io9
Last night the two-hour post apocalyptic documentary Life After People aired on The History Channel, and it was awesome. As astrophysicist and author David Brin puts it in the film, "We're the first generation that could, by deliberate actions, cause its own doom." Find out what the Earth would do once we vacate, and check out some clips.
The special asks what would happen to the planet once humans are gone, and manages to answer in a way that's both informative and visually compelling, blending interviews with experts, CGI animation, and haunting shots of already-human-free locations like Chernobyl.
The show opens with humankind having already vanished from the planet, and we have no idea where everyone went. Sadly, we've left behind all of our domesticated pets, and there are several scenes of an abandoned puppy wondering where everyone has gone to tug at our heartstrings. However, one of the experts tells us that the cute and tiny breeds of dogs will die off very quickly, and that packs of large feral dogs will roam as scavengers. Sorry about that, you Yorkie owners out there.
The show opens with humankind having already vanished from the planet, and we have no idea where everyone went. Sadly, we've left behind all of our domesticated pets, and there are several scenes of an abandoned puppy wondering where everyone has gone to tug at our heartstrings. However, one of the experts tells us that the cute and tiny breeds of dogs will die off very quickly, and that packs of large feral dogs will roam as scavengers. Sorry about that, you Yorkie owners out there.Another fascinating element of Life After People is a segment about how buildings would break down without the presence of humans. You wouldn't think that skyscrapers rely on humans to keep them together, but once the power goes out, that turns off the climate controls. That would cause the metal window frames to expand with heat, then fuse shut. And then it's just a matter of time until the glass breaks from its frame. Without windows, air pressure changes within the entire structure, and it becomes a lightning attractor. One strike, and you've got The Towering Inferno, sans OJ Simpson.
Another fascinating element of Life After People is a segment about how buildings would break down without the presence of humans. You wouldn't think that skyscrapers rely on humans to keep them together, but once the power goes out, that turns off the climate controls. That would cause the metal window frames to expand with heat, then fuse shut. And then it's just a matter of time until the glass breaks from its frame. Without windows, air pressure changes within the entire structure, and it becomes a lightning attractor. One strike, and you've got The Towering Inferno, sans OJ Simpson.We also learn how quickly power sources would die out over the years, with the longest continual power most likely coming from Hoover Dam. Of course, it too would be doomed once mollusks choke the coolant pipes and the generators auto-shutdown. That means no more lights or the steady bleep-bloop of slot machines trying to attract your attention in Vegas.
The special starts from Day One without people, and goes all the way to 10,000 years later. So, who ends up coming out on top when we leave the planet? The cockroaches, of course. Oh, and Mount Rushmore, which experts think may still be standing after 100,000 years. Zoinks. Life After People will be shown several more times on The History Channel over the next few weeks. Catch it if you're still around.
Comments
I recorded this on my TIVO and watched it last night. It has to be one of the most compelling shows I have ever watched on the History Channel.
I loved every miniute of the show! Not only was it visually stunning as mentioned above, but the theory and "questions" it proposes in ones own mind sets your imagination into overdrive.
The show is definitely worth 2 hours of your time!
Damn! I missed it. Well, knowing the History Channel they'll have an encore or five. And I can't wait. This looks like pure awesomeness.
Will have to wait till the Canadian equivalent picks this up. Sounds interesting.
The show opens with humankind having already vanished from the planet, and we have no idea where everyone went.
Seeing how just before this momentous program the "History" Channel aired a special on the prophecies of Nostradamus or some such horseshit that featured "experts" straight-facedly discussing the likelihood that Osama bin Laden is actually the Antichrist, one could naturally assume that everyone was effing Raptured.
I'd be a bit wary of the truth value of anything after that.
Oh man, so cool. I miss History Channel. Maybe they'll release it and I can netflix it...The Times or some other paper ran a graph a few years ago showing a timeline of what would happen if we left. It was cool, and I would gladly watch that kind of thing for 2 hours.
Btw, I've been advocating letting the small dogs die off for quite a while. We'd be better off if we just let dog breeding naturalize, I think. Plus our dogs would have less congenital arthritis and heart failure.
Actually one of the funny things this show pointed out was that while dogs are going to inbreed and revert back to their wolf like ancestors, and a bulk of the smaller breeds are just going to die out, cats in the meantime are going to stay exactly as they are and through breeding likely multiply by a alarming rate.
Even better due to the hunting grounds highrises are going to become for mice and smaller animals, cats may even adapt into a hybrid flyer like some squirrels.
That was ok, except for one tiny whiny flaw. Anything that will kill off all, 100% of the people won't leave much of anything else. We didn't get to be top predator by being easy to kill. I don't think anything short of a nearby supernova or major asteroid strike would kill off all the people. That would probably sterilize the planet too.
But we should get off the planet anyway, just in case.
It's a great show, albeit kinda depressing. It reminds me of when I was reading an article by Neil deGrasse Tyson, where he basically says humankind will be destroyed and wiped out of this universe, it's just a matter of time.
I'm going to have to check this out. Looks really fun.
@wishnevsky: Well, it's clearly more of a thought experiment than it is an actual model for the future.
That said: plague.
"But we should get off the planet anyway, just in case."
I thought the same thing.
I bailed after 1 and half hours.
Did they mention cats at all? They mention them on their website.
