If there was a global EMP

[Firehorse]

Answer in the poll what you think would happen, or post your ideas below.

[iAdam]

In before poll.

By EMP you mean that thing in MW2, then obviously electrics will be down and stuff and generally what happens in game.

[Firehorse]

In before poll.

By EMP you mean that thing in MW2, then obviously electrics will be down and stuff and generally what happens in game.

Electro Magnetic Pulse isn't just a concept in a game you know. If all electricals were rendered useless then what would happen is basically the question. (I'm talking about permanently made useless)

[iAdam]

Fair enough then.

People would have to cope for the time being until we have enough time to make new ones.

[marriott0.01]

I don't think Society would be able to cope I just watched 24 when an EMP hit, and it took down all of New York's defence system so this would mean it'd be easier for people to attack us as we wouldn't have a defence system...

[Firehorse]

The reason I chose that society would break down is because the majority of things are computerised: medical records, bank records/security, even passports now use computer chips. Everything would stop moving because cars, boats and planes all need electricity.

[JackBuddy]

Depends where you are when it happens. Countries like Japan have a very high population density and virtually no natural resources whatsoever. It wouldn't be so hard to be self sufficient in a country like Brazil or areas in Central Europe where densities aren't quite as high and there are natural resources.

[triston220]

Some people wouldn't be able to cope, others would adapt very quickly.

[Jordy]

Hmm well transportation would be near enough impossible. There would be no aeroplanes, ships, cars or trains to move around. They all take many years to manufacture and without an assembly line it would be virtually impossible. I'm afraid our society could not function with horse + carriage.

Edit: I think without transportation we would probably all starve too, before transportation, people generally ate goods such as bread, meat, fish and vegetables. We now eat meats and fish from all over the world and our bread is made in various locations in the UK now rather than in windmills. We import and manufacture a ridiculous amount of food which would all be gone. At the very least there would have to be harsh rationing.

[dirrty]

society would break down without a doubt. we rely on technology so much, that everyone would struggle so much (initially anyway).

[GommeInc]

Meh, we've got an old tractor here we could use as transport, it doesn't rely on too many electrics, although igniting the engine would be the only difficulty.

At first people will act as if a wide-spread powercut has happened (powercut as in - "Oh, the power is gone... Find the torches!"), but panic may set in after a couple of hours when they realse they can't communicate with many people, or go anywhere.

[JackBuddy]

Hmm well transportation would be near enough impossible. There would be no aeroplanes, ships, cars or trains to move around. They all take many years to manufacture and without an assembly line it would be virtually impossible. I'm afraid our society could not function with horse + carriage.

Edit: I think without transportation we would probably all starve too, before transportation, people generally ate goods such as bread, meat, fish and vegetables. We now eat meats and fish from all over the world and our bread is made in various locations in the UK now rather than in windmills. We import and manufacture a ridiculous amount of food which would all be gone. At the very least there would have to be harsh rationing.
There were ships 150 years ago. People wouldn't automatically starve. People would just have go back to basics.

[AlexOC]

It would be mayhem!

[Bewilcorp]

All the little kiddies won't be able to go on habbo! This will cause suicide attempts and possibly life threatening injuries. I just don't want to think about it any more.

[GommeInc]

What you must all remember is that we won't actually know the whole world is completely techless - without technology, we cannot communicate with the rest of the world, unless people start letting helium filled balloons or birds off with notes attached - we'd be clueless. We would assume it's only local, until we start meeting people who have traveled great distances turning up, but even then the chances are unlikely and the information would have to rely on word of mouth.

Also, food would be scarce - vegetables rely on greenhouses which keep the food going (and growing), plus apples are frozen or chilled, and rely on technology to remove fast amounts of oxygen in special cabinets (so not to make them go mouldy) and so forth. Heck, going down to Tescos would be impossible, each shop wouldn't be able to charge you for food because they would have to rely on what the price labels say on the shelf (as most supermarkets rely on eletronic databases, rather than a big ol' book).

Interesting though :P

[dbgtz]

it would be treated as the end of the world imo, so rioting and stuff. Btw if this happened, do stuff which already has electricity charged into it work? Or batteries?

[Seatherny]

Everyone will go mental. Chaos everywhere. Supermarkets will be in trouble. Everything will be.

[Firehorse]

it would be treated as the end of the world imo, so rioting and stuff. Btw if this happened, do stuff which already has electricity charged into it work? Or batteries?

could find out by putting a battery next to a super strong electromagnet and see what happens.

A global EMP would probably be strong enough to shift the magnetic poles though so it wouldn't be likely, and compasses wouldn't work either if that happened.


I think the LEDCs (Lesser Economically Developed Countries) would be hit less hard, because they mostly use good old pen and paper for record keeping and rely on their own produce a lot more.

A potential cause of a global EMP could be the collision of collossal-sized magnetically charged asteroids close to our solar system, sending out a pulse which not only would engulf the earth but we would have no power against it.

[AlexOC]

I can't imagine how i would survive..

