Electronic Apocalypse

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On September 1, 1859, the amateur astronomer Richard Carrington looked through the telescope in his private observatory and witnessed blotches of immensely bright white light erupting from the surface of the sun. Though they quickly vanished from view, these eruptions in space would soon prove more dangerous than could be foreseen.

That night, the sky burned with light enough to trick both animal and man into believing the sun had begun to rise. What many assumed to be the end of the world was actually the result of a massive solar flare with the energy of ten billion atomic bombs.

This flare caused the largest disturbance in Earth’s magnetic field in recorded history. This solar storm was later named the “Carrington Event.”

Telegraphs were a critical means of transmitting information in that particular fragment of time. Because of those solar flares, telegraph operations were completely halted world-wide. The energy expended into Earth’s atmosphere was so great that the equipment’s circuits were in danger of melting and would often pour out torrents of fire.

The transmissions of the surviving telegraphs were unable to be sent or received until after the magnetic effects of the second solar flare began to lessen.

Electronics then were few and far between; today, there are satellites, power grids, GPS, and much, much more. With each passing year, humanity becomes more dependent on magnetically vulnerable technology.

Take a moment to envision an incident similar to the Carrington Event in modern times.

Sewage systems would cease to work, as would heating and air conditioning, gas pumps, lights, the Internet, ATMs, and devices that rely on wall outlets. Perishable food and medication would decay. These would not be temporary damages; repairs would be underway for years to come.

This is not a fantastical “what if” scenario. In 2012, a solar storm directly comparable to the Carrington Event was narrowly avoided by our planet.

Though NASA has warning systems in place, satellites specifically designed to measure the strength and distance of solar storms, they will only afford humanity an hour warning at most to get comfortable with the idea that their world may cease to exist as they know it.

There is no defense.

The understanding that most of our infrastructure and technology could be rendered useless with so little notice is a humbling thought, is it not? That thought is made worse by the realization that many people would have little to no idea how to survive without them, and that governments worldwide would be unable to function on the scale necessary to look after the entirety of their nation’s population.

Mass theft and death would only be the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

This is your warning. What will you do with it?

Senses

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Taste, touch, sight, smell, and hearing; these are the five senses that allow a human body to interact with the world. While the loss of any one sense would serve as a hindrance to an individual’s everyday life in one way or another, our lives are arguably already hindered by the senses we have never had.

It is no secret that canines and felines have a superior sense of hearing than humans. Sound is simply vibrations in the air; the number of vibrations per second is measured in Hertz. While humans can only hear sounds at a maximum of 20,000 Hertz, canines can hear up to 35,000 or even 40,000 Hertz while felines can perceive up to 100,000 Hertz. Humans are obviously inferior in this respect.

African elephants have the strongest sense of smell in the animal kingdom. Chameleons have superior eyesight to most other animals. With their whiskers, cats and dogs both can feel something as minute as a change in air pressure (while humans cannot).

Though humanity has the upper hand on many other animals in regards to our sense of taste, Mother Nature created the catfish. Catfish have taste buds all over their body and can have as many as 75,000 more than the average human (with only about 100,000).

The point is this: the scale of the five senses held by humankind are dwarfed in one way or another by certain animals. We are unable to even comprehend what they can distinguish with their bodies, unable to fully comprehend just how much we are lacking compared to them.

And then, there are the senses we must completely live without.

Sharks have the ability to detect the electric fields generated by other organisms. In some sharks, this ability is so refined that they can find fish hiding under sand by the weak electric signals given off by the twitching of their muscles.

Imagine a constant buzzing in your mind as you walked a crowded hallway, growing stronger and softer in different sections of your head as certain people got closer and farther away. Even if you were completely blind, you would know – without a doubt – where each and every person was.

Many birds can detect Earth’s magnetic field, and it is hypothesized that they might be able to “see” this field as patterns of color and light overlaid on their visual surroundings. They primarily use this to stay on track during the migratory season.

Imagine a sort of compass implanted into your head. No matter where you were, you would always know which way was north.

Some insects, birds, mammals, and fish can see beyond the human color spectrum and into ultraviolet light. Humans can only see a limited band of UV light as a shades of whitish blue or purple.

Imagine colors beyond what you know becoming a part of your life. That pencil you thought was red is now a brilliant shade of something similar to green. The walls of your room aren’t white anymore, but a dull, soft orange-ish hue. You would never have seen either hue before.

Just because we are unable experience what other creatures can does not mean we cannot learn to appreciate just how different the world is for each and every organism. To look at something and recognize that there is more to it than what we perceive is awe-inspiring.

A child born blind cannot comprehend color. A species born “blind” to a sense are just as lost. But that should not stop either from desiring to know, to learn, more.