[pkorzeniewski]

And then, in the next 100 or 200 years, a geomagnetic storm destroys all electrical systems and no one will know how to perform basic jobs because we delegated them to robots.. I know, a dystopian vision, but still possible :)

[richmarr]

Not just possible. Likely. The Brunhes–Matuyama reversal was 780k years ago and the average gap is only 450k years http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal. Such reversal events can cause thousands of years of fluctuating protection from solar radiation.

I'd be fascinated to see a study of how we might protect ourselves during such an event.

Sadly I imagine nobody wants to be the guy that spent billions on EM shielding 50,000 years before anyone needed it.