How A Reliance On Technology Puts Us At Risk

 

In our hyper-connected world, disasters cannot be contained and have the potential to be much worse than before.  But more than this, the repercussions of any disaster could be made much worse by our reliance on technology. 

 

In the last 20 years we have become completely dependent on the internet and mobile technology for even our most basic needs.  While this has brought many benefits, this also comes with a great risk.  It doesn't take a lot to knock out communications and the energy supply.  Without electricity we may very quickly find that the society we have built will quickly collapse.

 

It is not only our lives, as individual consumers, that is ruled and run by technology, but all the automated systems that run our society and economy.  We have built a very complex and sensitive society, but the fact is, we have built it on unstable ground.

 

If we cast our minds back to the panic that ensued after Hurricane Katrina.  What sticks in the memory is not the storm itself, or even the flooding, but the complete social breakdown the city subsequently suffered.  The city deprived of the basic services was unable to cope and the state and federal bodies struggled to assist.

 

The reason for this is the way our society is nor organized.  The supply chain which brings us all our basic needs is incredible complex and intricate.  It brings together elements from all over the world in systems that we find very difficult to imagine.  The process that brings a bag of chips or a bottle of water into our local store are incredibly complicated.  However, the more complex the systems are, the less robust they become.  As a result, a natural disaster can easily disrupt the delivery of those chips and that bottle of water.

 

There is a further problem.  Suppliers increasingly use 'just-in-time' strategies to eliminate waste and streamline their operations.  This means that the signal to order more bags of chips and bottles of water is not made automatically until the shelves in your local store have run down.  Ordinarily, this would not matter.  The supply chain is sensitive enough to send the order efficiently back up the chain and deliveries are made before the store runs out.  However, if there is an emergency incident that affects any part of this chain (and remember these chains can cover huge areas), then suddenly the system falls down.  Once the few bags of chips and bottles of water in your local store have gone, that's it, they can't get any more and the place they are stored could be anywhere.  What is worse is that everyone is aware of this.  We have built scarcity into our economic system and as consumers we are well-aware of this – our first response is to panic buy.  Almost immediately, the supplies have been taken and the shelves are empty.  This is what happened in New Orleans.  

 

You may also what to consider the remarkable fact that there is not a single person living, who can make a cell phone on their own.  Everyday objects, such as a cell phone, which we depend on for basic needs, are themselves so complex and the product of complicated manufacturing, that we have no idea how they work.  Compare this to the traditional tools that people have been dependent on for all of history apart from the present time – spades, hammers, receptacles etc.  We don't have to be an expert to know how these work and could probably make one if we had to.  But instead, we find ourselves completely dependent on technology and complex supply systems that are impossible for us to ever understand.  Twenty-first century life is built around the way huge organizations work together across the globe.  The advantages this brings us are undoubtedly huge,  but what happens if the organizations collapse? 

 

As the cell phone has become an essential for many people, we have suddenly been removed from the basic methods of survival.  What was obvious for almost all of human history, has for many suddenly become completely irrelevant.  When we ask ourselves the questions about how well prepared we are for a natural or man-made disaster, we are really asking ourselves how well we could care for our family without being able to drive to the local store or order a pizza online.  The fact is, by becoming so dependent on technological innovations, we have become more vulnerable to their collapse. The very technology that makes modern life so enjoyable, could be the thing that exacerbates confusion and despair in an emergency. 

 

Considering that twenty-first life seems to exist on a knife edge, it is little wonder that increasing numbers of people are taking the necessary steps to ensure that they have a year-long supply of food and water in the event of an emergency. 

 

We cannot live long without food and water.  Not having access to a supply leaves us vulnerable to whatever the future can throw at us.  On the other hand, if we know that we have access to a safe and reliable source of food and water, it serves as an important guarantee of our family's future.   Just knowing that you always have access to a food store is reassuring.  The 12 month food supply you will  create in your prepper's pantry is not a luxury, but an investment for your family; one that could make all the difference should disaster strike.