Can bitcoin survive without the Internet?

[Asianconnect]

If Internet has shut down, the whole world will affect not only bitcoin. So I think living without the Internet nowadays is impossible to happened.

[Daniel91]

If Internet has shut down, the whole world will affect not only bitcoin. So I think living without the Internet nowadays is impossible to happened.

Yes, it's possible if some authority decide to shut down Internet but hope this will never happen.

[foxkyu]

No.
Of course not, bitcoin can't survive without internet connection
and if internet has been shutdown the world like night without the moon
but i think we can use local connection, but it only use in the small scale

[wzb422]

i do not think so

[planbpay]

Thats the weirdest hypothetical situation i have seen on these forums

[Fray]

If Internet has shut down, the whole world will affect not only bitcoin. So I think living without the Internet nowadays is impossible to happened.

Yes, it's possible if some authority decide to shut down Internet but hope this will never happen.

There was an editorial in the WSJ today that highlighted the thread of a nuke being detonated over North America. It said that the EMP would do serious damage to the entire country. I would argue that this would be the only real way to shut down the internet and/or "ban" bitcoin.

[Swordsoffreedom]

Thats the weirdest hypothetical situation i have seen on these forums

Then you have not seen can we use Bitcoin for transactions from mars to earth.
In a form can Bitcoin survive without the internet probably not but apply it to space as well.

[Biffa]

If Internet has shut down, the whole world will affect not only bitcoin. So I think living without the Internet nowadays is impossible to happened.

Yes, it's possible if some authority decide to shut down Internet but hope this will never happen.

There was an editorial in the WSJ today that highlighted the thread of a nuke being detonated over North America. It said that the EMP would do serious damage to the entire country. I would argue that this would be the only real way to shut down the internet and/or "ban" bitcoin.

Yeah because without North America the internet, nay the world could not survive! 

[Hash Master]

I don't think there is a business nowadays which does not exist and does not make any profit through the Internet.
But in the case of Bitcoin, it is a cryptocurrency. Of course it can't exist without the world wide web.

[zimmah]

as long as there is some way of connecting peers with enough other peers.

can be done in many ways.

internet is just the most practical approach we know of.

although one could argue any type of connection between multiple computers is internet, and they would be right.

so yes, you need internet, but not necessarily the same internet.

[ajareselde]

There is no chance in hell that internet will be "shut down", there can be variations on the theme of censorship, blocking the bitcoin traffic, but that would fail,
as people would allways find a way to go around.

Thinking that anyone would go as far as shutting down whole internet to kill bitcoin, is like trying to kill a fly with a nuke

[johny08]

What if someone (governments together with banks) would decide to shut down the Internet? Would bitcoin survive? Is it possible to transfer directly p2p somehow? Any thoughts? How strong this whole industry is really?

When they shut down the internet, they shut down their own system in that area. No banks, not ATM, not Cellular phones, no phones, nothing, nada, bla, puff.

Or do you talk about the world wide web?

p2p directly? when you have two computers and connect them together you have a p2p network. Do you have a clue, what you are talking about? Me not.

[Razick]

Radio waves could work, but let's assume no wireless communication...

Bitcoin could probably survive without internet per-se, but there would still have to be a Bitcoin network. Perhaps people could print out signed transactions and deliver or mail them to their local node, which would exchange with some other nodes (either on paper of digital media such as SD cards). Each region/nation could have a "supernode" clearing-houses which would receive local transactions and send them to foreign supernodes  (maybe via telegraph cables? If we are generous to ourselves) and vice-versa in order to speed the regular node-to-node propagation.

(*Sigh*, when I started this post I didn't realize how ridiculous this would sound)

I have little idea how mining would work because I don't know enough about how it works now, but presumably blocks could be distributed by the same methods, although mining might have to be done by super-nodes exclusively.

In that situation, I'd say paper currency is probably better, BUT I would like to see the look on my face when I get a letter in the snail-mail letting me know that "You've received a Bitcoin payment for 125 mBTC!" or "Your payment of 125 mBTC to 1CBNHbNNJ4C3dTELRJq312hXFwUqxg7bnm has been confirmed!"

A letter in the mail would not allow you to know if the TX was actually confirmed, nor would it allow you to check for double spends and reject the TX if your letter is a double spend.

You'd get a letter several days later letting you know that "Your payment of 125 mBTC to 1CBNHbNNJ4C3dTELRJq312hXFwUqxg7bnm has been confirmed!"

[zedicus]

Radio waves could work, but let's assume no wireless communication...

