Food? Done. Water? Done. Medicines? Done. Weapons? Done. And repairing that electric generator that's gathering dust in a corner...? The information is probably on the Web. And guess what? Before a global disaster, the first thing to fall is our fragile infrastructure. That's when Survivor Library steps in, a library full of data to face what comes 'after' the apocalypse.
The Carrington Event
Imagine a day when all machines stop. No cars, no mobile phones. Radios broadcast nothing, and basic services are interrupted. How prepared are you? If you think it's an exaggeration or a simple delusion from science fiction, consider this: In September 1859, the so-called Carrington Event, a geomagnetic solar storm, affected telegraph networks in Europe and the United States. Most failed, others gave shocks to their operators, and a small group continued functioning without any connected electrical power.
In 2013, the insurer Lloyd’s of London calculated the economic damage such a storm would cause today: 2.6 trillion dollars ... only in the United States. In essence, the world could go down the drain, and if that moment comes, there will be no choice but to defend ourselves.
A Treasure Trove of Survival Knowledge
There exists a resource as important as water and weapons: Information. Repairing a vehicle, improvising medicines, cooking correctly, and even extracting a tooth can make the difference between being part of history and living another day to tell it. Survivor Library is a project that offers more than 250 gigabytes of books, oriented to survival in the most basic conditions.
Do you want to preserve food? Humanity has sun-dried and salt-cured its food for centuries. Need to disinfect your hands for an emergency? Nothing better than a text written by a military medical officer at the beginning of the 20th century with several recommendations. And what about our footwear? A book with more than 300 pages can teach you everything about leather and rubber repairs. All this and much more is what Survivor Library offers for free.
The Catch: Digital and English Only
Of course, there is a small catch: Although they are free and freely accessible, all texts are in digital format (and in English), and when the (inevitable) zombie invasion hits us, e-readers won't be a priority. Printing 250 gigabytes of books is unfeasible, so the official page suggests downloading the library and storing it on optical discs, or as an alternative preparing a Faraday cage and keeping there components that allow reading the books, like USB drives, laptops that aren't used much, solar chargers, batteries, and other accessories.
Final Thoughts
Whether it's distilled neo-Luddism or simple precaution, the truth is that Survivor Library is an excellent resource, with much data that doesn't exist on Wikipedia, and that would have been lost in time if not for digitization.
https://old.neoteo.com/caja-faraday-construir-una-caja-anti-espionaje/
