By Dr. Mathew Maavak

The ubiquitous camera acts as a primary ‘social restrainer’ in a hyperwired world. What happens when it no longer functions during a Great Blackout? 

In a recent article on solar superstorms and its global implications, I briefly touched on how a “Great Blackout”, lasting a month or more, may arguably be the most expedient pathway towards the globalist Great Reset.

A Great Blackout entails a complete shutdown of the global electricity grid and it can be caused by either an X-class solar superstorm and massive coronal mass ejections (CMEs); the use of EMP weapons on a global scale; or a massive cyberattack. Either one or a combination of these events may set back societies by months, years or even decades. The Great Reset, however, cannot happen if a global blackout is prolonged due to a solar superstorm. They will not have the tools and manpower to effectuate their centralised technocratic plans.

For those looking for an easy-to-understand primer on the societal impacts of a Great Blackout, here is an excellent YouTube clip that unpacks the basics.

A Great Blackout may cause social disintegration of nightmarish proportions within days. As I had broached in my aforementioned article:

An entire generation today, without real life skills and hopelessly hooked on instant multimedia gratification, would crack much sooner than three days. One can only imagine the hordes of zombies straggling along various streets, trying to come to grips with life without Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram. The vulnerable will face hordes of looters and assorted anarchists who will be razing down entire neighbourhood blocks when they are not attacking people at random. It will be reminiscent of scenes from The Purge franchise.

Without access to functioning  telecommunications systems, it would be next to impossible for police forces and national guard units to restore law and order across the board. Even if emergency systems are deployed, law and order personnel will likely face makeshift roadblocks and attacks from anarchist elements. We were given a preview of this during the George Floyd “protests”. Hospitals, to the extent where they are accessible, would be inundated with the sick and dying.

The Great Social Restrainer

There is one particular component in your cellphone (and other devices and installations) that silently acts as a restrainer against regressive human tendencies. It is what forces humans to be civil, obedient and conformist. It also forms the crux of the emerging global panopticon. Cameras are standard fixtures in our cellphones, cars, libraries, subways, buses etc. They are present on terra firma along our streets; overhead on surveillance drones and balloons; and on space-based satellites. All our movements can be tracked 24/7/365. Even the traditional privacy of confined spaces can be breached at will in this age. Those who designed our cellphones also have the capability to surreptitiously switch on camera and microphone functions that can eavesdrop on our conversations, plans and trysts.

The cellphone camera therefore acts as a prime social restrainer in a hyperwired world. While it is used to capture “sweet memories” and assorted objects of fascination, it also functions as an omniscient guardrail against our darkest inclinations. It subtly reminds us that someone, somewhere may be watching us at any one time. While some fret over this panoptic function creep in an otherwise indispensable device, narcissists of all hues, particularly “social media influencers”, depend on the exhibitionist avenues afforded by the mobile camera to buttress their self-worth and source of living.

The cellphone camera has also reduced us into petty, wimpy and fragile creatures. It turns us into voyeurs and snitches on the one hand and auxiliary agents of “law and order” on the other. Ever witnessed a petty altercation where everyone instinctively whips out their cellphones to record the event? Each protagonist would be hoping for restitution from their respective clips. Others will be in it for the cheap, dehumanising thrills. Only a few use it for the genuine purpose of citizen journalism.

Now, imagine what happens when these devices fail simultaneously during a Great Blackout? Most cellphone batteries cannot last for more than three days. In fact, during a Great Blackout, battery power will be swiftly depleted as online junkies frantically tinker with their mobile settings while they shift positions in a futile effort to source that elusive single-bar signal. Let’s face it: The Internet is now a human appendage!

So, what happens when people, hitherto seething with suppressed prejudices and hate, suddenly realise that the once-omnipresent electronic restrainer is no longer working during a Great Blackout? Their criminal actions will not be captured during this period as there will be no functioning devices left to record them. Even if electricity supplies and telecommunications services are restored within weeks, criminal actions during this unwired period may be too voluminous for subsequent arbitration or legal restitution. Where is the graphic proof going to be sourced from?

I am guessing that the interim unwired phase between the Great Blackout and the return to normalcy will be marked by unprecedented levels of lawlessness, particularly in societies riven by tribal, ideological and wealth divides. This period will be reminiscent of scenes from  The Purge franchise, albeit ones of a viscerally prolonged turbocharged variety. The absence of any concrete news over a return to normalcy will aggravate matters further with each passing day.

While there are many videos and write-ups on the ramifications of another Carrington Event — an X45-level solar storm which knocked out the global telegraph grid in 1859 —  there are hardly any commentaries or scholastic papers on the Benthamite dimensions of a world bereft of functioning ubiquitous cameras. The centrality of the modern cellphone in this context, particularly the restraining psychosocial role of its camera function, is somehow missing or relegated from contemporary discussions.  (If the reader knows of any such works, please do post relevant links in the comment box below.)

Hollywood and assorted Western studios have produced copious iterations of a post-blackout world in all their predictable and repetitive tedium. I tend to avoid them like a plague. Recently, however, I chanced upon an excellent Japanese movie called Survival Family which conveyed a message of grit, hope, ingenuity and social cohesion in the midst of a Great Blackout. The movie is about a family of four who reluctantly flee a paralyzed Tokyo and are forced to learn real life skills on the way.  Two and a half years later, they have adapted to life without electricity in a coastal village. The males engage in fishing activities while the females tend to gardening, cooking and weaving. The producers were shrewd enough to avoid rehashing gory Hollywood memes.

I am posting a link to the movie below and trust me, it is well-produced and worth all two hours of your viewing time. The subtitles are also excellent.

So, what do you think? Can some societies survive a Great Blackout for more than two years despite the odds? I am betting that the ones that do will have these following attributes: be woke-free, geographically isolated, socially and culturally cohesive, and highly adaptive. Remote pockets in the United States with a strong prepper culture may fare relatively well, unless the military intervenes in the early days of a Great Blackout. The rest of the world can be written off unless God Himself intervenes. After all, He is the ultimate restrainer.

Dr Mathew Maavak specialises in systems science, global risks, strategic foresight, geopolitics and governance. He has published numerous Op-Eds on a variety of eclectic subjects for over 20 years – by ‘connecting the dots’ in a disjointed world. Subscribe to his Substack

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