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Asked by FaZe Kabowse to Connor, Jillian, Lidunka, Sarah, Steven on 15 Jun 2015.
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Lidunka Vocadlo answered on 15 Jun 2015:
@FaZe Kabowse Well that’s an interesting thought! I think what could quite easily happen is that there could be an attack on, say, the computer system of the energy stations which could lead to a massive power outage. But there are quite a few strategies in place for this kind of thing such as emergency back up generators etc.. In fact, some of the worst power outages in the United States have been as a result of solar flares (energy bursts from the sun). However, we are increasing our reliance on solar power, and you can’t really switch that off!
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Steven Thomson answered on 15 Jun 2015:
Wars in the future will definitely have more to do with computers, and you’re right that cyber attacks will be a major weapon in conflicts of the future.
Energy waves of the type you mention already exist – they’re called electromagnetic pulses (EMP), and can be triggered by all sorts of things. A commonly talked of cause would be nuclear detonations high in the atmosphere triggering an EMP that would knock out all transistor-based electronics. It doesn’t affect all types of electronics though, and all important government systems have backups that can’t be damaged by EMPs. Losing our home computers and technologies could be a nuisance, but the country would continue to function!
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Jillian Scudder answered on 19 Jun 2015:
Cyber attacks now are mostly focused on obtaining information – about people, or the way something is built, or general knowledge on a topic. Generally, very sensitive technology (nuclear power plants, etc) are not connected directly to the internet for this very reason. Probably it would be hard to make something explode from a distance, but a virus may be able to infect certain computers and get them to shut down or misbehave.
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