Quote:
Originally Posted by Enchilada
Sorry. Absolutely the one biggest lot of codswallop I've read in sometime. 
Errors!! Worse there are more than a dozen errors in the article scanning through it. In the last few years New Scientist has gone a bit down-hill with more and more non-scientific speculation... so much for the scientific method.  This is not science, it is basically media hype not focussing on the facts but simple scare-mongering. I will be definitely seeking out the original article, because it is certainly a cry for solar funding before the next solar maxima. What is more interesting, is nothing is said of the flares or the sun - only what the speculated effects on something that may or may not happen. (Pity there were few electrical devices around the the 1850s to measure it.)
The Carrington Event in 1856 was certainly dramatic, which was very well described in "Kings of the Sun" by Dave Sorbel (2007) - well worth the read.
(Read the comments after the article to see my view is here supports some agreement.)
Mostly utter nonsense!  |
Regardless, I think it's still an interesting article. It paints a picture on how reliant we are on a functioning electrical grid. Of course these situations are often highly theoretical and media articles will often portray the absolute worst case scenario.
One has to take articles like this with a pinch of salt however, some of these risks are real even if highly unlikely. The same goes for all other major disasters, from super volcanoes to meteorites impacting. It may not be an entire country but a large city would certainly suffer if the grid was down for more than a few days.
I'm honestly not disputing your views but I'm very interested in hearing your reason as to why a scenario like this (perhaps to a much lesser extent) isn't possible. I read most of the comments on the NS page but didn't see any real counter arguments. There were only comments about fear mongering but these were not backed up with evidence.
I'd be surprised if the National Academy of Science, which was formed specifically to advice the USA on science, engineering and medicine, would publish their findings if a threat didn't exist.