My red dot and thermal would go down, so i would have to revert to iron sight. Also as a man who relies solely on his heartbeat sensor i would be in very big trouble.

[dbgtz]

Nice COD reference there :P How are you using both?

[Firehorse]

How are you using both?

Bling: Modified :P

[ItsDave]

Everythings of a digital age now so society would be screwed. "Oh goodness, I can't post that the world has got EMP'd on Facebook!" I can pretty much imagine that one. What a stupid world we live in.

[Jordy]

There were ships 150 years ago. People wouldn't automatically starve. People would just have go back to basics.While that is true, I very much doubt there are many still around today and sadly ship building is a very long process. It would also be difficult seeing as they would run on coal and we import the vast majority of our coal from China. We would need to begin mining again in the UK and there isn't that much accessible without the use of electricity. Pretty much the whole National Grid would need relaying too I imagine, we'd soon run out of gas too.

At the very least there would be some starvation caused by a EMP and anarchy I think, I suspect the people who farmed and fished would be the one's who survive and it'd take about 50 years to get back to where we currently are.

[Recursion]

While that is true, I very much doubt there are many still around today and sadly ship building is a very long process. It would also be difficult seeing as they would run on coal and we import the vast majority of our coal from China. We would need to begin mining again in the UK and there isn't that much accessible without the use of electricity. Pretty much the whole National Grid would need relaying too I imagine, we'd soon run out of gas too.

At the very least there would be some starvation caused by a EMP and anarchy I think, I suspect the people who farmed and fished would be the one's who survive and it'd take about 50 years to get back to where we currently are.

I disagree, way way more than 50 years.

[JackBuddy]

While that is true, I very much doubt there are many still around today and sadly ship building is a very long process. It would also be difficult seeing as they would run on coal and we import the vast majority of our coal from China. We would need to begin mining again in the UK and there isn't that much accessible without the use of electricity. Pretty much the whole National Grid would need relaying too I imagine, we'd soon run out of gas too.

At the very least there would be some starvation caused by a EMP and anarchy I think, I suspect the people who farmed and fished would be the one's who survive and it'd take about 50 years to get back to where we currently are.
Humans have been living for hundreds of thousands of years and technical advances using electricity have only really come about during the past 100 years. Ships can move without fuel, and building them doensn't have to be a lengthy process. Coal isn't really needed anyway so mining for it would be irrelevant.

[Firehorse]

Humans have been living for hundreds of thousands of years and technical advances using electricity have only really come about during the past 100 years. Ships can move without fuel, and building them doensn't have to be a lengthy process. Coal isn't really needed anyway so mining for it would be irrelevant.

Yes but there have been many more advancements than that. We didn't rely on super sized container ships for our food, the world's population was 6x less aswell no more than 60 years ago.

Also there aren't ships around for us to readily use with sails apart from holiday yachts. Also building a ship is a long and painful process because you wouldn't exactly have any elecrical saws to cut the wood or anything, it would even need to be designed with paperwork too.

[cocaine]

society will break down then after a few years we would learn to function without it.

[PaulMacC]

We've been EMP'd our electronics are offline.
Tactical Nuke inbound!

That is what will happen, the Nuke will somehow fire without electronics.

[Tomm]

Most military grade electronics are resistant to EMP devices :P


We've been EMP'd our electronics are offline.
Tactical Nuke inbound!

That is what will happen, the Nuke will somehow fire without electronics.

[Firehorse]

Most military grade electronics are resistant to EMP devices :P

not if it was one on a globally strong scale caused by magnetically charged super sized asteroids colliding somewhere in space causing an electro-magnetic boom.

[AlexOC]

not if it was one on a globally strong scale caused by magnetically charged super sized asteroids colliding somewhere in space causing an electro-magnetic boom.

yeh too right!

[Wig44.]

Think of all the deaths in hospitals etc.

[Tenbeta]

not if it was one on a globally strong scale caused by magnetically charged super sized asteroids colliding somewhere in space causing an electro-magnetic boom.

That's just ridiculous.

[Firehorse]

That's just ridiculous.

or is it?

[GommeInc]

not if it was one on a globally strong scale caused by magnetically charged super sized asteroids colliding somewhere in space causing an electro-magnetic boom.
It's likely this would not happen. There's enough chance that the EMP from the asteroids would just go around the earth in a sort of "Faraday Cage" effect, where the EMP will follow the curve of the earth and go around the atmosphere, then out the otherside. Top Gear tested this a few years ago with cars and lightning, and there's a scientific chance the same would happen on a large scale between the earth and an EMP blast from outside space.

[Firehorse]

It's likely this would not happen. There's enough chance that the EMP from the asteroids would just go around the earth in a sort of "Faraday Cage" effect, where the EMP will follow the curve of the earth and go around the atmosphere, then out the otherside. Top Gear tested this a few years ago with cars and lightning, and there's a scientific chance the same would happen on a large scale between the earth and an EMP blast from outside space.

would sure knock down all the sattelites tho, no more sky tv or gps!

[herrfishhead]

Solar flares could easily have the same effect as EMP's.

[sammy]

The society would just plummet ;)!