Earth Moving Toward Mysterious Magnetic Cloud

After so many years of 2012 speculation, the theory has been sufficiently battered to leave skeptics confident in the assertion that the reported “end of the world” interpretation of the Mayan calendar is based more in folklore than science.  And recently we brought you a story suggesting the prophecy may be off by several years according to the interpretations of one expert on the subject by anywhere from one to a hundred years.  But recent news that Earth is soon to pass into a cosmic “mystery cloud” may give us all reason to take a second look at the legend and what this mysterious cloud of energy the Earth may pass through could be.

The mysterious cloud is part of a scientific model explaining the unknown excitation of gaseous planets like Jupiter and Saturn, first proposed by scientists analyzing Voyager data as it was sent back.  But though the system is said to be a magnetic cloud, there are those who have proposed that it may eventually effect more than just these distant bodies.  In fact, Mr. Lawrence E. Joseph recently brought back information regarding the massive cloud in an article on the Huffington Post.  The data reached the public eye on December 24 of last year.  But what would this mean for us?

One of the things an incredibly strong electromagnetic field could do is affect electronic equipment and disrupt the power supply as it ran across the Earth.  Large power infrastructures would be rendered incapable of running power across grids meaning power would largely have to come from small private sources at best and at worst would be incapable of reaching even these systems.  Essentially all the power globally could be cut short.

It sounds terrifying, but has anything like this ever happened before?  Yes, in fact, it has.  The Carrington Storm of 1859 was powerful enough to knock out sturdy telegraphs worldwide, and would have essentially devastated the planet if it had happened today.  Even so, then we did not depend nearly as much as we do today on electrical systems for communication, medicine, or industry.  

There are, however, some defenses that have been proposed against these sorts of electromagnetic interference.  The systems in faraday cages, or buried deep beneath the Earth could in theory protect electronic components somewhat.  But the resulting loss of infrastructure could be nothing short of devastating.

But even so, does this mean we will be entering a new age on the ruins of the old some time soon?  It’s still largely a matter of mystery.  Though there are theories that such a system exists, and though it has been documented by scientists, the fact there is no conclusive proof that this event is indeed coming.  But just as we couldn’t predict the solar storm, it may be possible that we will not see this one coming.  Cause for panic?  Likely not.  Humans did quite well without electricity for thousands of years, and even then the technology will still be retrievable once the cloud passes.  Additionally new electronic components could be created that are bolstered against these electronic systems.  But it may be those taking most advantage of the situation that we should be cautious of most.  Such an event may be the precursor to World War III.  But it could just as easily be the precursor of a new way of life that benefits all of humanity.