Gadgetory

hey guys this is Austin so what would happen if computers just stopped working first of all you definitely wouldn't be watching this video as it lives inside Google's massive server farms which are entirely made up of computers and don't think you could cheat by using a tablet or phone either these absolutely counters computers in fact there are computers and a lot of things that we use on a daily basis which I went over in this video right here it would be very very difficult to spend an entire day without interacting with any kind of computer at all now it might seem ridiculous to think about desktops around the world just suddenly vanishing but it's not entirely far-fetched an EMP blast from a nuclear detonation or major solar storm could easily knock out computers on a massive scale a solar flare back in 1859 was strong enough to knock out telegraph lines and even shock the operators if an event like that were to happen again today it would also do massive damage to things like the electrical grid however for this video let's just assume that all the computers are knocked out right about now so it wouldn't take long for the power to go out either without computers to manage power plants most of the world will be plunged into darkness within just a few hours hopefully you've stocked up on normal batteries as these are some of the few power sources that would keep working traditional lithium-ion rechargeable batteries like in almost all modern electronics Rolland tiny computers to handle charging and are essentially useless now some over electronics like radios and CRT TVs would still technically be working however unless you have an older generator with tons of fuel good luck powering them let's get out here so if you're like me and have a car built in the last 30 years or so you're not going anywhere modern cars have dozens of computers to run everything from the dashboard to fuel injection most of these wouldn't keep you from driving down the street but if something major like the engine control unit fails you're at a plug if you have an old muscle car you'll be one of the few who could still hit the road although good luck trying to make it very far on a single tank of gas you wouldn't have much luck with other forms of transportation either today commercial planes are almost entirely run on autopilot and many trains don't even need people to operate without computers these are also basically useless another area that's entirely reliant on computers today our communications things like cell towers and telephone networks these things will go down almost immediately some older radios would still be functioning but for the most part the world would be thrown back into the dark ages alright so this is getting a little depressing so there would be benefits to living in a world without computers I mean we all get to spend more time outside right well yeah because we really wouldn't have a choice according to the EMP Commission up to 90% of the population of the United States would be in serious danger after only a year with no electricity it's easy to forget just how much information is stored on computers it's scary to think about but a huge amount of our memories are stored entirely online now flip the switch to turn off computers and all of this is gone I used to live right here so earlier this year a fire burned down my entire apartment building and with it went all of my data so sure might be digital might just be a series of ones and zeros the makeup the pictures and the videos however that doesn't mean it's any less real now imagine this and a massive scale across all of human knowledge whose last time you printed out a Google search over 90% of the world's data has been created in just the last couple years meaning vast amounts of medical and research records would simply vanish Wikipedia is the world's largest encyclopedia with over 4 million articles just in English and to print them all out would require over a thousand huge volumes not very likely you might not think about it but we really do rely on computers for almost everything however that doesn't mean we couldn't go back to the way things were before well sort of if you lived in a place with geothermal power plants like Iceland it wouldn't be a stretch to live a perfectly happy and comfortable life without computers the rest of the world would have a harder time adjusting but eventually everything would settle down computers are absolutely one of mankind's greatest achievements and it's hard to imagine an event that will wipe every single one out however we're also very reliant on them for our daily lives without any real backup plan if and when something goes wrong it usually does anyway I've got to give a big shout-out to Backblaze for making this video possible bank blaze is the best way to keep your files backed up and secure it works for both PC and Mac and to access all of your data from a web browser using an app for iOS or Android and they'll even overnight you a hard drive loaded with all of your files like I talked about earlier losing your data really really hurts now I had a backup however it was in my closet which really didn't do me much good if I was using bag blaze I would still have all of my information safe and sound it's super straightforward for five dollars a month you get unlimited backups per computer so click the link in the description to go over to Backblaze comm slash austin and get yourself a free two week trial again that's back blaze comm slash Austin so go check it out and make sure data is safe anyway guys thank you so much for watching and I will catch you in the next one