How long would you live if electricity for the whole world went out permanently?

I think the immediate deaths would all be from people who need electricity to run medical devices.
Followed shortly by people who require refrigerated medication.
Followed by elderly who die from exposure to extreme, unconditioned temperatures.
and that would be in the first, oh, say... week or two.
Then, with fridges full of rotted food, your first major death wave will occur as masses of people lose their absolute goddamn minds in panic and fear and start food riots/try to rob from others/raid big industrial farms/neighborhood gardens/etc, which leads to mass deaths from starvation, exposure, exertion, desperation, and gunshot.
Which will even out after about a week or two.
Then you settle in for the slow burn. 3 months out you'll have another, comparatively small wave of deaths from people who run out of non-refridgeration requiring medications.
Then another slow burn until manufactured canned goods run out in stores and scavanged homes until a wave of starvation.
All in all, I'd say you'd probably be over the bulk of the mass deaths after 6 months, and with a significantly reduced population.. Which will be to the benefit of the survivors, since less people per mile will make farming/hunting easier, and life safer.. because while raiders/thieves will always be a overarching concern and safety issue, at this point, most of the desperation should have passed along with most of the desperate.
There will also be, for at least a generation, possibly two, the lingering unspoken understanding that more people than anyone would ever care to count only survived the famines and fall by eating the long pig.
- Sorry, what's the long pig? Other humans?
- You forgot water in your scenario.
  To be fair most people in a first world country don't need to think about water since it's just "there", all the time.
  But as soon as the electricity goes out the water supply goes out too.
  No water supply means no water to drink, with no water the human body die within 3 days, so people will start to rely on any dirty water they can find.
  About dirty water, no water also means no WC. I repeat: no WC so no evacuation of feces and urine. Within a few day a big city swill be covered with human excrement. Mixed with no clean water access it means that deadly waterborne diseases will spread extremely quickly.
  
  I wonder about the population using non-refrigerated but still vital medication being "comparatively small." There are countless people who would no longer be getting things they need to live, and only a very small percentage of those folks would have the ability to grow a plant or something and refine themselves a substitute of some kind. I am really curious how those numbers would line up.
- Username doesn't check out. I would watch that movie.
- Yep. I'd have about a month and a half of insulin to use, since it lasts that long out of refrigeration. It would take a while to actually kill me probably, but yeah that would be what gets me I think.
- So basically Walking Dead without zombies.
  
  Even in TWD the bigger danger was from the living.
- My post apocalypse strategy - and the only way to avoid prolonged suffering - is suicide on day 1.
  Turns out that's not a good dinner party answer.
- Bravo
- You got it right. If you’re already in a hospital you’re screwed. Anyone on a ventilator etc. is dead in hours.Then there’s people who need special meds that require refrigeration. They’re dead in days. Depending on the season, many more are dead in weeks. Food would be an issue but there are lots of shelf stable/canned goods that could last for a bit. Scarcity would be the bigger concern.
  The dead bodies themselves could also be an issue at scale.
  The crazier issue in my mind are all the industrial plants, nuclear power plants, chemical processing facilities…
  In any major catastrophe they are abandoned and likely the meltdown and other issues could render whole areas uninhabitable. Might be manageable in certain power loss scenarios… but anything major and sudden like if you’re country suffered a nuclear attack or a major natural catastrophe and you survived I’d stay away from nuclear plants or chemical processing facilities. Potable water will be hard enough to come by…

About six weeks.
After my medications run out, then about one or two weeks and I die. Period.

- Jokes on you there's a water tower near my house

There is a book that describes exactly that: Ashes, Ashes by Barjavel.
It's a classic of French science-fiction literature and I recommended everyone to read.
It was written in 1943, it describes a parisian dystopian society in 2050 where all the electricity suddenly stop overnight. Even thought the book is 80 years old it is surprisingly accurate in some aspect.
- For something more modern there is also the French mini series: https://youtu.be/VHCeqvQBNIM?si=RvjrgWHh2BNwFqT-
  The world collapsed overnight and we are following few survivors. The second episode in the gas station gave me goosebumps.
  The videos with the full episodes are available on youtube but region locked to France. I don't know how to make it available for everyone.
  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo4Qwa4Nhi1m1v4aernDm1agaSqWuoBDS&si=9h9UMA-Bh_QTe2Uq

- it would depend on luck for the first few days
  I hate when people try to brag that they'd easily survive the apocalypse cause they've prepped, or hoarded, or trained, or whatever. Like bitch if you're in the first city to be bombed or patient zero, you dead.
  
