Preparing for a Life Without Technology | | By Andy Snyder, Founder | | | | | | | | | Rooster's Crow | | | The biggest threat to our digital lives may not be manmade. It may come from the stars. Well-respected researchers say the chances of a major solar storm within the next decade are as high as 12%. If it happens, we'll be pushed back to the analog world in an instant. It will be big trouble. For a wake-up call that's stronger than any morning cup of coffee, learn how woefully unprepared we are by reading the Wall Street Journal article here. | | | |
Rooster's Crow The biggest threat to our digital lives may not be manmade. It may come from the stars. Well-respected researchers say the chances of a major solar storm within the next decade are as high as 12%. If it happens, we'll be pushed back to the analog world in an instant. It will be big trouble. For a wake-up call that's stronger than any morning cup of coffee, learn how woefully unprepared we are by reading the Wall Street Journal article here. Oh what little control we have. For decades, humans have grown more and more connected. It's hailed as a grand step forward for mankind. And yet, with each new development, our autonomy erodes like a sand castle being licked away by the incoming tide.
It's been said that the internet is the resource of the century. We agree. It's changed the world and its economy.
But with progress comes new worries - big worries in this case.
What has our attention this week is an innocent move by cellphone maker Samsung. It goofed with its latest phone. The new device tends to start fires - a cool feature for a phone if it were on demand and didn't spark up at the worst of times.
Samsung has recalled all of the phones. Folks will get their money back or get a fix. But, alas, some folks just don't care. They want their oh-so-smart phone and its oh-so-dumb fire-starting feature.
The company's lawyers won't stand for it, so they're fighting back.
Reverse Alchemy
Starting next week, Samsung will send a nefarious signal to its phones. The signal will reprogram the software that runs the device. Once downloaded, the phone will no longer be able to charge. It will be an inoperable chunk of metal and plastic.
Once the battery dies... that's it. No more phone... no more fires.
From glitter and gold to just plain litter.
The news should be a scary reminder for all the sheep in the herd that aren't paying attention. Sure, you own the phone, but somebody else owns the technology.
With just a bit of code flying through the air, that device you rely on could instantly be about as useful as a rock in your pocket.
But here's the deal, folks. It doesn't stop with your phone.
At the risk of sounding like I may have slipped from my rocker, I'll tell you that almost all of the connected technology we rely on is at risk.
The resource of the century could go bust with the flip of a switch.
The internet? Gone with a whim.
The power to your house? It's probably the most vulnerable these days.
Your landline? The day will come when the dial tone will disappear.
Your car? Oh my... hackers infamously scared the world last year when they turned off a Jeep while a reporter was driving it. They put bad music on the radio and made their faces appear on the in-dash screen... as they hacked their way through every system in the car. Scary.
Disconnected
Going back to your cellphone... There's a protocol you should be aware of.
It's dubbed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 303. It allows Washington or its delegates to shut down cell service anytime they deem it necessary.
The idea has its merits. It could save lives as cellphone-triggered IEDs come to the States. And it can ensure bad guys can't use our networks to launch and maintain an attack.
But power tends to corrupt. And already, the folks enabled by SOP 303 have gone too far.
In 2011, San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit took some serious heat after it shut down cell service at several of its stations in a half-witted attempt to quell a growing group of protestors. The group was using social media on their phones to quickly grow their ranks. But the folks on the receiving end of the protest didn't like it, so they flipped a switch.
No more phones.
Free speech advocates - you're reading a letter from one of them - argue SOP 303 crosses some serious borders and blurs plenty more. But that's well beyond our point today.
Instead, our intent is to shake you a bit and wake you up. You must realize that you may someday go to bed in a digital world and wake up in an analog one.
It wouldn't take something crazy like an EMP or terroristic event. It could be localized social unrest. It could be a fight over money. Or, dare we say it, it could be a politician who doesn't like what we're saying.
You must be prepared for the death of the digital world. You don't have to go nuts and escape modern luxuries. But you must be ready for a world without them.
This digital resource is new to us. We must remember life without it.
How would you communicate? How would you earn a living? How would you access your money?
Those questions sound far-fetched. They're not ideas we've had to ponder until the last decade or so. But their importance is growing by the day.
If your $600 phone can be destroyed with the push of a button, we naturally ask ourselves... what's next?
We wish we knew.
Be well,
Andy | | | | | |
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Keep a civil tongue.