Do you ever think about a possible scenario that describes a complete collapse of the Internet?
Barely.
As it turns out, this sandbox game can be tested as a live experiment in Ladakh.
Note: Thomas Harris describes in his newest novel "The Second Sleep" how the dangers of a global collapse of the Internet infrastructure might impact the future of the world. A backslide into the darkest Middle Ages.
When the world is suddenly offline
This morning, the first grasp for iPhone or iPad runs into void. The hotel's own Wi-Fi probably doesn't work, but the inquiry at the reception only elicits a tired smile from the gentleman behind the counter.
The grin on his face gives me some trouble, firstly, there's a lot of malicious joy coming through, and secondly, I can't believe it at all. The Internet simply down? That' s not possible, not in the twenty-first century. However, it does exist - as it will turn out later - quite severely and lasting for several days.
There are a few basic ideas to consider. The following Article gives an approximate insight into this topic.
Apocalyptic Scenarios
Did I forget something? Of course. A lot of things, but we might soon notice. Basically all essential things (food, heating, water, transport, health ...) are no longer guaranteed. Some scenarios have gone behind the issue analytically and have played out an example.
Somewhere in Europe (or anywhere else in the world) the internet is down within a few hundred kilometers. It became very quickly and very frighteningly clear how thin the varnish of our civilization is.
After a few days, when real hunger sets in, the children have nothing to eat, the sick can no longer be cared for, etc., society collapses. There will be looting, there will be fighting, civilization will collapse.
All this only because our beloved Internet, to which we have entrusted everything, no longer works.
And there are (probably) no contingency plans.
It makes you think pretty hard.
Are we completely crazy?
"Internet completely down in whole of Ladakh"
This is the message you get from every source in Leh when you ask about the status.
That not only me and a few thousand other tourists have trouble with the internet-less state becomes clear at breakfast – and not surprisingly – later also in the city.
Wherever you are, the Internet, which no longer exists, is THE main topic of the day. And this not without reason, because there is not only no web, no mail, no text messages or whatsapp, but also surprisingly almost no telephone working anymore.
VOIP (Voice-over-Internet), i.e. digital phone technology, has also found its way here. Tourists are terribly upset, because there are no hotel reservations or greetings home possible, no processing of mails and all the other nice things. However, and this makes the locals even happier: their own mobile phones are working splendidly. So one might consider buying an Indian prepaid mobile, but oha, far from it, because the Indian bureaucracy is easily forgotten.
Because the purchase of an Indian prepaid cell phone takes an estimated four to five days.
But actually it wouldn't be bad to give a sign of life before the trek, but alas - how can this be possible without the internet? After some searching, I actually find the last analog phone in Leh, an artefact from the last century, which I don't trust at all.
So I push myself into a tiny cabin, whose door cannot be closed, and ponder who I might call. After all, it's only half eight in the morning in Switzerland, so my kids are unlikely to be able to talk to me (or they won't even take calls at this time). A guy in front of the cabin shouts continuously into his mobile phone, which further reduces the chances of success for a reasonable conversation.
Telephoning like a hundred years ago
It seems to me like a hundred years ago, when you had to announce a call abroad in the office of the telephone company, waiting for an endless time to finally be allowed to use a connection that was grotesquely bad, the latency until the answer of the conversation partner lasted a felt eternity.
But we, with our petty concerns, are small fish compared to the hotels that can no longer receive bookings, send confirmations, provide information. Or shops that can't handle orders, inquiries, deliveries or anything else.
But unlike our latitudes, the Ladakhis are flexible. Somehow everything works out. Maybe a little slower, but all in all not bad at all … We might cut off a slice of them if we should get into a similar situation …
Digital detox
So we simply enjoy the time without the Internet, without the permanent gazing at the latest news, without mails and without messages. Remember. After all, it wasn't so long ago, in Hong Kong 1988 to be exact, when we noticed someone with a (huge) mobile phone at his ear at a traffic light. After finding out what it was, we thought it was a completely superfluous invention without the slightest chance of success. So completely wrong.
Another walk through Leh shows wonderful insights into a culture that is foreign to us. Ladakh is really the realm of the little things. But it is important to walk through the streets and alleys with open eyes and ears to discover all the small and supposedly unimportant things.
P.S. Matching Song: Annette Peacock - My Momma Never Taught Me how to Cook
And here the journey continues ...
