For the past 200 years at least most people's existence has gradually become dependent on longer, complex and fragile supply chains. The recent experience in P

For the past 200 years at least most people's existence has gradually become dependent on longer, complex and fragile supply chains. The recent experience in Puerto Rico is a pretty stark example of what can happen when this complex infrastructure breaks down. Food security, power security, medical security and transportation security can all disappear in pretty short order. Much of the speculation regarding the human near future presumes this trend will continue but perhaps it's about to reverse. In particular, solar panels and battery powered machines (with storage) might reduce this supply "separation anxiety" quite a lot. Producing and using electric power locally will clearly negate the long fossil fuel and electric transmission infrastructures. Electric machines (including cars, planes etc) are also much more reliable and require much less maintenance than their internal combustion cousins. So imagine you're in your home and hurricane Maria strikes but once it's gone you feel confident your fridge, car, plane (vtol), water pump and internet will continue to work for at least six months without problem. It's much different daily context that what almost everyone lives with these days, excepting those who live on sailboats.