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Thought Experiment #2

Class: Imagined
Subject: High altitude nuclear generated electromagnetic pulse (EMP)
Note: Not in the press but China, Russia, and North Korea have been working to develop their EMP weaponry for a long period of time
Value: The responsibility for heightened awareness of all risks that could affect you and your family

The world stage continues to heat up. It is August, 2025 and Russia has continued to escalate its war with the Ukraine to the point that it has officially entered into hostilities with specific NATO allies that it has determined have caused it significant harm through the Ukrainian proxy war. China has finally made its move to create a two-front threat to the US by blockading the Taiwan Strait but not the Philippine Sea side of the island. Iran has taken the opportunity to fully ally itself with Russia through weapons exchanges to further threaten the middle eastern bloc, especially Saudi Arabia and the gulf region states. North Korea has made its move to apply serious threats to South Korea and Japan that it could activate at any time. The US is on full alert but is not considering itself vulnerable by what is known. Although the markets are extremely stressed and inflation continues to run rampant, US citizens continue to take care of their day-to-day business. Until …

On the morning of August 25, 2025, you are in your office having a cup of coffee. The lights in your office and the AC suddenly stop working. You look out of your window to see that the power is out across the city, as far as you can see. Must be a power outage. You step out of your office to find everyone walking around. Everyone is confused. No one knows what the hell is going on. Power is out so you cannot turn on the news in the break-room. You attempt to make a cell phone call to your home – nothing. Your cell phone does not work. You go back to your desk and turn on your portable laptop which should come on because it is battery driven – not even a blue screen. You go down to the garage to your EV to drive home only to find that your car starts but it is undriveable because none of the internal computer functions that work everything in the EV are operable. You walk across the street to the bank where your fishing buddy works only to be told that not only is the power out but the bank has no connectivity to any of its digital services. You look out the bank window to see people banging on the ATM thinking that a hard slam will deliver them some cash. No cash being delivered.

All electronic grids are down. All infrastructure has stopped working. All digital services, devices, and communication equipment are dead. People seem to be fine but are entering the mode of extreme panic. You exit the bank and notice National Guard vehicles coming down the street. You stop the lead vehicle and ask the Lieutenant what is going on. You find out that all of the state within a hundred miles or so around you it has been HIT BY A HIGH ALTITUDE NUCLEAR GENERATED ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE. Fired by who? No way to find out because it really doesn’t matter. You and your family have been stripped of the digital backbone of your existence.You can’t get a hold of your family and they can’t get a hold of you. Your family would have never thought this set of circumstances to be possible. You have $67.00 in your wallet. You head back to the bank but they refuse you cash because they have no digital records of your account balances. You rethink your cancelling your paper account statements from the bank. You go to your buddy’s office for a loan but he is long gone. ATMs no longer work. Your credit cards are worthless. Your EV is undriveable. No one has any answers.

 

  • WHAT DO YOU DO?

  • WHAT WOULD YOU EXPECT YOUR FAMILY TO DO SINCE YOU HAD NOT PLANNED FOR AN EMERGENCY OF THIS NATURE?

  • WHAT WOULD YOU USE TO BUY ANYTHING ASIDE FROM THE $67.00 IN YOUR WALLET? SHOULD YOU CONSIDER THEFT AS ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR?

  • SHOULD YOU CONSIDER FINDING SOME SORT OF WEAPON FOR PROTECTION?

  • WOULD IT BE REASONABLE FOR PEOPLE TO BE PREPARED FOR SUCH AN EVENT SEEING AS THE GOVERNMENT HAS NOT WARNED THAT SUCH AN EVENT COULD HAPPEN?

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