One of our favorite TV series is ‘Bones’ on the Fox network. Its premise is on a real-life forensic anthropologist (Kathy Reichs-who has penned several novels) and her counterpart of course is Dr. Temperance Brennan who is the star of the show and novels. Currently they’re going through a part of the series (which I hope ends soon) of murders and investigations having to do with one guy that is a freaking computer genius. He has even wiped out his own identity several times over to try and ‘get’ to these crime fighters. One way he has them ‘hooked’ is that he can hack into any of their systems. From FBI databases to burner cells! Yup, he even got into a Predator drone and aimed it toward a school on foreign soil. He tied the success of destruction of the drone with the draining of the doctor’s bank account. They ended up with nothing, but the school was saved. In the meantime they communicated though a system of 2 machines that could not be traced because their technology is so old, it doesn’t go over any of the regular networks. Think can on a string. Last season Dr. Brennan even took her baby on the run, hiding out, working low paying jobs with a new identity, etc. to keep her family safe. No calling her husband, no internet, no money from your bank accounts… nothing.
Can you imagine? Starting all over again with zero in your pockets, no way to use an ATM, a phone to call for help, get gas with a credit card, nothing.
I’m wondering in this day and age how many of us could go off the grid like that. Just disappear. So many of us use internet for work, contacts, the only way to share information with friends and family (besides snail mail which is marked through a computer) is on the computer or computer driven systems. We take so much of our lives for granted, until we can no longer do things because of a server error, machine lock up, etc. Then we remember how very precious computer systems have become to all of us. Could you go off the grid?
