offline working wikipedia copies. Coupled with a decent phone/tablet and there you have it...

Or maybe you're more inclined towards a "FM 21-76 US ARMY SURVIVAL MANUAL" kind of project?

[1] https://www.kiwix.org/en/

Re: Solar storm risk and EMP attacks

#62

Post by bryondowd »

jnurmine wrote: post #56
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we can just assume that in a nuclear war or major EMP event the Internet will be one of the first things to go. But this is one of the best uses of a Raspberry Pi. A Pi with an external USB drive and a small display will run off solar battery power, but still have enough storage for a complete Manual for Rebuilding Everything. Add some EMP protection [1] and update the Manual from GitHub once a month or so, a…

Indeed, a Raspberry Pi that could presumably work fine for the short term. However, I don't think it'd work for the long term given a suitably large catastrophy. This may sound like a No True Scotsman argument so let's just for the sake of argument define "suitably large" as "permanently disrupts the current industry base for things like chip fabrication facilities". Once the tiny computer and/or its peripherals fail…

I'd argue that the digitized versions would likely last several years. After a catastrophe stuck, one of the instructions after securing immediate survival would be to transcribe the contents to whatever media is available for longevity. Likely entire libraries of books. Otherwise you'd need to store and maintain those entire libraries everywhere prior to the event, which would be harder to accomplish and keep safe.

Re: Solar storm risk and EMP attacks

#63

Post by codingdave »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #49
codingdave wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must have missed the "unguarded remote" part of the article. I read that there are 30 critical sites, any 9 of which would be a problem if taken out. To me, this sounds standard risk management. It sounds like a clear picture that it falls in the "Low Likelihood / High Impact" quadrant, though, which is the toughest quadrant to address, because you get into exactly the kinds of questions you alluded to - unlikely,…

The US military budget is nearly $700bn annually, and NASA's budget is $22.6bn. For the US government, $300M is pocket money. It's unbelievably negligent not to spend a relatively tiny sum which could avoid total collapse. It's like owning a very grand house and not paying a few hundred dollars for insurance.

The US government is operating at a deficit. And budgets are assigned to specific departments, who still try to fit all their programs within it.

A better analogy might be that we all live in a very grand house, but can't afford the mortgage. Sure. a family meeting could certainly find the money in a drawer somewhere. But until we have that meeting, everyone is just sitting in their room doing their own thing.

Re: Solar storm risk and EMP attacks

#64

Post by stainforth »

codingdave wrote: post #63
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US military budget is nearly $700bn annually, and NASA's budget is $22.6bn. For the US government, $300M is pocket money. It's unbelievably negligent not to spend a relatively tiny sum which could avoid total collapse. It's like owning a very grand house and not paying a few hundred dollars for insurance.

The US government is operating at a deficit. And budgets are assigned to specific departments, who still try to fit all their programs within it. A better analogy might be that we all live in a very grand house, but can't afford the mortgage. Sure. a family meeting could certainly find the money in a drawer somewhere. But until we have that meeting, everyone is just sitting in their room doing their own thing.

This analogy is a fallacy that holds us back. MMT states that our nation is not a house.

Re: Solar storm risk and EMP attacks

#65

Post by alasdair_ »

throw0101a wrote: post #3
daenz wrote: post #2

This reminds me, I've been toying with the idea of starting a github repository for survival and rebuilding society if a major SHTF scenario occurred. It would be crowdsourced and bake-able into an ebook for offline reading. Anybody interested in it as a "Show HN" post?

> […] repository for survival and rebuilding society if a major SHTF scenario occurred. There's a book (ISBN 978-0143127048): > Maybe it was a viral pandemic, or an asteroid strike, or perhaps nuclear war. Whatever the cause, the world as we know it has ended and you and the other survivors must start again. What key knowledge would you need to start rebuilding civilisation from scratch? > Once you’ve scavenged what…

Protip: order the paper version. I suspect having a working, charged Kindle may be difficult in the event the book is actually required.

Re: Solar storm risk and EMP attacks

#66

Post by m463 »

jnurmine wrote: post #33
m463 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But although github is centralized, git is distributed. and tcp/ip was literally built for nuclear war. This would be like tech prepper paradise. We could sync our tech trees and rebuild!

Just because TCP/IP was made to be robust enough to survive holes in the network topology caused by nuclear bomb devastation, it doesn't really mean that TCP/IP networks would magically keep on working after a large-scale nuclear war. I mean, during a nuclear war, the networks would only need to stay working until a counterattack could be coordinated and launched. After that point, the devastation would be so large p…

it would be interesting to find out just how much would survive.

ok, maybe not "find out" but... speculate?

Cellular networks have been resilient because they're possibly distributed mesh networks. I'm pretty sure the carriers have some gurus who officially or unofficially have figured out what happens.

DSL/cable type networks might be different.

I'm pretty sure dns and similar systems are widely distributed.

I wonder if a proper analogy might be the roadways. Even though one road or freeway might be blocked, people will be able to drive around and (maybe) get through. Who knows, maybe there are some "blocked mountain crossing" equivalents with the internet.

On a personal level, a laptop, a cloned git repository and a solar panel. :)

Re: Solar storm risk and EMP attacks

#67

Post by throw0101a »

messe wrote: post #44
throw0101a wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> […] repository for survival and rebuilding society if a major SHTF scenario occurred. There's a book (ISBN 978-0143127048): > Maybe it was a viral pandemic, or an asteroid strike, or perhaps nuclear war. Whatever the cause, the world as we know it has ended and you and the other survivors must start again. What key knowledge would you need to start rebuilding civilisation from scratch? > Once you’ve scavenged what…

> get metal out of rocks? I'd imagine that prioritising getting metal out of old components would be a more efficient process. It's my understanding that there aren't many easily accessible metal deposits left, as there would have been thousands of years ago.

> I'd imagine that prioritising getting metal out of old components would be a more efficient process.

Covered in the book: recycle first, especially early in the post-collapse world when there may be a lot of stuff just sitting around.

Re: Solar storm risk and EMP attacks

#68

Post by Seb-C »

So I am not an expert in this field, and actually I only have a vague idea in what a transformer does, but is there a reason to believe this would not be repairable? We are not talking about a usual bomb, so most of the materials and infrastructure would still be there. It would not make any sense to build a new one instead of repairing or replacing the damaged parts.

Re: Solar storm risk and EMP attacks

#69

Post by mrlonglong »

noir_lord wrote: post #42
drtillberg wrote: post #34

I interpreted the report as: "There are 9 unguarded remote sites which, if damaged maliciously or accidentally, would lead to complete collapse of the U.S. as a nation." And then experts focus on 2 unlikely generalized scenarios of an area EMP effect incidentally affecting the sites. As for the more obvious catastrophe of someone specifically targeting the locations? I guess that's being discussed separately?[1] [1]…

It surprises me that physical attacks against infrastructure haven't been wider then they have.

People have tried to destroy mobile phone masts in the mistaken (and deluded) belief that they cause Corona virus. Never under estimate people's stupidity.
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