While discussing various doomsday scenarios in light of recent news (the burning Amazon, trade disputes, war, climate change migration etc.) with a friend of mine the conversation took an intriguing turn.

I don't remember which of us brought it up, but the topic that arose was that of of Bitcoin's use in the case of governmental upheaval and apocalypse more generally. He first argued that he would rather store up food than bitcoin, a sensible position from someone I find quite sharp. He then paused, perhaps to consider the utility of a medium of exchange (though I would never presume such as I very much would like to not straw man this dear friend), and mentioned that he'd simply use dollars up until currency collapse. I, wishing to see the state discarded, contend that I ought not save in state-backed banknotes if I actually want to see such a stateless world come to pass. The discussion then shifted to the resilience of the internet to such disaster. I say it might still exist in the aftermath, but he thoughtfully maintains that humanity very well may not. Who knows?

Our conversation soon ended amicably, but my thoughts stayed fixed on a crumbling internet.

Regardless of whether the actual infrastructure is destroyed, governments wield the power to cut off international communications or simply disallow internet access altogether. With a bit of research you can find a handful of times that this has already happened in some countries, albeit often in times of turmoil. First-worlders aren't off the hook either. The United States for instance has held the official power to do so for decades (thought they haven't yet exercised it), and aren't alone in that regard.

All this had me a little spooked about the security of all the bitcoin I've stuffed under my digital mattress for hard times ahead.

Then I thought of the blockstream satellites. Though I've never tried it personally, my understanding is that you can sync the blockchain without an internet connection but that's not the whole story. I need to be able to do it all; send transactions, check the blockchain, and even mine if I want to. With a little bit more digging into this topic I came upon the wonderful combo of Bitcoin and ham radio. Apparently some wizards out there have been sending transactions over just radio, no internet or satellite.

I'm not sure if it's quite to the point of being full nodes and miners over radio or just some slight of hand. I will definitely keep my eye out for more information on this topic. I'm about to revive my ambition to get my ham radio technicians license on account of all this. Then I'll either get to cultivate an interesting technical hobby or hone my skills for the zombie apocalypse.

Thanks for reading!

If you have the will, leave a comment. What do you think about all this? Am I being too paranoid? Am I wasting my time because we're all just going to die when the bombs drop anyway? I'd be happy to hear what you think. Oh and if you know anything about Bitcoin over radio please dispense your knowledge here. If you have a friend who does get their eyeballs on this post iff you want.

Thanks again!