---
title: "What happens if — everyday systems"
description: "10 what-if questions in the everyday systems category, each labelled by how confident the answer actually is."
url: https://atoneplace.net/what-happens-if/everyday/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Everyday systems

10 questions in the everyday systems category.

| Question | Answer | Confidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What would happen if everyone on Earth jumped at the same time? | Essentially nothing. All of humanity together is about one ten-trillionth of Earth's mass. | Reasoned extrapolation |
| What would happen if the internet went down? | Payments fail first, then logistics — most physical supply chains now depend on network connectivity rather than the other way round. | Reasoned extrapolation |
| What would happen if all the power went out worldwide? | Water supply is the first life-critical failure — most tap water is pumped, and pumping stops when the grid does. | Reasoned extrapolation |
| How much space would it take for everyone on Earth to stand in one place? | About 2,000 square kilometres — smaller than Luxembourg, and less than twice the area of Los Angeles. | Reasoned extrapolation |
| What would happen if GPS stopped working? | Timing, not navigation, is the real dependency — mobile networks, power grids and financial systems all use GPS clocks. | Reasoned extrapolation |
| What would happen if money stopped existing? | Trade would collapse to what barter can support, and something money-like would be reinvented within weeks. | Speculative |
| What would happen if all the satellites stopped working? | Weather forecasting would lose most of its accuracy beyond a day or two, along with navigation, timing and most long-range communications. | Reasoned extrapolation |
| What would happen if all refrigeration stopped? | Food waste would rise enormously and the vaccine cold chain would fail — refrigeration is a public health system, not a convenience. | Reasoned extrapolation |
| What would happen if the water supply stopped? | Three days for drinking, but sanitation fails first — waterborne disease is what historically kills people in a water outage. | Reasoned extrapolation |
| What would happen if all digital data was lost? | Ownership would be the deepest problem — land registries, bank balances and medical records exist almost entirely as data. | Reasoned extrapolation |

- [What would happen if everyone on Earth jumped at the same time?](https://atoneplace.net/what-happens-if/everyone-jumped-at-once/) — Essentially nothing. All of humanity together is about one ten-trillionth of Earth's mass.
- [What would happen if the internet went down?](https://atoneplace.net/what-happens-if/internet-went-down/) — Payments fail first, then logistics — most physical supply chains now depend on network connectivity rather than the other way round.
- [What would happen if all the power went out worldwide?](https://atoneplace.net/what-happens-if/all-power-went-out/) — Water supply is the first life-critical failure — most tap water is pumped, and pumping stops when the grid does.
- [How much space would it take for everyone on Earth to stand in one place?](https://atoneplace.net/what-happens-if/population-stood-in-one-place/) — About 2,000 square kilometres — smaller than Luxembourg, and less than twice the area of Los Angeles.
- [What would happen if GPS stopped working?](https://atoneplace.net/what-happens-if/gps-failed/) — Timing, not navigation, is the real dependency — mobile networks, power grids and financial systems all use GPS clocks.
- [What would happen if money stopped existing?](https://atoneplace.net/what-happens-if/money-stopped-existing/) — Trade would collapse to what barter can support, and something money-like would be reinvented within weeks.
- [What would happen if all the satellites stopped working?](https://atoneplace.net/what-happens-if/all-satellites-failed/) — Weather forecasting would lose most of its accuracy beyond a day or two, along with navigation, timing and most long-range communications.
- [What would happen if all refrigeration stopped?](https://atoneplace.net/what-happens-if/all-refrigeration-stopped/) — Food waste would rise enormously and the vaccine cold chain would fail — refrigeration is a public health system, not a convenience.
- [What would happen if the water supply stopped?](https://atoneplace.net/what-happens-if/water-supply-stopped/) — Three days for drinking, but sanitation fails first — waterborne disease is what historically kills people in a water outage.
- [What would happen if all digital data was lost?](https://atoneplace.net/what-happens-if/all-data-was-lost/) — Ownership would be the deepest problem — land registries, bank balances and medical records exist almost entirely as data.