Nivedita Kamath Week #9: A World Without Power
A World Without Power
During the pandemic, not having to physically go to school every day allowed sophomore year to be less overwhelming. I was no longer in a race against time in the mornings to get to school or in the evenings trying to get work done. This sudden drop in academic anxiety prompted me to question how much our lives depended on transportation. Even when traveling was limited, technology allowed most businesses and schools to continue online. The internet connected us to the rest of the world. But what if. . . we lived in a world without power? Would our lives still continue then? Could we even survive without power?
When the power goes out, it becomes dark, electrical devices do not work, refrigerated food spoils, and we lose connection with others. A couple hours without power are manageable, however the long-term consequences can become exponentially more detrimental and anxiety levels would never be higher. No power means mass production of food cannot be kept fresh through refrigeration. The limited types of food that do not need refrigeration will still have no way to be transported. Shifting to gas or diesel fueled generators can only last while fossil fuels are available. All public transportation will be closed. All digital transactions of money will become impossible. Without machines and the internet, modern commerce will come to a halt; not to mention that with the loss of the 92% of the world's currency that existed only electronically, the economy will surely collapse.
Humanity has created a reality dependent on power. It is in our nature to question scientific limits and push the boundaries of human existence. The more we push, the more power is required to sustain that new reality. What would our lives be without power? Our perspective of the world and other people may not be as advanced, but our planet would hopefully be healthier. Without the desire to produce electricity, there is no need to burn fossil fuels in power plants, cars, generators, etc. Without experiencing sensory overload at a young age from screens, blazing music, and processed foods, we may be more appreciative of our natural surroundings. Overall, we would have fewer responsibilities but need to spend more time during the day completing daily chores.
The power energy has had on the evolution of the human race is phenomenal. Our manipulation of the elements to generate energy has set us apart from the millions of other species on Earth. People living in developing countries are influenced to incorporate more advanced technology into their daily lives to reap the benefits of a power-based economy. As humans, we always strive to gain the power to control the world around us, so could a world without the potential for power equate to a world without modern humans?
I just had a power outage this past weekend and as you mention in your blog post, it prolonged tasks and made me highly unproductive. While I do see the positives in letting the Earth run without burning fossil fuels for a day, hopefully we can establish reliable and renewable sources of energy in the long run. Every time I experience a power outage I wish my family household had solar power, so maybe with enough of these power outages we will all eventually convert to a better form of energy like solar.
ReplyDeleteI think its insane how we became so dependent on power. Decades ago we would be completely fine living our emtire lofe without it, and now its hard to imagine going even a couple hours without it. I think this phenomenon can be applied to anything though: if people have power over others, they probably wouldn’t be able to endure ever going back to a lower position in society. However, those who are already at the bottom of society, though they crave more power, they can also easily adapt and survive with less. Yet another parallel can be made: almost all types of power, regardless of whether it is electrical lr societal, comes at the expense of something other, whether it takes away from the enironment, like you mention, or from other people amd societies.
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ReplyDeleteHi Nivedita! I found it interesting how everyone else wrote about power as "the ability to direct or influence the behavior of others" but you chose to write about electrical power. I have never thought of the importance of electrical power as it has been there since my birth and I have taken it as granted for as long as I can remember. Recently, our electricity prices have been rising as PG&E is somewhat a monopoly and that reminds me of how much power they have over the people especially in California.
ReplyDeleteHi Nivedita, I like how you talked about electrical power as everyone in the cohort interpreted “power” as political power. I feel the human civilization has advanced so much that our lives rely on power. As you mentioned everything we use/do has been created by some sort of fuel. That being said we can be mindful of where we get our energy from and use renewable resources like solar, wind or hydro power. Maybe if we continue to advance the use of renewable resources we can help preserve the environment which has been facing the wrath of our energy dependency.
ReplyDeleteHi Nivedita! Your interpretation of this topic of power was really outside the box! I definitely cannot see myself lasting more than a few days without electrical power. It shows a lot about how we've evolved as a society. This also makes me wonder how schools in the past managed, such as during the time of the Spanish flu. This gradual shift to going online has been very apparent over the past decade, so I can only imagine how much more dependent schools will be on electronic devices these coming years.
ReplyDeleteHey Niveditha! It’s really interesting how over the years we have become so dependent on the internet, tv’s and practically everything that needs power to run. So what would happen if the power goes out? What would happen then? I’ve had quite a few power outages at my house here, and in india. I remember a couple particularly here where all I was doing was sitting on my bed waiting for my power to come back. After the power finally came back after what felt like hours, I was genuinely unproductive after laying in bed all day. Now I can’t even begin to imagine what our lives would be like without power or electricity. My hopes are someday, after the absurd number of power outages our world goes through, we find a way to work without power, perhaps through a new form of energy.
ReplyDeleteHi Nivedita! First of all, I really liked your interpretation of power, but your blog also shows the power of power in our modern world. Quite honestly, I don't think modern humans could survive, or at the very least, thrive under a world without electricity, internet, and power. Our economy and society is very much based under power, with so many of our generation having grown up with a phone, computer, or iPad with them. That's what is interesting: it seems to be only our generation with a heavy dependence on power. Asking a child a few decades ago this same question, and their response would be indifference. But what's even more worrying is the constant progression of dependence on technology in older generations as well. I can't imagine the societal impacts and hardships my family personally will have due to the erasure of power. Our society's dependence on technology will not diminish as long as the advancement of technology continues. And technological innovation isn't stopping, anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteHi Nivedita, this reminds me of the fact that the US is divided in power grids, which makes power a really vulnerable asset that everyone needs. As the world's population increases, more power will be needed, and its an increasing challenge of finding out how to supply that power. As people are pushing against fossil fuels and trying to adopt renewable energy, energy must continue to be produced. Without energy, the world cannot function at its current capacity.
ReplyDeleteHi Nivedita, not having power would have been a disaster, especially in the pandemic. It was our outlet to the rest of the world, our school, friends, family – many in other parts of the world. No doubt we would come to a standstill. We would need to learn how people live and what they do in developing countries with small villages. How do people live without power? We would have to find out, somehow (not through the internet though) and implement some of those methods just to survive and get by. It would be really hard to adjust in the type of modern society we all live in now. We may need to seek advice from grandparents and great grandparents regarding what we should do without power. And, yes, although we would have gone backwards in time, we (and the planet) may become healthier as you mentioned.
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