Catacomb Resident Blog

In Such Times

12 September 2022

A reader question comes regarding the power grid. There are multiple threats. First, it is well established that there is no way to control how our US power grid works without using networked computers, and that control system is inherently vulnerable to hackers. It won't work any other way. It's not as if we can't make it more secure, but the more secure we make it, the more likely those running the system can't do their jobs. It's just human nature that specializing in one thing makes you less competent in other things. The bane of every network technician is the networking incompetence of everyone using the network. And the cellphone generation is worse than ever.

But there are other threats. With the economy collapsing, the money it takes to run our power grid will not be there in sufficient quantity to keep electricity so easily available. We are overdue for a Carrington Event, which will blow up a lot of transformers when it hits. And if those things don't destroy it soon, it will all come apart when we face the micro-nova. Either way, it will take us all back to a previous century when electrical power was quite rare in daily life. Honestly folks, it wasn't that long ago. There are people still alive who lived without electricity in their home. I've spent time in primitive houses like that. Try visiting some remote villages in Alaska.

There is nothing I can do on this blog to give you the experience you need. Primitive camping is a decent way of tasting what it's like to do everything without electrical power. All the more so if you hiked or biked to get there and carried it all with you. And it's a good place to start to have some camping gear and have used it. The biggest issue right away will be cooking food. Unless you have done that a time or two on open flames, it can be a shock. Your cuisine will likely change significantly.

Indeed, since refrigeration will likely disappear altogether, you'll have to focus on foods that can keep at ambient temperatures. Worst of all, you'll need to have some of that food on hand already, since the loss of power will affect everyone and everything around you. Oh, and don't forget, your debit card won't work any more, and all your money at the bank will be inaccessible. Your instant communications will cease.

Don't start trying to think about alternative ways to get those things; think about life without them. Think about all the people around you who may be wholly incapable of functioning without a cellphone or fast food. If you have done anything at all to prepare, you'll have to fight them off when they find out you aren't starving.

On the grounds of just an economic collapse alone, this is the sort of thing you should have already prayed about. It's not just food and shelter, but the defense of all that. An awful lot of people are not going to adapt to the necessary social expectations that such a change would demand. Things are going to get very hard very soon.

Again, this is not the kind of thing where you should try to imagine your current routine without electricity. It's much more catastrophic than that. Your whole world will be turned upside down. There is very little economic activity that can carry out without electricity. If you can just get a little of what it might be like into your head, you stand a better chance of not panicking when anything at all happens to disrupt daily life where you live.

Our God shall supply all our need, but you shouldn't fling a challenge in His face by refusing to seek His face about it before tribulation comes. We are in such times.


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