Without warning, the lights went out. It was Aug. 15, 2003. A cascading power failure plunged the Northeastern United States and Canada into a massive blackout. For more than 55 million people, it was an object lesson in what life is like without electricity. Luckily, the lesson was short-lived. Most services were restored within 24 hours.

But what if the lights had not come on the next day? What if more than just the lights had gone out? What if every major component of electro-infrastructure, from GPS satellites in space to the Internet in cyberspace, had been fried? What would life be like?

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