The Eggs of Civilization
Scary but well-written two sentences in the NYTimes:
Somehow, we’ve made the industrial equivalent of a Fabergé egg the linchpin of our civilization. What would happen if someone started breaking them?
The eggs in question are the oil-filled transformers that are used in all the power distribution stations around the world, which have a wait time of five years or more to replace, and which, on a few occassions, unidentified, uncaught gunmen have destroyed by remotely poking holes in them.
I’m reading Parable of the Sower right now and already felt like it was too close for comfort. Now even more so.
But, if Silicon Valley succeeds in making solid-state transformers to help power data centers, then we won’t have to worry (as much) about the NYTimes’ hypothetical nine-transformer years-long blackout.