  When the pandemic shut a lot of the world down for a bit, I turned into Snake Plisskin from "Escape from LA" like some of apocalyptic Cinderella. Didn't everyone? /s
  Army-of-one renegade lone-wolf badass-hero natural-confidence-leader fiction was a cultural mistake.
- Yes, that is to be expected from the Us americans. They would kill each other pretty soon.
  
  I thought it was interesting that this poster started with weapons and protection, when in my mind the first thing to do is find community of people to work together on mutual survival.

However long it would take me to find a tank of nitrogen to strap to my face for happy sleep time.

At least long enough to build my own hand-crank generator. Then the raiders would kill me and take it.
:(
- Disguise it as a sausage grinter?
  
  Cannibals would kill me and grind me in it
  :(

If given enough notice to store water and fill 3 good coolers with ice, longer than 2 weeks - we lost power for 2 weeks with a hurricane once and had an electric well pump so no water either. Had set up a system with one cooler allowed to be opened, the others not often. By 2 weeks the water that we'd filled the tub with (for washing not drinking - water with a little bit of bleach) was getting questionable.
Like you, I think the biggest issue would be people.

Hard to say.
The biggest challenge would be to get out of the city and make the trip to my family's farm safely. It would take about a week on foot/bikes using less known roads with all the supplies/weapons that would be crucial.
If I could get to the farm, rest would be fairly easy. I can farm, fish and and hunt. Heating works with wood. Fresh water is not a problem, nor is refrigeration with an ice cellar. My family has an old mill that we could restore to get flour and I think I could retrofit it to produce hydroelectricity in a year or so.
I'd trade access to electricity to get horses and other farm animals.
Almost every neighbour is related to me, so forming a defensive alliance should be possible.
I have the gear and the knowhow to make things work, it's the not-getting-killed part at the start that's hard.
- The trouble isn't that you can't do all that. It's how many other people have that same idea. Rural areas will be overrun by people who think getting out of the cities is the best idea -- not that they're wrong -- but it will run supplies low outside cities too, and home gardens and the local deer population can only take so much pressure. That's not even to mention the road traffic. If cities can't handle rush hour, 2 lanes will certainly be gridlocked as everyone looks for the next road not taken. The locals would not take kindly to such an influx either.
  The best strategy in my mind would be to stockpile food and other necessities wherever you are now and prepare for a long wait, hoping power gets restored. It would be horrible and dangerous no matter where.
  3 months is when my insulin runs out. I doubt I'd make it that long in the USA.
  
  Like I said, the start would be the hardest part. Cars or any other motor vehicles would be out of the question.
  f this scenario would happen during the winter, it would effectively block all the lesser known forest roads for vehicle use. Doing the trip with skis would easily halve my travel time, even with the supply sled and heavy backpacks. 30-50km per day would be easy, when one wouldn't have to go around all the lakes and rivers. We don't get much daylight here in the far north so travelling in the cover of darkness would be ideal. I can find my way in dark forests with ease.
  In the summer, the trip would be much more problematic. My country has countless number of old, unmarked roads and forest paths that are usually suitable for mountain bikes. This would be my first option. The second would be crossing the forests by foot which would be very safe, but it would take time.
  My relatives would take care of the farm until I would arrive, of that I am certain - and they are very capable of doing so. My family has stuck around those parts for hundreds of years and we aim to keep it that way in any scenario ;)
- And then there’s me. I either get some of your food, or I die. The hunger is growing in me like crack withdrawal. I also have survival skills and I’ve used every tool you can imagine and I’m really good at sneaking around.
  I’ve probably got a gun by now.
  I’m just gonna come and take ten pound of your corn. That’s all I need, then I’ll be on my way.
  What do you say? Are you gonna give me some corn?
  
  Depends.
  Maybe you're willing to chop some wood or help out in some other way in exchange for the food. Win-win for all.
  Or then one of my children on watch duty shoots you with a .308 when I subtly signal them that the negotiations have stalled or you pull your gun out.
  Maybe we both die. Those would be very uncertain times.
- I don't know how well I would do even if I escaped to my inlaws farm. It is pretty low tech but they are depending on city water which involves pumps and a moped to even get to the farm from their house still requires a battery.