Bitcoin could probably survive without internet per-se, but there would still have to be a Bitcoin network. Perhaps people could print out signed transactions and deliver or mail them to their local node, which would exchange with some other nodes (either on paper of digital media such as SD cards). Each region/nation could have a "supernode" clearing-houses which would receive local transactions and send them to foreign supernodes  (maybe via telegraph cables? If we are generous to ourselves) and vice-versa in order to speed the regular node-to-node propagation.

(*Sigh*, when I started this post I didn't realize how ridiculous this would sound)

I have little idea how mining would work because I don't know enough about how it works now, but presumably blocks could be distributed by the same methods, although mining might have to be done by super-nodes exclusively.

In that situation, I'd say paper currency is probably better, BUT I would like to see the look on my face when I get a letter in the snail-mail letting me know that "You've received a Bitcoin payment for 125 mBTC!" or "Your payment of 125 mBTC to 1CBNHbNNJ4C3dTELRJq312hXFwUqxg7bnm has been confirmed!"

A letter in the mail would not allow you to know if the TX was actually confirmed, nor would it allow you to check for double spends and reject the TX if your letter is a double spend.

You'd get a letter several days later letting you know that "Your payment of 125 mBTC to 1CBNHbNNJ4C3dTELRJq312hXFwUqxg7bnm has been confirmed!"

Who would send this letter? I can't imagine anyone paying for anything close to this kind of service without there being some kind of central authority. Additionally a letter in the mail will cost at least 34 cents while most transactions today cost 5 cents making it at the very minimum 7 times as expensive to send a TX then with "todays" bitcoin.

[CoinsCoinsEverywhere]

If Internet has shut down, the whole world will affect not only bitcoin. So I think living without the Internet nowadays is impossible to happened.

Yes, it's possible if some authority decide to shut down Internet but hope this will never happen.

There was an editorial in the WSJ today that highlighted the thread of a nuke being detonated over North America. It said that the EMP would do serious damage to the entire country. I would argue that this would be the only real way to shut down the internet and/or "ban" bitcoin.

No one's intentionally going to shut down the internet.  Someone/something might try to destroy the power grid (e.g., a solar flare), which would result in no more internet, but then we'd have even bigger issues.  Bitcoin, on the other hand, can simply be banned with a law.  That wouldn't completely drive it out of existence, of course, but it would be worth very little compared to what it's worth today.

[Razick]

Radio waves could work, but let's assume no wireless communication...

Bitcoin could probably survive without internet per-se, but there would still have to be a Bitcoin network. Perhaps people could print out signed transactions and deliver or mail them to their local node, which would exchange with some other nodes (either on paper of digital media such as SD cards). Each region/nation could have a "supernode" clearing-houses which would receive local transactions and send them to foreign supernodes  (maybe via telegraph cables? If we are generous to ourselves) and vice-versa in order to speed the regular node-to-node propagation.

(*Sigh*, when I started this post I didn't realize how ridiculous this would sound)

I have little idea how mining would work because I don't know enough about how it works now, but presumably blocks could be distributed by the same methods, although mining might have to be done by super-nodes exclusively.

In that situation, I'd say paper currency is probably better, BUT I would like to see the look on my face when I get a letter in the snail-mail letting me know that "You've received a Bitcoin payment for 125 mBTC!" or "Your payment of 125 mBTC to 1CBNHbNNJ4C3dTELRJq312hXFwUqxg7bnm has been confirmed!"

A letter in the mail would not allow you to know if the TX was actually confirmed, nor would it allow you to check for double spends and reject the TX if your letter is a double spend.

You'd get a letter several days later letting you know that "Your payment of 125 mBTC to 1CBNHbNNJ4C3dTELRJq312hXFwUqxg7bnm has been confirmed!"

Who would send this letter? I can't imagine anyone paying for anything close to this kind of service without there being some kind of central authority. Additionally a letter in the mail will cost at least 34 cents while most transactions today cost 5 cents making it at the very minimum 7 times as expensive to send a TX then with "todays" bitcoin.

The nodes would. I'm sure there would probably be a fee to "connect" to nodes as well. Increased costs are to be expected any time there is a massive reduction in technology.

[oceans]

If the internet was to ever be intentionally shut down I would be very shocked however if it were to be shut down I don't feel bitcoin would survive. I would be very stunned if they found a way for it to thrive still away from the internet.

[Febo]

What if someone (governments together with banks) would decide to shut down the Internet? Would bitcoin survive? Is it possible to transfer directly p2p somehow? Any thoughts? How strong this whole industry is really?

lol
would you survive without internet?

[Vortex20000]

What if someone (governments together with banks) would decide to shut down the Internet? Would bitcoin survive? Is it possible to transfer directly p2p somehow? Any thoughts? How strong this whole industry is really?

Bitcoin is an online decentralized currency.

[Unbelive]

If that ever happen dark age will start. We will have to adopt on new changes.