Solar Flares and Technological Armageddon
How solar flares could cause the next great depression
Before I get into this, I’d like to tell you a little story. On September 1st, 1859, amateur astronomers Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson independently observed many sunspots appearing on the Sun, and recognized the signs of a solar flare. This geomagnetic storm, now known as the Carrington event, caused aurora as far south as the Caribbean, with the lights being so bright over the rockies that they actually awoke coal miners, and caused electromagnetic effects powerful enough to completely disable countless telegraph lines, electrocute operators, and cause pylons to violently throw sparks. This all occurred in 1859, when really the only widespread electrical technology was the telegraph lines, and the economies of most powerful nations were perfectly able to get on on their own without the need for electricity. But, that is not the world we live in now.
In the modern age of widespread computerization, electric lighting, electric cars, electric cellphones, and the internet, the idea of a geomagnetic storm should be much more concerning. Even ignoring the utter lack of clarity for what to do in a world suddenly without working electronic devices, there is one exceedingly vital issue to note: the global economy is almost entirely electronic. Approximately 91.7% of currency only exists electronically, and nearly all production and international trade is reliant on electrical systems to remain functional. In the event of the malfunction of the backbone of the global economy, the resultant crash would likely make the great depression look like a brief rough patch.
In 2013, researchers from Lloyd’s of London and Atmospheric and Environmental Research in the US estimated based off of the data from the Carrington event that the cost in the US alone would range from $600 Billion to $2.6 Trillion. And all this is disregarding the fact that, in the absence of working vehicles, traffic signals, hospital equipment, or any other form of electrical infrastructure, it is entirely possible that law and order would fall apart.
