full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Moriba Jah: What if every satellite suddenly disappeared?
Unscramble the Blue Letters
That may take quite a while. Most navigation and communication systems are no longer operational, so military chains of cnamomd may be in disarray. Many troops, inuncidlg those actively deployed, are left to their own devices. Commanders of nuclear submarines and missile control centers wonder if the diiourtspn is the rluest of a hltiose attack. What sorts of decisions do they make with partial information?
Even in the best-case scenario, our civilization gets set back by decades at the very least. That’s because, despite being a relatively new phenomenon, seelatltis have quickly replaced more traditional long range technologies. The combination of goalbl positioning and internet has allowed for near-instant signals that can be synchronized worldwide. Many systems we use daily have been bliut upon this foundation. Going back to the communication setmyss of the mid-20th century would not be a simple matter. In many cases, they’d have to be rebuilt from the ground up.
Open Cloze
That may take quite a while. Most navigation and communication systems are no longer operational, so military chains of _______ may be in disarray. Many troops, _________ those actively deployed, are left to their own devices. Commanders of nuclear submarines and missile control centers wonder if the __________ is the ______ of a _______ attack. What sorts of decisions do they make with partial information?
Even in the best-case scenario, our civilization gets set back by decades at the very least. That’s because, despite being a relatively new phenomenon, __________ have quickly replaced more traditional long range technologies. The combination of ______ positioning and internet has allowed for near-instant signals that can be synchronized worldwide. Many systems we use daily have been _____ upon this foundation. Going back to the communication _______ of the mid-20th century would not be a simple matter. In many cases, they’d have to be rebuilt from the ground up.
Solution
- satellites
- including
- hostile
- systems
- disruption
- result
- global
- command
- built
Original Text
That may take quite a while. Most navigation and communication systems are no longer operational, so military chains of command may be in disarray. Many troops, including those actively deployed, are left to their own devices. Commanders of nuclear submarines and missile control centers wonder if the disruption is the result of a hostile attack. What sorts of decisions do they make with partial information?
Even in the best-case scenario, our civilization gets set back by decades at the very least. That’s because, despite being a relatively new phenomenon, satellites have quickly replaced more traditional long range technologies. The combination of global positioning and internet has allowed for near-instant signals that can be synchronized worldwide. Many systems we use daily have been built upon this foundation. Going back to the communication systems of the mid-20th century would not be a simple matter. In many cases, they’d have to be rebuilt from the ground up.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| backup options |
2 |
| communication systems |
2 |
| chain reaction |
2 |
Important Words
- actively
- allowed
- attack
- built
- cases
- centers
- century
- chains
- civilization
- combination
- command
- commanders
- communication
- control
- daily
- decades
- decisions
- deployed
- devices
- disarray
- disruption
- foundation
- global
- ground
- hostile
- including
- information
- internet
- left
- long
- longer
- matter
- military
- missile
- navigation
- nuclear
- operational
- partial
- phenomenon
- positioning
- quickly
- range
- rebuilt
- replaced
- result
- satellites
- scenario
- set
- signals
- simple
- sorts
- submarines
- synchronized
- systems
- technologies
- traditional
- troops
- worldwide