Post-apocalyptic communications

I’ve been having Internet problems lately. Basically, my router is rebelling and refuses to connect me to my addiction the interwebs. (The robot uprising, it is starting. Maybe.)

All of this lovely yelling at my router (in child-friendly terms, which means that my router is usually a fudge-y piece of spaghetti, occasionally the son of a blimp, and sometimes other equally ridiculous things) had me thinking about communications in the post apocalypse.

Because, you know, I depend on the Internet for communication. I mean, without the Internet, I never would’ve become friends with two women I’ve never met and have never even spoken to. And if THAT hadn’t happened, believe me when I say that the world would be a less entertaining place.

But…what if there isn’t an Internet after the world ends? What if the apocalypse knocks out all the high-tech gadgetry we now rely on? What if there’s no email? Or Facebook? Or Twitter? Or–gasp!–cellphones? (My life, it is currently stored in my cellphone. Getting a smartphone was probably one of the best and worst things I ever did, because now I can’t leave home without it. Like my American Express, but only more important.)

In the depths of my (slightly overactive) imagination, the wasteland of post-apocalyptia requires the remnants of society to rely on the good ole messenger/runner system. Like the poor schmuck who had to run from Marathon to Athens way back around the time dinosaurs roamed the earth. (Kidding. I know the dinosaurs weren’t around then; the poor guy would’ve been eaten by a T-Rex about a kilometre outside of Marathon.)

I have to wonder though, what’s the likelihood of at least some communications technology surviving the apocalypse? Would survivors at least get a telegraph? Would they remember Morse code? Or would they be so reliant on the Star Trek communicator that the very idea of non-technological communication sends them into withdrawal?

I don’t know about you, but if my Internet got cut off for the rest of eternity, I’d probably go into withdrawal. Also, ICoS would cease to exist.

And that would be a sad, sad thing indeed.

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *