DEF CON Safe Mode Hacking Conference - Short Story Contest - https://forum.defcon.org/node/231200

July 1, 2020, 17:06
\\\ Title : Emergency || Difficult is set to : Insane == (the Blackout), Location == (worldwide) ///
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I will tell you a story. Maybe you will be surprised about my opinion. Of course not about the thing that I'm gonna tell you a story, I think you expect that.
But "in the end".yes... "it doesnt't even matters".. let me explain what exactly I mean.

Our digital world has reached a state where we can not go back in the "running" state we are currently in. But if the world is going down, for which reason ever, things look different.
And it's extremely important that we know the reason, to answer this question correctly.

So.. I will expect and write about the >worst< thing that can happen, yes .. sadly but true, I think more worse than the COVID Virus can ever be, and in combination.. I don't want to lead you to insomnia..

It's called "the blackout". No power anymore, no technologies running anymore, or maybe only as long as our batteries last, or your generators or whatever we have.
Pure darkness. Pure silence. No communication anymore, in the way we are used to, for a long time. We have generations of humans who are not knowing any another way to communicate. At least in a secure, encrypted way. Will this be important anymore at a point like this? Short term, I think no. For a longer time period I hope maybe, but it will be important sadly.

Without power, electricity there is a big, big number of problems we will be facing, a short list of them:
No (of course not encrypted) communication after a few days.
No fuel for our cars.
No electric light, when it's dark, it's dark outside and inside. Now our mother earth is in control again.
No (most people surprise this) water out of the tap anymore.
Violence will break out, sadly.
Medication will be unavailable.
Money will, if you look at the long term effects, become worthless as money really is. Just worth.. nothing, a piece of paper, you can not eat it, or drink it.
When it gets cold, in winter (!) or fall, there will be only one way to keep you warm, wood and fire (maybe petroleum or bottled gas, but for how long?).

After a period of time, most experts in this field are estimate a maximum of 48 hours anarchism will break out. I think it will be much shorter after seeing that the people are already going crazy about the virus. I personally, and some experts too, estimate around maximum 24 hours, more likely 12 or less.

The surprising thing I meant before is: I personally think it doesn't matter which type of technology we have or how a "super hyper next gen whatever" it is or not. Because we need none of them to survive and live a life. You won't eat a smartphone or a GPS Tracker, a laptop or a super next gen anti virus software. But we need something to eat and still more important: something to drink (no, not whiskey sorry, but ouf course we can). And the will to survive, which is indepentend from our "higher" today's technology most of people believe they need. The most important technology, if we will call it this way is electricity. It's the layer 0 if we trasform this into the OSI Model (yes yes, layer 1 is processing electricity too).

Technology isn't so important. Important things are water, food, keeping up yourself or/and your loved ones, or the people you team up with to survive. That is a thing, where the technology can help. But only if we don't have a total blackout.

It can help, it can harm you, BUT it is NOT necessary at all for surviving a crisis. And in case of a blackout nothing of this will be available. So .. now I draw a horrible scenario in your brain. Okay. But I hope, and I am conviced I can draw some more colorful thing too (side note, I can't draw at all).

We have that much technology, that you can chat with someone on the other side of the world within seconds. We have so much things that makes our all lifes more comfortable.
Imagine a world without the internet in a case we are right now - COVID-19. There is spreading a lot of disinformation, but I think you can count the deaths or at least the infected persons x10 without the internet. Researchers can communicate very fast together, they can calculate so much about the virus with supercomputers, and in future with quantum computing, and data scientists in general, or specific bio/genetic/immunology data scientists.

Maybe you noticed a thing. I always write about "us", or at least I try it. "Us" is more important than any technology on the planet can ever be. Especially in case of a blackout. We need to help each other, we need to communicate, building communities (you are a doctor, I am a guy building houses, the I "protect all of you" guy or woman, I am good with computers.. you get it).. without this concept, technology or not, we have no chance to survive a crisis and it doesn't matter which type of crisis.

What we need more than ever before, crisis or not, is to build a team, worldwide. We life on the same round thing called earth. If we focus on good things of humanity, we have power. Electricty power? Not important anymore, human power beats it easily.

As some good guy says, some of you maybe know who I mean, but it's not that important who says this: "Together we are power, and power can save somebody's life".
He, and all the others in the league are of course doing important work.

And never forget, the golden rule of ethic. "QVOD TIBI HOC ALTERI"

Thats all. Thank you for taking your time to read this.
Author : Bernhard Weber
Europe/Vienna/Austria
Mail : bernhard.weber9@þrotonmail.com