# Losing the Internet



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

A few months ago I went to a branch clinic of my HMO for a routine appointment, only to find that they had shut down everything for the day. Somehow their feed cable for the Internet had been cut and they couldn’t check patients in, identify scheduled services, access patient records, accept co-pays – in fact they could do almost nothing.

Not many years ago such services were handled entirely without the Internet, in fact without computers at all. But now we seem totally dependent on our new enabling technologies. Which is really an introduction to my question:

What would be the main impacts on our lives of the sudden and permanent loss of the Internet?


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

KenOC said:


> What would be the main impacts on our lives of the sudden and permanent loss of the Internet?


Hundreds of GRU workers would suddenly lose their jobs.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

KenOC said:


> .....
> *What would be the main impacts on our lives of the sudden and permanent loss of the Internet?*


I've heard terrorism referred to as "theater"; its purpose to instill fear, dominate social consciousness, and occupy governmental resources. Obviously sending the west back to the stone age is not the intention of terrorists. If it was, targeting the infrastructure of the internet would be their sole objective. As stated in the OP, not even a simple doctor's appointment can take place without the internet.

Because we've let ourselves become dependent upon the internet, loosing it permanently would have devastating short term consequences. What would all those people glued to their cell phones do? Develop actual social skills?


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

KenOC said:


> What would be the main impacts on our lives of the sudden and permanent loss of the Internet?


For some time into the future, people would struggle to recover the long-lost art of face-to-face communication.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I was thinking of the complete breakdown of the systems we now use to get food to markets nationwide. But a more profound effect of losing e-mail might be a massive shortage of ****** enlargers... 

(This forum REALLY doesn't like that word!)


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

KenOC said:


> I was thinking of the complete breakdown of the systems we now use to get food to markets nationwide. But a more profound effect of losing e-mail might be a massive shortage of ****** enlargers...
> 
> (This forum REALLY doesn't like that word!)


Not to mention invitations from Barbie. And messages that I've won a free Amazon gift card.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Pulp and paper, libraries, and department stores would flourish. Mental health would improve due to a lack of social media. Globalization would diminish, leading to a manufacturing boom.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Joe B said:


> I've heard terrorism referred to as "theater"; its purpose to instill fear, dominate social consciousness, and occupy governmental resources. Obviously sending the west back to the stone age is not the intention of terrorists. If it was, targeting the infrastructure of the internet would be their sole objective. As stated in the OP, not even a simple doctor's appointment can take place without the internet.
> 
> Because we've let ourselves become dependent upon the internet, loosing it permanently would have devastating short term consequences. What would all those people glued to their cell phones do? Develop actual social skills?


The internet is a distributed web. A few nodes go down, traffic gets rerouted around then. Very difficult to attack. I think it would be better to go after the electrical grid. Hitting a few key targets can lead to massive blackouts.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

The biggest tragedy would be the end of fantasy football as we have known it. My world would come to an end.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

KenOC said:


> I was thinking of the complete breakdown of the systems we now use to get food to markets nationwide. But a more profound effect of losing e-mail might be a massive shortage of ****** enlargers...
> 
> (This forum REALLY doesn't like that word!)


it is called targeted advertising. Basically, google knows what you've been searching for and then offers you products :lol:


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

If the internet goes down long term can we continue TC as a newsletter, with posts printed as people send in posts by mail?


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

I would be able to fully function, live, work, play, without any internet connection. 

I do rely upon the internet for lots of things, but then there are other ays of doing what I do on the internet, snail mail, telephone, going to the library, go to the music library on our university campus. 

The internet makes all these things easy ... but my life would not shut down if the internet was no longer available. You see, I learned about life from the beginning - born just after the stone age :lol: we had to walk or ride our bicycles to the library, school, etc. I could do that again.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Krummhorn said:


> I would be able to fully function, live, work, play, without any internet connection.
> ... we had to walk or ride our bicycles to the library, school, etc. I could do that again.


You have one of those new-fangled internet-run cars?


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Without the Internet, there would be no streaming, and my CD collection would become valuable again. I'm looking forward to following Dimace's lead and selling my collection for a Porsche.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

DaveM said:


> You have one of those new-fangled internet-run cars?


But maybe the traffic lights involve the internet?


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Manxfeeder said:


> Without the Internet, there would be no streaming, and my CD collection would become valuable again. I'm looking forward to following Dimace's lead and selling my collection for a Porsche.


Hey, all of us who own massive CD collections could conspire to engineer a massive internet crash! Good idea? Or something for stupid threads thread?


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Fritz Kobus said:


> Hey, all of us who own massive CD collections could conspire to engineer a massive internet crash! Good idea? Or something for stupid threads thread?


It's just a step between us and chaos. People need to treat us better.


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