Way longer than your average person but I'd start running out of supplies after few months too. I have food stocked up for few months, 90 litres of drinking water and a water filter, 120 litres of diesel plus what I have in the tank, enough fuel to run alchohol stove for few months aswell and I have a fireplace to keep myself warm basically indefinitely.
It's kind of scary to think that even me whose somewhat of a prepper would run out of supplies quite quick. What does that mean for the average person who doesn't even have a jug of water stored up.
Also, this is the kind of discussion that would fit well on !zombiesurvival@sopuli.xyz
- I've always wondered. Do you folks just chow on nothing but canned food ands military reasons for a few months straight every couple years when things expire? Or just donate?
  Don't get me wrong. I think it's good to have emergency supplies. But things expire...
  
  They could just eat them from time to time and replace them with new ones gradually.
  
  I mostly stock up on items I'm using anyways such as rice, beans, noodles, sugar, coffee, crackers, honey, peanut butter etc. and I'm constantly using the oldest packages from my stock and replacing them with fresh ones.
  
  Expired can food doesn’t go bad. Unless the can is budging it’s fine
- What good would your diesel be? The electronics in your car are fried and there's no point putting it in a generator because there's nothing to power
  
  Depending on tool, electronics might not be an issue. Quads, bikes, mopeds, other two stroke engine type stuff.
  
  EMP would not affect devices that aren't connected to the grid. Atleast I don't think it would, and even if it did, there's still plenty of older diesel powered machines that don't need electricity to run such as some diesel heaters. If nothing else I could trade it for something more useful then.

There’s a fantastic book series based on exactly this: The Change Series. This is a double storyline with the Emberverse series in which the present time beginning in March 1998 loses electricity and “most forms of high-energy-density technology” due to "The Change", which occurs at 6:15 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, March 17, 1998.
The companion series, which was written first, is the Nantucket Series, in which the island of Nantucket is transported back in time to 1250 BC due to something called "The Event", the same Event that caused The Change. But— they got to keep all their physics intact.

If property rights are still enforced in the turmoil probably indefinitely. Doesn't mean I'd enjoy it, though.
I come from a place where survival agriculture was the norm well into the 1980s. Would have to start having cows and pigs again, need to work out a salting station, which we haven't had for a few decades. I remember soap making was a mess. We got rid of our wood-fueled kitchen at some point, so that's a problem until society settles back in enough to start selling those again. We'd probably have to go back to setting up a corner for a fireplace in the meantime. That's before my time but it should be possible.

Medication would run out so probably about a month.

This question reminded me of the Dr Stone anime. The premise is that a wave turns everyone into marble, several thousands years later a young scientist is unfrozen and uses science to restore society to its former state.
Also, I wonder what the effects of long term exposure to EMP would be to life on earth. Since most neurological systems use electromagnetic waves maybe they are impacted?
Another interesting question would be if there would be a way to work around the EMP. For example, would a Faraday cage work to allow electronics to work inside it? Or maybe electronics are improved to work under the effect of EMP? Like how the CPUs have bit correction algorithms because of random bit flips that occur due to solar flares.
Last but not least, in such a situation my plan would be to go as far away as possible, since there will be food shortages, being in an area where you can forage for food or hunt animals would be a priority. Then, I would probably die eating something poisonous. If I survive long enough to set up a farm, I would probably survive the next 10 years or so until I die of old age at 35 the new average life expectancy.
- Absolutely love Dr. Stone, and love the comparison too

There’s a book I read about this. I don’t remember the title, but it was written by some US senator or house rep, probably had a ghostwriter. It was about that, some enemy of the US, maybe it was China or Russia, detonated a bunch of nukes high in the atmosphere, causing the US’s electronics to be fried.
Assuming they did their research, the book had people survive for years, but definitely addressed how hard it would be. There was looting & rioting, the family had to eat their dog eventually, and there was a massive change in the importance of trust & community. I think it was like 3 years later that the reconstruction reached the small town, and it ended along the lines of “and then there was more work.”
It was a decent read, 7/10.

Probably immediately. That's kind of the plan, actually. Why would I want to live in such a world where physical might makes right?
- Same reason you'd want to live in this fucked up world full of injustice and suffering.
  Most people have a very powerful inherent drive to survive, and a lot of people who think they've got nothing to live for experience a reprioritization and will fight like hell to survive.
  Most individuals who try to kill themselves immediately regret their decision. This happens a lot with jumpers, where most survivors report immediately regretting the decision as soon as they are in free fall and their brains reprioritize survival over the petty or even significant reasons we had to jump in the first place.
  Just after jumping and while mid-air, Ken said, “I realized, at that moment, this is the stupidest thing I could have done.”
  “I instantly realized that everything in my life that I’d thought was unfixable was totally fixable — except for having just jumped.” Source
  
  Yeah yeah. Heard that story like a billion times. Totally agree. I'd rather die from starvation after having witnessed my loved ones die from similar circumstances. And I'm not being facetious. This is preferable to suicide.
- What do you think is happening now that that isn't the case?
  
  Meh...I'm still able to go to the supermarket and purchase food without being harassed or lynched despite being a minority.
- a world where physical might makes right?
  For example the Usa is, and has always been that way.
  Many other countries are different, and there is no reason to assume that our scenario here would change that.
  
  I agree that the USA has always had a "might makes right" mentality, especially in regards to its international relations, but yes, within our domestic affairs as well.
  The boon of technologies, however, is initially a benefit to those who are differently abled, or somehow otherwise incapable of accomplishing physically strenuous tasks (think of the boon the invention of the bicycle had to women, who were demonized for wearing pants shortly after its invention and visiting ”men of ill repute” just the town over. Or more recently the invention of modern contraceptives and safer abortion techniques).
  Said technologies are often usually then weaponized for power or profit by militaries, police, and corporations to exploit and disenfranchise, as well as remove access of these technologies to certain classes of people (the public working and public lower classes).
  One only has to look at the corporatization of the modern farming industry and its rabid attempts to circumvent right to repair laws to see its nightmarish effects on not only agriculture, but also the modern farmer’s ability to run their own business according to their whims, and not an overlord corporation.
  The loss of electricity worldwide would send us back to the late 19th century for the most part. And there are many strong, dominant, men who would love nothing more than to have the reliance of brute strength become the rule of law again.
  To me, that is not a time I wish to revisit, that is not a transition I wish to bear witness to, as it would likely involve witnessing the disenfranchisement and disenpowerment of the world's differently abled people as well as witnessing the rise of violent conflicts over resources and a return of more blatant slavery than we see today. Quite simply, I'd rather die.
  I do hope this would play out differently in other countries (likely smaller countries). But the cynic in me doesn't believe it's possible.

Hopefully quite a while. I'm regularly in the wilderness, a holiday is 2-3 weeks off-grid. The only thing I use electricity for is lighting (torches and camp) and music/radio, powered off battery's that are handled by solar.
I aim to extend food by fishing, which usually is week 2 after my stored meat is gone and I need more protein. I have a couple of different weighted bows, but rarely hunt as it requires extra licensing. Lots and lots and lots of expedition-level outdoor/survival gear.
Combine that all with still having a house for shelter, should be fine. Love a book and crosswords for non-electric entertainment, otherwise mountain biking or rock climbing. I won't get bored.
- I think fish wouldnt be as available as you think, since tons of desperate people will use less than ethical means to harvest every edible, living thing from the river systems.
  Leaving to massive ecological damage, and possibly massive contamination as well.
  
  I think your point would be true in a high population city in a high population nation where most of it is accessible to the average person.
  I live in Australia, though.
  Fishing requires gear, skill, and knowledge. For much of our fish abundance the average person wouldn't survive getting to the area or know what to do once they got there. This is why they have untouched abundance.

I'd probably die because of looters so a month to 2 would be my guess
- Good point. Having a *really * good stash isn't a bad idea. BUT then there's the rubber hoses. To avoid the looters, then, means moving away from them ... and not leaving tracks to the stash.
  I know a couple of things about making log cabins. For someone who's got food and my back.

Indefinitely. What remains of my government will be drafting me into some forced labor group all us sparkies will be ordered to report.

I think the biggest issue would be food. We have loads of farmers in the area and the bike is usable. However, to many people in the area and a lot of specialized crop.
With the canned food, I guess around a month, then it'll get challeging.

I have a bike and know how to repair it, so if there are materials availiable in case of an emergency, I would have a means of transport that doesn't rely on electricity or gas. I'm a bit out of shape ATM but that's a problem that would fix itself if I "had to" rely on a bike to get around.
I know how to build fires, chop and dry wood, sharpen an axe properly and there are lots of trees around these parts, so with a little extra work I would be able to stay warm and cook food. I think I even still have my grandpa's old axe here somewhere.
My grandparents taught me how to preserve stuff properly; drying, pickling, smoking and canning raw foods, like fruit, veggies, fish, meat and mushrooms. I know how to grow and store potatoes properly - the only thing I'd need here would be a bit of fertile land and a cellar, but in case of a world wide disaster like that, it would probably not be that hard to find people willing to turn their lawn into a field and toss out obsolete electronics out of their cellar to store food there instead.
I know how to fish and I'm not that bad with a bow either (medieval enthusiast here), and I know how to quickly kill and properly prepare chickens, ducks and rabbits. No actual experience with bigger animals yet, but the basics are there and I'm not icky about getting my hands dirty. I know how to skin rabbits too, but I have not yet tried to make leather / pelts.
I am somwehat okay at identifying wild mushrooms, but not good enough to be 100% certain all the time, so that's a point where I needed to be cautious.
There are plenty of small rivers around these parts, so drinking water might not be an issue, provided that stuff is actually safe to drink. Boiling doesn't always remove all the nasty stuff, and I only have a very vague idea of how to build filters out of natural materials, so I would either need to experiment around, rely on the knowledge of others, or look it up on the then nonexistent internet.
I would definitely miss the internet and since I'm a total videogame nerd as well, it would suck big time to lose that hobby permanently, but as for sheer survival, I'm fairly certain I would make it for a while, especially if I could find other people to teach them what I know and build a small community. I can't do ALL of the things mentioned above all on my own every single day for weeks or months on end, but if the knowledge is there and there are people willing to learn and do their share, I'm positive it would work out after a while.
The biggest issues would probably be medicine and other people: My knowledge about natural medicine is VERY limited - birch bark for pain and the like, but I wouldn't be able to treat more serious injuries or diseases properly on my own. And since people as a whole tend to be assholes when presented with disastrous conditions, I would be very cautious about whom to trust. A lot of doomsday preppers seem to have the only plan of hoarding weapons and food and shooting others when running low on supplies so they can take other people's stuff, and that's nothing I would want to have to deal with.
PS: Just to mention it; I live in a somewhat rural area anyway. Plenty of people here still keep their own chickens, live in houses that still have wood stoves and "old timey" fireplaces, grow their own veggies and fruit, and I know at least two families around these parts that still have horse-drawn carriages and trained shirehorses (they offer rides for a fee for events, parties and the like). A lot of older folks here grew up on farms and have the respective knowledge still. We even have a "traditional" blacksmith and farrier here, as well as a hunting club with a couple dozen members. The knowledge of how to survive without elctricity is definitely there, a lot of non-electric tools as well, and everything else is just a matter of time and cooperation.
Medicine would still be an issue tho. (Insulin has been mentoined a couple of times already - you can't just substitute traditional natural folk medicine for everything)

My job and hobbies would both be affected, and I would be stuck in the middle of nowhere. Maybe a month.

As soon as the health system is out I'm taking myself out. It's just not worth it without medicine

Indefinitely, but significantly less life expectancy than if it didn't happen.
I'm relatively well set up and experienced for that kind of thing. Don't get me wrong, it would suuuck. But I think we'd be okay. I personally would probably not live as long because living rustic is fucking hard work and my kids are still too young to help much. We'd have a rough time of it, but I am confident that with our help my kids would figure out how to thrive by the time my health is failing. So yeah at least another generation or two seems likely even though I doubt I could last more than another 10 or 15 years living that way. Especially given that the first few years would be the hardest.

There was a TV series based on that idea; it got weird after a while but does point out some of the complexities of living without power. The show is called Revolution and came out in 2012.
Personally though, I doubt a majority of people would be able to survive long due to complications of getting fresh water, food, not to mention medical care, etc.

