Timeline for Effects of erasing 90% data on humanity
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 16, 2023 at 17:45 | comment | added | Jason C | I'd imagine the most long-lasting (but eventually recoverable) chaos would be direct economic damage due to e.g. stock exchanges and electronic funds being wiped clean. Also supply chain / production issues from shipment data and employee information loss. There'd probably be an interesting crime (and terrorist) wave too due to reduced ability to verify peoples' identification. GPS loss might take a while to recover from all across the board, as well. There are massive relatively hidden logistical backbones that make the world work that we take for granted, 90% disruption would be rough. | |
| Nov 4, 2015 at 14:37 | vote | accept | Pavel Janicek | ||
| Oct 14, 2015 at 18:31 | comment | added | KeithS | And, this is all assuming no yahoo in command of a nuclear arsenal has implemented a "fail-deadly" system that launches the nukes in the event the chain of command is presumed destroyed by loss of contact. There is public knowledge of plans for such systems by the Russian nuclear command, and really all it takes is one ICBM launch and all the nuclear powers will launch what they have at whomever they can in mutual retaliation. | |
| Oct 14, 2015 at 18:27 | comment | added | KeithS | I honestly think that if such a thing occurred in the real world, it would bring society to its knees; within 24 hours of such an attack you'd have endemic looting in major cities for basic necessities like food, which nobody would be able to buy because they'd have no proof of their bank balance and no way to convert that number into cash or anything else of material value. Once that starts happening there's really no stopping it. | |
| Oct 14, 2015 at 18:23 | comment | added | KeithS | I think the answer, while feasible, underestimates the damage that the disruption to the status quo will produce. You're talking about reconstructing 40 years' worth of the Information Age from surviving paper documents in the span of a few months, which I would give as the conservative estimate to get even a single computer functional again (keeping in mind that the attack would likely bring down basic infrastructure as well; the electrical and traffic grids are highly computerized, so you'd be running the first computers from generators using fuel pumped manually from gas stations. | |
| Oct 13, 2015 at 15:53 | comment | added | Cort Ammon | +1 Mind you, I would not enjoy having this done to my civilization moments before an attack, but its the attack that will do the damage. It would not take long at all to bootstrap the world. | |
| Oct 12, 2015 at 7:25 | review | First posts | |||
| Oct 12, 2015 at 7:38 | |||||
| Oct 12, 2015 at 7:19 | history | answered | Saitir | CC BY-SA 3.0 |