The solar storm may come for us all

and crypto won't save us. Some pessimism, or maybe not.

Preach, Stephen!

I’m in New Orleans to cover New Orleans Entrepreneur Week and the 3^rd Coast Venture Summit. I read a back issue of The New Yorker on the flight down and learned all about how disturbances in solar weather will shut down our electrical, communications, and GPS grids. This caused some terror because I am a nervous flyer, but we landed safely and I got on my way.

My first night in NOLA, I had dinner at Carmo, a Caribbean spot with a definite hippie vibe. My food was great (the pão de quejo, or cheese bread, was to die for). I sat at the bar and the person next to me struck up a conversation. They just started working there as a bartender and were enjoying a pre-shift meal. They told me that they like to work with herbs, tinctures, and teas, in part because we need to get back to the ways of the ancestors. Technology is killing us, they said, and a solar flare is going to blow the whole system up.

“Did you just read the same article?” I said. They had not, so I gave them my magazine and went on my way.

The next day, I went to the New Orleans Entrepreneur Week conference day. To my great relief, people weren’t talking about apps and crypto as much as they usually do at events like this. While there were still some traces of that, I heard from people who started a Mardi Gras parade, a company that rents silk flower arrangements for weddings, and a line of hair care products for Black hair. There was an emphasis on real people doing real things, even when apps were involved.

I have such a love-hate relationship with technology. One speaker said that Facebook was set up as judgement for entertainment, and that’s still the company’s main product. And it’s true! I love that I can keep in touch with far-flung friends and relatives. I hate how it has flattened discussions and driven tribalism. My ancestors had higher hopes for the future! Your ancestors probably did, too.

We may be at the mercy of solar weather, and we may be forced into a world that’s less dependent on electronics. That might be good. In the meantime, I’m glad I had an interesting conversation at dinner instead of staring at my phone.