If we can create fire we'd still have steam energy.
- I feel like this is the kind of thing everyone overlooks in these kinds of scenarios. Thousands of people are going to be working on the problem. Okay, all our current electronics are fried, but that doesn't mean we can't make new ones. All our power plants and water treatment facilities suddenly don't work... Well, people still have jobs at those places so someone is going to try to fix it. And I think most people sort of know and understand that, at least over the short term. Society doesn't fall apart after every disaster.
  And if it did, you're probably wrong about how you'd respond or you're not being creative and therefore are doing what everyone else will do and the resources will dry up and you won't be one of the lucky few that makes it.
  
  Well these questions are mostly for people to LARP about how tough and self-sufficient they are. No, society wouldn't collapse because we didn't have electricity for 99% of our time on Earth. Electricity was a luxury as recently as 100 years ago.
  Number one issue is, can electronics be fixed? If yes, temporary issue. If not, and we are literally without power (for some magical reason) we just need a million more horses to cart food around. There wouldn't be much looting. The new iPhone won't work and how are you going to get away with anything bigger? Guns and locks still work without electricity.
  I personally would start buying up property from people ignorantly fleeing cities. Most major cities are built on great harbors or waterways for sail and steam ships. People will try to farm, fail at it, and just buy from farmers like before. Food will move by boat first to major ports. Every prepper in the middle of nowhere will sit in a bunker eating canned vegetables while the rest of the world goes on with their lives.
  You don't actually need Facebook and Tik Tok. You won't die without it. You'll just read the same gossip in a magazine.

I would definitely die sooner than a lot of people because of my mechanical heart valve. The blood thinners and needing to make sure my blood isn't too thin or thick would be harder since I've been getting it checked for over a decade and I've never seen them use a non-electric method of testing.

I wouldn't be able to use more of my medication, so if I keep taking NSAIDS every day, then until I have kidney/liver failure. I don't know how long would that be.
That's of course not accounting for someone trying to murder me to get the NSAIDS they couldn't get, or someone else trying to murder me for my belongings/food. Since I have arthritis I can't really defend myself so... Yeah.
I did talk to my wife about this on one of those drunken conversations and we both agreed to just end it when we see no other way because we both need medication to live.

I'm not too concerned. Worst case, my brother is a competition shooter and has a number of guns and the components for lots of ammo at home (he makes his own custom tailored ammo), while gun ownership is otherwise quite unusual in my country.
I suppose a major issue would be realizing early enough if things are not going to improve, and that it's time to bug out to his place and switch to Fallout mode.

Depends how prepared you are and how you play the cards you have. Taking care of family/others will definitely slow you down. Gas won't last and when you start seeing people roaming around, better be somewhere safe!
- I swear American fantasies about societal collapse are so frustrating. Everybody assumes people would turn to violence and greed immediately. Either it's because it looks good in movies or they genuinely think they suck.
  Meanwhile in real extreme conditions everybody is all "let's get all the famillies together to help each other gather our crops" and "I have too many lemons from my lemon tree, do you want some for free?" "Oh, only if you take some of this fish I got that may go bad instead".
  
  I know a few assholes. And if they're assholes in times of plenty, I have no reason to think they'll grow a moral compass when the lights go out.

This was the storyline for the old Jessica Alba show, a Dark Angel.

I would live maybe even longer than in the current world. So much more action would help my physical condition.
I have grown up with low tech, so I know how to get along. It is just a lot less convenient.
- Got a plan for food, long-term?
  
  Grows everywhere. I would go outside of the city, but I have heard about people in cities can also grow things.
  The much more difficult "secret knowlege" (nobody seems to know it anymore except a few large companies) is how to store food long-term, for example through a cold winter.

Would probably depend on how strongly my survive instinct would kick in, and what I'd be willing to do to survive. And of course on how we as a society would deal with this big change.
A few minutes would be the minimum.

I know a place I could last for months, depending on what time of year the power's lost, but it's a long ways from here. And then, only if bullets for hunting were still available (they'll get scarce fast, faster than toilet paper when COVID came around). Once the bullets are gone, I've either learned to trap or become a vegetarian.
- So just to start on your first point, let’s assume the flare hit and you need to start making black powder from raw ingredients. Since there are no more available with supply chain breakdown, without consulting the internet (also down), where are those coming from within walking or bicycle distance with maybe a paper map if you still have one?

My brain (and everybody else’s) runs on electrical pulses. So, I die instantly.
- Well, the hypothetical situation is that even flashlights stop working and unrepeatable. So, brain stops working too.

