Imagine if you will every computer in North America coming to a crashing halt one day.
No banks, no traffic control, no flights. Those are the big 3. I’m pretty sure power generation and water utilities can function without traditional computer support.
If you believe this article this reality could be upon you tomorrow.
If a computer chip like this exists and is capable of sending information, it is more than capable of deleting an operating system file which would disable a computer.
This is the danger of offshoring. Critical technologies completely under the control of a foreign power.
Do I believe that these chips are a reality? No. Do I think they have already been used? No. Am I worried about the Chinese taking us down with the technology? The conspiracy theorist in me says mildly.
In situations like these you have to ask yourself, what would they have to gain by using it against us. Currently the answer is nothing.
The USA owes China boatloads of money. It’s not in their financial interest to wipe us out. On a military level nuclear weapons are MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) so if they acted with a strike like this they’d be screwing themselves too.
No, where you have to worry is at the espionage level and this is what worries me. The strength of the western world has been innovation and invention. If you look at Korea and Japan and China and the technology levels in those countries compared to here, you will find that we are falling so far behind it’s not funny.
Businesses will move to where the money is because that’s just good business. With the growing of the middle class in China and India that make up three quarters of the world population businesses that cannot compete with Chinese businesses in the same market will fail. With the Chinese businesses having the advantage of government sponsored espionage, expect to see a lot more large businesses fail on this side of the ocean.
I’ve written on this before and I’ll stress it again now. If you can travel, now is the time to do it and enjoy it. World tourist destinations currently cater to an English speaking western culture clientelle. With the current recession and direction things are going, don’t be surprised to find that your destinations are going to start catering to an Indian and Chinese market. It is going to happen, it’s just a question of when.
So where we going?
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
@Dar
You are going to Canada next week … don’t push your luck.
@Char
Philip K Dick was indeed a visionary.
I lost the functioning of my computer for 4 days because some kind of virus wiped the application that operates it…I didn’t have internet at the time (the people moved and I didn’t have internet since September). So, yes, there is something out there that can do that and those who enjoy doing it, I’m really PISSED AT!!! I can’t afford to keep taking my computer to the computer doctor (seeing as I’m not speaking to my computer guy), they charge $40 an hour…I was lucky…they only charged me $60. I’m an unemployed student for f–k’s sake!
P.S. Have you watched Die Hard 4 yet, what you just described is what they called a fire sale in the movie…everything must go…everything that is operated by computer, which is just about everything these days.