TECH 393 Technology in World Civilization
3/15/2021
Project 4
Try to imagine an event where an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) struck the world. The
world economy would collapse, towns would flood, modern-day currencies would no longer be a
necessity and bartering would become the standard. Millions of people would die due to unrest,
famine, and untreated health-related problems. Is our government prepared for this event? I
believe the best way to be prepared for an event would be to look back in history at a time where
something like this occurred, such as the Irish Potato Famine which led to the death of millions
due to the shortage of food and the ignorance of their government. The main thing we can take
away from this event is that a lack of preparation and the ignorance of those in charge can make
something like this catastrophic event significantly worse.
So, what could happen if an EMP were to hit the world leading to all electronics being
effectively destroyed? How can we relate this hypothetical event to the Irish Potato famine?
Finally, what lessons can we learn from this event? These are questions that we will seek to
answer within this paper.
An Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) is an explosion of electromagnetic energy, which
destroys everything connected through electricity within the vicinity of the burst. Essentially all
electronics are short-circuited and become useless. If this were to happen in the modern age, the
world infrastructure would collapse, society as we know it would inevitably change without the
electronically powered technologies that we use today. Without the electronics that use
processors being usable, banks would no longer be accessible leading to people not being able to
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use their money to buy things. The price of food, water, and other necessities would sky-rocket
with the limited supply, leading to people replacing currencies with bartering through said
necessities.
Another result of an EMP would be the lack of transportation. Planes, trains, modern
cars, and most methods of travel would become unusable as they are all powered through
processors. This would lead to older models of cars that aren’t operated through processors being
in high-demand. Modern forms of communication would be no longer applicable due to
networks being offline, leading to people being unable to have contact with other places around
the country. With uncertainty from their government due to lack of communication, people will
become desperate for the safety of their families, leading to looting for necessities, rioting, and
the laws which govern our way of life will no longer matter to those starving and irrational.
Overall, depending on government response, the way of life as we know it would change
dramatically. Necessities would be limited and in high-demand, the world economy would
collapse, our ability to travel would no longer be accessible, and all modern forms of
communication would shut down.
The Irish Potato Famine happened in 1845 and was caused by a fungus that destroyed
around half of the potato supply in Ireland. At first thought, you might think “it’s just potatoes,
what’s the worst that can happen?” But the devastation that this fungus caused was beyond
belief, millions of men, women, and children died from this famine and about a million more
were forced to relocate from Ireland (Brittania, 1). With the lack of potatoes, there was a huge
demand for food alternatives, which led to the English government removing tariffs on grain
which essentially sky-rocketed the prices on foods that were made by grain. Oddly enough, while
there was a famine going on in Ireland, exports of foods did not lessen. While the English
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government did offer jobs for farmers that encountered unemployment, the government
continued to be complicit and export food while their people starved.
Our dependence on computer technology today is immense. Without the processors that
control our computing technologies, banks would shutdown, industrial agriculture would no
longer be usable leading to food being heavily limited and not transportable. The Irish people
during the potato famine were heavily dependent on their potatoes. The fungus which wrecked a
large percentage of their crops caused the Irish people to be without their main source of
nutrition. The dependence on potatoes in relation to our dependence on technology today is
eerily similar. The dependence on potatoes back then was crucial to the food production industry,
not only for their exporting needs but in their need to use potatoes as a vital food product. This
can easily be related to today, where our dependence on technology is completely vital in the
modern age not only from the entertainment standpoint, but also for our need for innovation,
food and water, employment, and a stable economy.
We can relate this event of the Potato Famine with the hypothetical event of an EMP
striking our world. If the world government were to respond in the way that the English
government did, I believe this catastrophe would lead to the collapse of society as we know it.
The English government ignored the needs of many for monetary growth, leading to millions of
people being unnecessarily killed in the process.
I believe the largest lesson we can draw from comparing these two examples would be to
learn from history. Plan ahead, we need more substitutes and a backup plan for these
technologies. We need a more localized self-sufficient energy grid that does not rely on
electricity to operate. One thing we can learn from the past is the ignorance of man ultimately
leads to the downfall of society in all aspects. We ultimately are not prepared for the shutdown of
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all technologies and I believe the only way we could be ready would be for all individuals to
prepare themselves if this were to take place. Doomsday preparation does seem like an irrational
thing to do, but I believe that those who do prepare if this were to take place will have a
significantly higher chance at survival.
If there is anything to be said about the event which could happen, it would be that we are
not prepared for it. We are very dependent on these technologies which power our world through
processors. If they were to suddenly shut down, I believe we would see a total collapse of society
on all levels, similar to that of the Irish Potato Famine. I think we can say that the English
government depended too much on their potato crops from Ireland, if they were to have
diversified their crops this event would have not been as catastrophic. We can learn from this in a
way, I believe we need to diversify our forms of production, create backup sectors that don’t
depend on modern technology.
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1) "Great Famine | Definition, History, Causes, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2021,
https://www.britannica.com/event/Great-Famine-Irish-history.
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