However, I'm more worried about an EMP attack than a devastating Internet attack. A couple of well-placed EMPs could take the US back to the Victorian period very quickly. One Second After is a great read on the subject.
Really? You can't imagine that people would fall back on their word and paper? And that after a huge shock we would shake it off and get back to work?
Imagine a trucker. All the "logistics" went poof on Monday, it's Wednesday. Imagine the trucker decided to drive anyway, stops at a gas station he frequents a lot, him and the manager agree on a handshake and he fills up, and truck on. Makes his delivery, the local store clerks are still working despite now knowing how or if they'd get paid and for how many hours. Imagine that despite the huge confusion and uncertainty and everything taking 100 times longer, life still goes on. Can you imagine that?
Or alternatively, OMG the internet's down, everybody starve to death!
Rodney King was beaten by LAPD officers and it was videotaped and the officers were acquitted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King
If anything, riots would be caused by people reading and understanding this article:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-real-housewive...
Good read, good points, reasonable possibilities... but a bit hyperbolic.
Looking on the bright side...
Scenarios depicted could end in massive death and destruction...
But wouldn't kill us all.
Not much consolation, but at least leaves some hope for a later and better iteration...
Though it might take another few thousand years to get back to facing the problem again.