In the event of a mass extinction event...

J

jdomaha

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Oct 6, 2007
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how long would the truly important things keep running?

By that, I mean electricity and the internet.

I'm guessing that electricity, in small amounts, could be taken care of by solar power, generators, etc.

But if there was, suddenly, nobody around to refill the gas tanks and flip the switches, does anyone have any kind of timeline for how long the internet would stay available?
 


the internet is powered by acai berries now bro its not 2008 your so 2000 and late
 
I have a software that creates the internets.

I have a power grid in my backyard for such an event. Seeing how I work at home and jack my schlong all day, I have conveniently hooked up my power grid to my fleshlight.

Fuck being with out electricity, A/C and the internet - Im gonna fuck my way through it.
 
There's really only two natural known plausible extinction events. There are more of course but we know of two that have happened.

So, not counting nuclear war, etc, that leaves meteor strike and super volcano.

Either of those and I'd give the internet somewhere between 2 seconds and 10 minutes. And everyone would be googling "how to survive meteor strike".
 
Maybe a week.

This series assumes all people are gone, but infrastructure still intact, like a very fast-acting virus:

Life After People — History.com TV Episodes, Schedule, & Video

If I remember, the lynchpin for the power grid in the western U.S. is the Hoover Dam, which might stay running for a few days unattended.

Also, coal plants would go out quickly when they run out of fuel, nuclear plants would go a bit longer, till they melted down.
 
Yeah I've seen an episode of Life After People, the one with Rio and the Crystal Cathedral. I'm mostly interested in how the internet would fare in such an instance. Like how independent are the main hubs and so on?

The impact of the lack of people will be noticed right away, as most power grids shut down around the planet. The one holdout: Hoover Dam, whose hydro power lights up the American Southwest. Scientists say the dam can continue to operate on its own for months, maybe years, keeping the Vegas Strip alight. Only the eventual accumulation of quagga mussels, an invasive species, in the cooling pipes of the power plant--currently being cleaned by humans--will shut down the dam.
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How long the power stays on is going to depend on the geographical location then. I know we have nuke plants here in Nebraska...would they actually melt down or just shut down if left unattended?
 
Like when most things happen, people can freak the fuck out.

When there are gas shortages people line up for days and there literally is no gas to buy within 24 hours of a problem.

When Michael Jackson died he took out parts of the internet like Twitter with people worried about some freak they never talked to.

If it was truly an event close to home I think the Internet would effectively break and some routers and gateways would stop working making it even worse.

If you are really worried about this, store some can goods, water, and buy some books. Cause electricity and the net would go down hard.
 
Sharksfan said:
There's really only two natural known plausible extinction events. There are more of course but we know of two that have happened.

So, not counting nuclear war, etc, that leaves meteor strike and super volcano.

Either of those and I'd give the internet somewhere between 2 seconds and 10 minutes. And everyone would be googling "how to survive meteor strike".
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You left out one of the BIGGEST threats to man kind. Gamma Ray Burst. If one were to happen in the Milky Way, and was pointed in our direction, it would hammer us with a blast of radiation, near the speed of light, that would blow our ozone layer completely away and basically we'd all be fried by UV radiation.

This is probably less likely than the asteroid or sup volcano, but it could take us down to Chinatown one day.

That being said, for it to really kick our ass, it would have to happen at such a near range that it would be on us before we knew it happened...so I don't believe the electric grid or internet is going to stand a chance. And trying to jump online to check your stats is probably going to be the least of your worries at that point.
 
efeezy said:
You left out one of the BIGGEST threats to man kind. Gamma Ray Burst. If one were to happen in the Milky Way, and was pointed in our direction, it would hammer us with a blast of radiation, near the speed of light, that would blow our ozone layer completely away and basically we'd all be fried by UV radiation.
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Gamma radiation, actually, hence the name. And at the speed of light, not near. The UV stuff would just finish the job. But yeah, it would be curtains for all life on the surface of the Earth.
 
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