Thought Experiment: What would happen if the human species weresuddenly extinguished?

A pop-science ghost story, in which the whole earth is the haunted
house.

If a virulent virus, or some other catastrophe, depopulated Earth
overnight, how long before all trace of humankind vanished?

Days after our disappearance, pumps keeping Manhattan's subways dry
would fail, tunnels would flood, soil under streets would sluice away
and the foundations of towering skyscrapers built to last for
centuries would start to crumble.

At the other end of the chronological spectrum, anything made of
bronze might survive in recognizable form for millions of years-along
with one billion pounds of degraded but almost indestructible plastics
manufactured since the mid-20th century.

Meanwhile, land freed from mankind's environmentally poisonous
footprint would quickly reconstitute itself, as in Chernobyl, where
animal life has returned after 1986's deadly radiation leak, and in
the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, a refuge since
1953 for the almost-extinct goral mountain goat and Amur leopard.

Weeds and then trees would retake the buckled streets and wild
predators would ravage the domesticated dogs. Texas’s unattended
petrochemical complexes might ignite, scattering hydrogen cyanide to
the winds-a "mini chemical nuclear winter." After thousands of years,
the Chunnel, rubber tires, and more than a billion tons of plastic
might remain, but eventually a polymer-eating microbe could evolve,
and, with the spectacular return of fish and bird populations, the
earth might revert to Eden.

What about the fate of earlier societies who outran the potential for
their environment, and taking the long view of the human species -- up
till and including the final demise when the sun becomes a big cinder
about 5 billion years for now. I mean will the last work of man to
survive be a plastic water bottle?

We may need a Voluntary Human Extinction Movement proposes that human
beings help themselves become extinct.

http://www.amazon.com/World-Without-...dp/0312347294/

On Jul 29, 7:36*pm, Immortalist wrote:
A pop-science ghost story, in which the whole earth is the haunted
house.


We may need a Voluntary Human Extinction Movement proposes that human
beings help themselves become extinct.

You go first.

--
Will in New Haven

On Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:36:07 -0700 (PDT), Immortalist wrote:

A pop-science ghost story, in which the whole earth is the haunted
house.

The situation is temporary, incidental, precarious,
and fraudulent. 'We' only manage it with 'our' fantasies.

Immortalist wrote:

If a virulent virus, or some other catastrophe, depopulated Earth
overnight, how long before all trace of humankind vanished?

The History Channel already has a show about this called 'Life After
People'. http://www.history.com/content/life_after_people

Now go away troll.

--
Things I learned from MythBusters #57: Never leave a loaded gun in an
exploding room.

"Immortalist" wrote in message
...
A pop-science ghost story, in which the whole earth is the haunted
house.

If a virulent virus, or some other catastrophe, depopulated Earth
overnight, how long before all trace of humankind vanished?

Days after our disappearance, pumps keeping Manhattan's subways dry
would fail, tunnels would flood, soil under streets would sluice away
and the foundations of towering skyscrapers built to last for
centuries would start to crumble.

At the other end of the chronological spectrum, anything made of
bronze might survive in recognizable form for millions of years-along
with one billion pounds of degraded but almost indestructible plastics
manufactured since the mid-20th century.

Meanwhile, land freed from mankind's environmentally poisonous
footprint would quickly reconstitute itself, as in Chernobyl, where
animal life has returned after 1986's deadly radiation leak, and in
the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, a refuge since
1953 for the almost-extinct goral mountain goat and Amur leopard.

Weeds and then trees would retake the buckled streets and wild
predators would ravage the domesticated dogs. Texas’s unattended
petrochemical complexes might ignite, scattering hydrogen cyanide to
the winds-a "mini chemical nuclear winter." After thousands of years,
the Chunnel, rubber tires, and more than a billion tons of plastic
might remain, but eventually a polymer-eating microbe could evolve,
and, with the spectacular return of fish and bird populations, the
earth might revert to Eden.

What about the fate of earlier societies who outran the potential for
their environment, and taking the long view of the human species -- up
till and including the final demise when the sun becomes a big cinder
about 5 billion years for now. I mean will the last work of man to
survive be a plastic water bottle?

We may need a Voluntary Human Extinction Movement proposes that human
beings help themselves become extinct.

http://www.amazon.com/World-Without-...dp/0312347294/

---------------------------------------------------------

You left out one important component: human bodies. Six billion dead people
would be about 900 billion pounds of rotting flesh, likely littering the
surface of the earth. The imact of nearly a trillion pounds of rotting flesh
on the earth's ecology and even climate would be significant. We have no
real way of knowing what it would lead to.

Woody

Immortalist wrote:

A pop-science ghost story, in which the whole earth is the haunted house.

If a virulent virus, or some other catastrophe, depopulated Earth
overnight, how long before all trace of humankind vanished?

It never would. The buried corpses would remain
forever and so would stuff like the pyramids etc.

Days after our disappearance, pumps keeping
Manhattan's subways dry would fail, tunnels
would flood, soil under streets would sluice away

No they wouldnt.

and the foundations of towering skyscrapers
built to last for centuries would start to crumble.

Wrong again. The most that might happen is
that they end up with flooded basements etc.

And there is **** all of the world that has continually pumped subsoil.

The worst we'd see is what we see with abandoned mines,
they just end up flooded but are still obviously flooded mines.

At the other end of the chronological spectrum, anything made of
bronze might survive in recognizable form for millions of years-

And stuff made out of stone in spades.

along with one billion pounds of degraded but almost
indestructible plastics manufactured since the mid-20th century.

