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Don't trust me - but I would wager a bet that the US government already has such infrastructure. We trust them with the power to detonate 1,000's of thermonucle
by zoomzoom 16y ago
Don't trust me - but I would wager a bet that the US government already has such infrastructure. We trust them with the power to detonate 1,000's of thermonuclear warheads or study Ebola virus for weapnization at USAMRID - the internet kill switch is horrible, but it is nowhere near the top of my list.
- btilly 16y agoOne nuclear bomb, set off at the right location and altitude, could wipe out the Internet and most consumer electronics for most of the continental USA. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse. And this is with no direct physical injury.
- tomhenderson 16y agoWhen all you have is a hammer...
- metageek 16y agoShutting down all the cars, planes, and pacemakers in the US would mean lots of physical injury.
- mindcrime 16y agoInterestingly enough, F. Paul Wilson used something along those lines as a big part of the plot of his latest novel Fatal Error. The "bad guys" need to take down the Internet as part of the story, and he lays out a pretty elaborate scheme that they use to do it. http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Error-Repairman-Jack-Wilson/dp/076532282X http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Error-Repairman-Jack-Wilson/dp/0... Unfortunately this is the most recent of a pretty long series, so it probably would't be much fun to read unless you had read the series up to this point. But if anyone wants an interesting fictional scenario where the 'Net is knocked entirely (or almost entirely) offline, there ya go...