Until my medication runs out. :(

In all likelihood the water system would probably stop working at some point, so whenever that goes plus two or three days is likely an upper bound on how long I could survive for. It’s pretty dry here so that would be a lethal problem.
If somehow it stays working, I could probably survive for a few months… basically until society and the supply chains completely break down and stop functioning followed by a period of mass starvation
- Protip. If the apocalypse begins at a punctuated point (bombs literally dropping on major powers as opposed to say global warming), fill your bathtub with water. That can hold a lot of water and should help you out.
  
  An excellent idea. I’ve had it stuck in my mind since seeing The Road lol
- the water system would probably stop working
  Good point.
  The sewage system as well. The smell makes life less fun, but the growth of bacteries there makes big cities uninhabitable after only a few weeks.

I live in the middle of the Mojave Desert, so I think it would depend on the time of year. There would be too many people fighting over what little water we have, and if it was in the middle of the summer, I don't know that I would make it very long.
- Would it make you wish for a nuclear winter?

I think I would get by just fine I do survival camping for fun on a regular basis
- When you go survival camping do you also practice fending off hordes of starving people?
  
  won't need to cuz I'll be in the middle of nowhere

I worked closely with an energy company for some time and enjoyed talking with the field maintenace personell and soon discovered that fable of sensible electronics on the power is just that.
Most of the power relies on hardware to control, distribute and protect the grid. And I mean old school hardware, not electronics.
The most electronic dependent part of the grid here is essentially on the end of the line, inside consumers homes, to measure and control the energy delivered and consumed.
Wild fires are more of a menace to power lines and energy distribution than thunderstorms or other massive energy discharges.

Wait, I've seen this TV show before.
- It was a movie. The end of Escape from LA.

Honestly, I wonder if it would make me live longer. Sometimes it takes a literal crisis to get me out of my chair.
Sure the collapse of society will possibly happen. But that means all polluting systems would inevitably shut down. And at that point you have to get creative. While I don't live on a farm, it wouldn't take much to rob a store for seeds and food with the security systems down. And guns are few and far between here in aus.
- Get some seeds, press the button on the packet and after a bit out comes the food, right?
  Farming is hard and electricity plays a huge part in how it's currently done.
  
  Yes, but I'm not planning on doing full on farming.. rather a small set of crops I can manage on my own with gardening implements and my own bare hands. Times will be lean, and I'd have to ration what I have, and there's always the chance that a bad harvest could cause me to catch my death, but trying anything you can is the aim.
  Maybe setting some bird traps or something is a good idea, it's worth a shot.
  Basically to only grow as much as I need to survive. Might even fill tanks with the water to keep a surplus in case the water system loses pressure and water dries out. I have a set of gas stoves and dad loves his barbecues, so we can cook on propane, charcoal and we can even use the wood for our fireplace, and we could chop trees down in the park near my house for more wood heck our Falcon wagon runs on LPG, so we can use that in our barbecues as well if we can manage to adapt the nozzle on the filler cap.
  It won't last forever, but the whole point of doing it is to give yourself enough time to come up with a plan and improve your issues over time.
  Even with the power gone I still live in a city. And I guarantee the roads will be blocked with cars as more and more run out of petrol. Unless you can get out as quick as possible and can get fuel before the fuel stations run out of juice to pump the stuff, you aren't going to get far. So you might be better off staying put and only going short distances to conserve your fuel.
  Of could if the outage is the result of EMP your modern car's electrics could be fried anyway. Unless you can find spare working parts to fix your ECUs and other computers or to manage to adapt your car to magnetos and carburettors, you won't be going anywhere anyway. Honestly the only thing that might still be working is my dad's Moto Guzzi. Just put the original ignition back on to it if the upgraded electronic ignition is fried and it will run, may have to push start it, but it will., and you can weave in and out of roadblocks with it, and all our other cars and our lawnmower can contribute their fuel via a siphon.

Solar pannels and wind farms will continue working, so the grid may fail, but there will remain many small islands where electricity keeps working ig

About treefiddy

The world becoming anarchic (=no individual holding power/authority over any other) would be amazing. Electricity turning off might actually help challenge established power structures. I like your thinking !
I also think we tend to underestimate just how good we are, when rid of our oppressions. We're set against one another, day after day, and we end up thinking it's our nature. It's not ! If electricity were to be cut suddenly and everywhere, I'm certain we would help out one another and manage well.