No one could have imagined it, but it happened. Who could have expected the blackout we suffered on April 28, or the effects it caused? How could anyone with the skills to manage electricity distribution think in advance that this could happen and act accordingly? If risks are not well anticipated, the truth is that they can happen. It is also true that forecasting does not seem to be one of our greatest virtues. Maybe \u201csomeone\u201d can help us to foresee better by highlighting all the different options, no matter how unlikely they may seem. I think that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to prevent very unlikely events, that no one would expect, can be a great advantage. This can be one of the great benefits of using the dreaded AI. <\/p>\n\n
\nWho could have expected the blackout we suffered on April 28, or the effects it caused?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
One consequence of the total blackout was that everyone took to the streets. People who were working, since most of them could no longer work without electricity, went out into the streets, wanting to go home or check on their children or parents. Communications were not working. We had no news from anyone, we did not know how the power outage had affected them. Shops, in the dark, could not pay by electronic means – the usual ones today – and they also had to close. In Barcelona, \u200b\u200bfor example, people who were traveling by metro also went out into the streets. The city was literally saturated and this showed that we are not prepared for situations in which everyone goes out into the streets and wants to move around. The design of public space, of public services, is not made to cover everyone at once. We should learn from the 28th to properly assess the carrying capacity of cities: no one could imagine those floods of people on a Monday that seemed like any other. <\/p>\n\n
The impact on the population was very great. A recent CIS survey shows that 21.5% of the people surveyed were afraid during the blackout; more women (29.1%) than men (13.5%). Regarding age, the main people who were afraid were young people, between 18 and 34 years old. The fear can come from the uncertainty that this unprecedented situation generates. Older people have experienced, due to age, many situations in which uncertainty is great and, probably, we have already gotten used to it. Young people, on the other hand, still have a long way to go and probably do not tolerate the uncertainty of the near future so well. However, there is another factor that, combined, could have caused panic among young people: living for a few hours without a mobile phone, without an Internet connection. I was very surprised that, that day, more than one young person asked me how to get to a street that was right there, a short distance away. They also did not know which bus could take them to their destination. Chaos, without a mobile phone, seems guaranteed. Perhaps we would do well to agree, among all of us, to dedicate one day a month to training ourselves to live without mobile phones or the internet. I am not saying without electricity, which would seem too exaggerated to me. <\/p>\n\n
In the public sphere, citizens want to think that the predictability of the operation of public services, and also of the operation of public administration, is guaranteed. We think that the power can never go out completely for so long, nor that every day there can be an impact on the railway lines. Therefore, episodes of malfunctioning of public services, which can certainly happen, generate emotions and feelings of incomprehension in users. When they are intense and unpredictable, they generate a certain anxiety (as was the case with the blackout); when they are recurrent and somewhat predictable, they lead to indignation and anger. <\/p>\n\n
In any case, it seems obvious, but investing in a cheap resource such as adequate information could reduce people’s state of disappointment and anxiety. According to the CIS, during the blackout, 59.6% of the population considered the information provided by the Spanish government to be insufficient. AI should also be able to help us with this. <\/p>\n\n
Published Eco de Sitges May 9, 2025<\/p>\n\n