Some few days back when the forum went down for some hours, some thoughts that I used to have suddenly resurfaced in my mind. What if the internet crashes permanently! If for any reasons whether natural or manmade the internet suddenly stops working,, what will happen in the world. Unimaginable pandemonium is what will happen, because almost everything is connected to the internet, in fact the world today is so dependant on the internet to transact and communicate almost everything. Be it in finance, telecom, marketing and in every areas of technological advancements, all depends on the internet. It'll seem as if we've suddenly gone back to the stone age, if these where to happen.
I'll focus on finance, so I'm thinking what will happen to the bitcoin inside wallets, what will happen to every fiat currency in bank accounts, if everything erases as a result of internet total breakdown? Who do we hold responsible? I know that the internet technology is manmade, therefore it can not be hundred percent immune to faults and external attacks. And what if there is that less than one chance of it being faulty or compromised, what if that less than one chance happens,? what will be the fate of the world that mainly depends on it to get things done? I'm no tech guru or a prophet of doom, but this are my thoughts and fears on the matter, although I sincerely hope that I'm very wrong on these thoughts.
I'd love to be enlightened better on why it can be impossible that the internet can never be permanently shutdown, having in mind the shortcomings that I've mentioned?
Firstly, now almost all human activity (finance, economics, trade, entertainment, media, education, etc.) is tied to the Internet and therefore the functioning of the global Internet network is carefully maintained and shutdowns will not be allowed. If the Internet still fails, more likely due to a man-made reason than a natural one, then this is the last thing you should worry about at that moment. At that moment, you will think more about how to save your life, what to find to eat and how to fight off enemies, and not about what will happen to the bitcoin inside wallets or money in bank accounts. In the post-apocalyptic world, priorities will change slightly from what we are used to. My point is that a global internet shutdown is only possible in a scenario like this.
I’m more interested in what will happen if the Internet becomes fragmented into several continents or countries. How to use bitcoin in this case, will there be alternative bitcoin networks, how to make transactions from one fragment of the bitcoin network to another. The scenario with the emergence of a fragmented Internet is more likely than a total shutdown of the Internet, and I think that it is worth reflecting on this topic because of the likely relevance of it.