When the lights go out...

[Scribbly]

When the lights go out...

It's a phrase that has been playing in my head for a little while now. I'm beyond the age where being afraid of the dark is a sensible fear to hold. But. A few years ago, I remember, someone on these boards- I think it was LHX- said that, when the lights go out, that is when the next revolution will come.

I was chatting with my dad about the whole financial crisis situation. He has been getting very uptight about the whole thing- unsurprisingly, really. He's working like a dog to help support me, my sister, my moms failing business, and although his particular section of the industry is doing very well at the moment, thank you very much, and his position is far from threatened, every week it seems like another friend of his finds their job coming under fire, and every night the TV hammers home how Horribly Doomed everyone is. He was telling me how, in his youth, he remembered similar times. When the whole country was in deep shit, and Things Were Not Looking Good. And the lights went out, a lot.

But, he seems quite convinced that what we're facing now is far worse. He looks at it, and he tells me how the latest documentary foreshadows an inevitable war with China. How the latest facts and figures project a deeper, darker, harder recession. How, really, we're terribly vulnerable from Russia, and no politician has a clue how to make things better, but their efforts may very well fuck it up even more. This, he assures me, is worse than the last time, and may very well be the defining time of my life.

And all I can think is that, no, I don't think it will be. Because I'll be damned before I let the systematic raping of the economic system by the upper echelons of the financial world define my life. I don't know how all this is going to play out. I'm not even sure where I stand in relation to all this. I know that I've got about as much chance of finding work here as I have of winning the lottery. I also know that, unless food and fuel costs quadruple, I can probably muddle on through for at least another year in hibernation mode...

I also know that I'm enjoying the opportunity to study, and I really resent the long nights I've spent worrying about whether or not I really can truck on through as I have been, analyzing every little spend, with the vague worry in the back of my mind that, give it six months, and all my savings will be worth about as much as a roll of very long toilet paper.

But. When the shit hits the fan, and the lights go out, there's going to be a lot of people around my age, who were just getting ready to start living, who suddenly find all that yanked away from underneath them. Never mind all the others who had nothing to do with this, and have been screwed over far, far worse. Families who are losing homes. There is going to be a lot of anger.

And when the lights go out, all of that is going to come tearing up. But. Where will it go? The Machine is a tough little bastard. I can't quite envisage a world where all of that has been torn down. Not realistically. Even if it is, what will happen then, other than a newer, shinier, perhaps more efficient, Machine being raised in its place?

I guess for the moment, there's nothing to do but stock up on candles.

[Jasper]

It's hard for us young adults to really internalize how bad things are.  We've never had to deal with great hardships like this.  Older folks can remember things like the Berlin Wall, Vietnam, and Desert Storm.  All I know is that I'll become acquainted with hardship before things get better.

If it kills me, fine.  I'm not the chosen one.  If it doesn't, great.  It'll leave me tougher and more resourceful.

Oh, and good rant.

[Thurnez Isa]

Older folks can remember things like the Berlin Wall, Vietnam, and Desert Storm.  A

minus Vietnam I remember that shit.. and im not that old

[Jasper]

Older folks can remember things like the Berlin Wall, Vietnam, and Desert Storm.  A

minus Vietnam I remember that shit.. and im not that old

Come and get your muesli, grandpa.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

Older folks can remember things like the Berlin Wall, Vietnam, and Desert Storm.  A

minus Vietnam I remember that shit.. and im not that old

Come and get your muesli, grandpa.

I remember all of it and I am NO ONE'S grandma..... 

Vietnam wasn't over until the 70's damn! 

[Jasper]

Well, I wasn't there for any of it.  That's what I'm trying to say.  I don't have much to compare this to.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I am struck by how well this entire situation falls in line with the gritty futuristic novels in the cyberpunk genre. A recent private conference we had on information security tells us that the entire scope of 'attacks' have changed dramatically. At the beginning of this century there were two major forms of attacks on computer systems: Inside Jobs and Targeted Hacking. Either you had an employee that had gone bad, or you had someone studying your company from the inside out to find that one weak spot in the armor. That's pretty much fallen off. Apparently the new security measures defeat most internal attacks and opportunistic hacking has replaced targeted. The fastest growing segment of attacks are organized crime. The more likely venue is now business partners, where one of their employees is on the payroll of *insert entity here*. Entities recently tied to major attacks include direct competition and Russian mafia. Information is being sold in IRC chat rooms and with recent attacks the black market has been flooded with CCN data. Last year, a good ID might pull in $100 per ID, now its under $1.

I keep thinking about this and how, with only some minor modifications we would be living at the beginning of William Gibson's Cyberpunk universe. The machine may well be changing, I'd guess that it has slowly been changing ever since 9/11. In fact, if I were at all paranoid and into conspiracies... I'd have to wonder if the perpetrators of that event didn't foresee the gangrenous effect it would have. Our nation has spent the past 8 years dumping billions of dollars into chasing shadows under the bed, while no one bothered to watch the piggy bank.

I think this whole mess may be what defines the near future... it may be bad, gritty, hopeless; or, it may be that the Stimulus package will help, it is possible that we might finally get the brakes to work. Either way, I think will define our near future.

Also, Desert Storm? The Berlin Wall?

FELIX!
I IS NOT OLD!!!!!!

[East Coast Hustle]

Older folks can remember Desert Storm. 

[P3nT4gR4m]

Yeeeehaw - It's the end of the world as we know it per fucking usual

[Jasper]

Silly old coffin dodgers ITT.

[Elder Iptuous]

Silly old coffin dodgers ITT.

....
you ever seen 'Teen Wolf' or 'Karate Kid'?
Those were dark times we lived through, and i can see why it would be hard for you to internalize them....


Desert Storm?  wasn't that the badass miniseries with the stealth fighters and night vision bombs and shit?  that ended in less than one season, right?  I never understood why they yanked it before they caught the badguy...

[Jasper]

Silly old coffin dodgers ITT.

....
you ever seen 'Teen Wolf' or 'Karate Kid'?
Those were dark times we lived through, and i can see why it would be hard for you to internalize them....


Desert Storm?  wasn't that the badass miniseries with the stealth fighters and night vision bombs and shit?  that ended in less than one season, right?  I never understood why they yanked it before they caught the badguy...

Far as I can tell, it was some sort of war, or something.

[Scribbly]

Naw, you are both wrong.

I'm pretty sure they toured with Deep Purple.

[Jasper]

Deep Who?

Felix,
Just kidding.  I know who they are.  From hanging out with old people.

[AFK]

Ah yes, I remember the days when Ritchie Blackmore played Rock and Roll, and not Muzak for Ren Faires.