Those wouldnt last anything like that long. They'd be luck ot last a
century most of them. The bakelite type stuff would last a lot longer.

Meanwhile, land freed from mankind's environmentally poisonous
footprint would quickly reconstitute itself, as in Chernobyl, where
animal life has returned after 1986's deadly radiation leak,

Animal life never went away there.

and in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, a refuge
since 1953 for the almost-extinct goral mountain goat and Amur leopard.

Weeds and then trees would retake the buckled streets
and wild predators would ravage the domesticated dogs.

Mindlessly silly. Domestic cats and dogs would just take over.

There are no predators of those in enough numbers to matter anymore.

Texas’s unattended petrochemical complexes might ignite,

Unlikely, and if they did, they'd just burn out anyway.

scattering hydrogen cyanide to the winds-a "mini chemical nuclear winter."

Only in your pathetic little pig ignorant fantasyland.

The oil wells that Saddam deliberately torched after he
lost the first gulf war didnt produce anything like that.

After thousands of years, the Chunnel, rubber tires,
and more than a billion tons of plastic might remain,

No might about it with most stone buildings.

but eventually a polymer-eating microbe could evolve,

In fact the plastics would degrade relatively quickly.

and, with the spectacular return of fish and bird populations,

Just another of your pathetic little pig ignorant fantasys.

the earth might revert to Eden.

It never was Eden, fool.

What about the fate of earlier societies who outran the potential
for their environment, and taking the long view of the human
species -- up till and including the final demise when the sun
becomes a big cinder about 5 billion years for now. I mean
will the last work of man to survive be a plastic water bottle?

Thanks for that completely superfluous proof that you have
never ever had a ****ing clue about anything at all, ever.

We may need a Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
proposes that human beings help themselves become extinct.

You're always welcome to hang yourself right now.

http://www.amazon.com/World-Without-...dp/0312347294/

Just another completely mindless steaming turd.

Woody wrote:
"Immortalist" wrote in message
...
A pop-science ghost story, in which the whole earth is the haunted
house.

If a virulent virus, or some other catastrophe, depopulated Earth
overnight, how long before all trace of humankind vanished?

Days after our disappearance, pumps keeping Manhattan's subways dry
would fail, tunnels would flood, soil under streets would sluice away
and the foundations of towering skyscrapers built to last for
centuries would start to crumble.

At the other end of the chronological spectrum, anything made of
bronze might survive in recognizable form for millions of years-along
with one billion pounds of degraded but almost indestructible plastics
manufactured since the mid-20th century.

Meanwhile, land freed from mankind's environmentally poisonous
footprint would quickly reconstitute itself, as in Chernobyl, where
animal life has returned after 1986's deadly radiation leak, and in
the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, a refuge since
1953 for the almost-extinct goral mountain goat and Amur leopard.

Weeds and then trees would retake the buckled streets and wild
predators would ravage the domesticated dogs. Texas’s unattended
petrochemical complexes might ignite, scattering hydrogen cyanide to
the winds-a "mini chemical nuclear winter." After thousands of years,
the Chunnel, rubber tires, and more than a billion tons of plastic
might remain, but eventually a polymer-eating microbe could evolve,
and, with the spectacular return of fish and bird populations, the
earth might revert to Eden.

What about the fate of earlier societies who outran the potential for
their environment, and taking the long view of the human species -- up
till and including the final demise when the sun becomes a big cinder
about 5 billion years for now. I mean will the last work of man to
survive be a plastic water bottle?

We may need a Voluntary Human Extinction Movement proposes that human
beings help themselves become extinct.

http://www.amazon.com/World-Without-...dp/0312347294/

---------------------------------------------------------

You left out one important component: human bodies. Six billion dead
people would be about 900 billion pounds of rotting flesh, likely
littering the surface of the earth. The imact of nearly a trillion
pounds of rotting flesh on the earth's ecology and even climate would
be significant. We have no real way of knowing what it would lead to.

Corse we do, we know that great piles of corpses dont last long from Rwanda etc.

:: If a virulent virus, or some other catastrophe, depopulated Earth
:: overnight, how long before all trace of humankind vanished?

: "Rod Speed"
: It never would. The buried corpses would remain forever and so would
: stuff like the pyramids etc.

I'm not sure the pyramids would last as long as a million years.
And over a few tens of millions of years, they'd pretty much toast
as far as recognizable artifacts go.

Up to a million years, though, there's lots of potential things
that would reasonably count as "traces". I suppose to a certain
extent, it depends on what sorts of effects count as "traces".


Wayne Throop http://sheol.org/throopw

"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...
Immortalist wrote:

You're always welcome to hang yourself right now.

And what reason do you have to wish death on him? Did he slaughter your
entire family, or something; or is it that you just totally lack
perspective?

Woody

Wayne Throop wrote:
Rod Speed wrote

If a virulent virus, or some other catastrophe, depopulated Earth
overnight, how long before all trace of humankind vanished?

It never would. The buried corpses would remain
forever and so would stuff like the pyramids etc.

I'm not sure the pyramids would last as long as a million years.

Corse they would, we have already seen stone like that last that long.

And over a few tens of millions of years, they'd
pretty much toast as far as recognizable artifacts go.

Nope, the stone aint going nowhere.

In spades with stuff like Mt Rushmore and similar human
molesting of great slabs of rock without moving it around etc.

Up to a million years, though, there's lots of potential things
that would reasonably count as "traces". I suppose to a certain
extent, it depends on what sorts of effects count as "traces".

Mt Rushmore etc obviously does. That will survive everything except a glacier etc.