Our Digital Lives Disappear When The Power Goes Out

from the got-batteries? dept

Still more "consequences of the blackout" stories showing up everywhere. The NY Times is running a good one talking about how the blackout has made more people aware how much of our lives are now stored digitally. While previous blackouts have been annoying, this was the first major one that really cut off people from large parts of their lives - as many people discovered that they didn't really have any analog backups for a lot of the information they kept digitally. Of course, the good thing was that it made a lot of people take a breather from all their digital technology for a day, without any harmful side effects.
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  • identicon
    Foolz Gold, 18 Aug 2003 @ 2:50am

    lives dependent on technology

    Let the recent outage be a lesson to the morons who advocate moving info into the digital realm. If this doesn't make people realize the folly of a purely digital existence, then nothing will. Paper still rocks. Out with the ebook.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Oliver Wendell Jones, 18 Aug 2003 @ 8:03am

      Re: lives dependent on technology

      Let the recent outage be a lesson to the morons who advocate moving info into the digital realm.

      Ah, the last cry of the Luddite. Yes, let us all abandon our technology and return to chiseling information into stone tablets because a minute percentage of people (taking the entire globe into account) had to go without power for 24+ hours.

      I hear that in Toronto they are having exteme gasoline shortages, so perhaps we should all return to the day of the horse drawn carriage, or perhaps the foot-powered stone car from the Flintstones?

      I hear that in some countries they can't get enough medicines to cure the sick, perhaps we should give up using prescription medications and let everyone die out, only the strong will survive after all!

      I'm telling ya, this was a sign from God that He wants us to return to the simpler life and live free of the evil electron! There is a reason that electrons have a negative charge and the we try avoid things that are negative...

      It's all a communist conspiracy, I tell ya!

      End Amish Rant

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        LittleW0lf, 18 Aug 2003 @ 10:28am

        Re: lives dependent on technology

        I'm telling ya, this was a sign from God that He wants us to return to the simpler life and live free of the evil electron! There is a reason that electrons have a negative charge and the we try avoid things that are negative...

        I, for one, am awaiting the anticipated return of the almighty positron. I want to be the first to meet it and introduce myself, saying "Oh positron, please rid us of our evil electron ways, and be merciful on us for our chemical and physical reactions."

        Then maybe, just maybe, I can follow the white rabbit through the looking glass.

        link to this | view in chronology ]


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