Post-apocalyptic scenarios happens to be a topic of great interest to me. I thought the show was interesting but barely scraped the surface to people who regularly speculate on this topic. None of the information came as a shock to me, but the visuals and on site locations within Russia were quite interesting to see actual effects just after over 20 years. I would suggest reading: Future Evolution which emphasizes evolutionary advances beyond just a 1000 year mark without humans as the show did. Think giant specialized rodents taking place of cows and serpents filling varied niches. I believe that through technology we will see our inherit downfall and this is predestined to happen at some point in our time line, humanity is finite. Also, zombies....
cats fair pretty well, they predicted they start to live in tall buildings and high rises. I must say, even though ill be dead, im somewhat relieved my furry friends will do well.
This is sort of a 'related site': [www.surrealcoconut.com]
I read some crap on an Xtian site that called the book "The World Without Us" - which probably inspired this show - the 'most evil book ever written'.
@Ray Gunn: Agreed, The History Channel is generally less scientifically accurate than the average Sci Fi Channel movie., but this one looked better than most of their drivel. i'll have to catch an encore.
@Nebris: Im almost 100% certain your right. The synopsis was almost word for word the plotpoints of the show.
@Falconfire: From my experience, it's a bit of a misnomer to refer to cats as "domesticated." Our furry friends are practically genetically indistinguishable from the wild cat species from which they come.
They learn to trust humans from a young age or not at all. If a cat grows up feral, there's little chance of changing their mind that you're a friend, though they are
perfect opportunists if they're offered food. It's that wild, independent nature that most cat-fans love, and also why they do so well without us.
Though it's always nice to have a litlte fuzz-ball curl up in your lap. :)
I have to say that the show "The Universe" really impressed me. I think they're even doing another season. Honesty, I'll take the discovery or the history channel over most of the shit on TV nowadays. Oh, don't forget NOVA...or Dr. Who.
@braak: No plague ever killed more than 30% of the infected area. But OK, this is SF. Assume that every person actually has contact with the mass of humanity, and has the same genetic inheritance. then OK, bring on the cats.
But this is just the freak out de Jour.
BTW, the old book "Earth Abides" is worth a look. George R. Stewart, still in print.
@irishthunder: I think "Mythbusters" has a good take on the scientific method, and is very silly two boots.
@wishnevsky: Well, yeah, I was assuming some kind of tailor-made plague.
And for the population groups that aren't in contagion lines--well, they probably also aren't going to be maintaining the cities that are falling apart, either.
@irishthunder: You're right, The Universe isn't bad, but it doesn't make up for the Xtian, Nostradamus, UFO, etc crap they play the majority of the time.
@Nebris: Heh. They should take heart and also assume it was Rapture.
Anyway, I think I read that too, but what scared me most was that all those crazy Xtians were misreading the book as an outright celebration of the idea of a human-free world instead of a caution against pride, complacency, and selfishness.
"One strike, and you've got The Towering Inferno, sans OJ Simpson."
...hmmm...I kinda assumed he'd still be aound once all the people were gone...
@wishnevsky: So far no plague has had the benifit of being genetically engineered. The idea that a retro-virus we program to cure cancer or stop aging mutates and kills all/most of us is not new and has some merit.
On one Xtian website I read, the book that inspired this program, "The World Without Us, was called 'the most evil book ever written'. They're scared little buggers, those wacky Xtians.
BTW here's a site that's kind of a 'complementary' to the above: [www.surrealcoconut.com]
K, I repeated myself cause it seemed like my first post vanished. Sorry....
The only part I thought was pretty lame was the idea of cats evolving the ability to glide through the air. How long would that take? Wouldn't our high rises crumble before then?
Having just read the 'World Without Us' I was disappointed in 'Life After People'. The program was way too interested in focusing on only a few aspects of the topic, namely how buildings fall apart. How many times did we see the Eiffel Tower collapse? Seven? Eight? Next time make it a drinking game....
They skipped over several topics altogether, such as the extreme longevity of plastics, nuclear waste, and our excess carbon footprint; also the book had some interesting things to say about how evolution itself was reshaped by man since he learned to walk erect (such as the extinction of megafauna) and how that may rsume in our absence.
Also notable was the complete non-involvement of Alan Weisman, the author of 'World Without Us'
@braak: Interestingly, (at least to me) plagues with real high mortality rates, like Ebola, can't spread far, the vectors die too quick.. Plagues have to evolve to an ideal spread/mortality rate in order to propagate themselves.
However, if you postulate a virus with a real long incubation and total mortality, then it might work, but then people have a chance to develop counter measures, as in the case of AIDS.
And the TV show requires all humans to die. In cases of large scale mortality like the Black Death, the survivors reach a more prosperous place in a generation, and recoup their losses pretty fast.
SF idea;
A) Evil Ecologists kill off everybody with a tailored virus to let the Earth go back to a natural state.
B) People leave for another planet/dimension/plane of existence leaving Earth to regenerate.. See "City."
@wishnevsky: alternatively a plague that doesn't kill its host would work just as well; all that would be required is a plague that prevents propagation. sure it would take centuries longer to kill off the species, especially if you throw human cloning into the mix, but eventually the lack of genetic diversity would kill us all.
Wrong.
Actually, according to the special, smaller dogs will die out while average size dogs will become feral and scavenge for food, possibly even learning to hunt in packs.
Cats, meanwhile, will inherit the earth. With vertical vegetation climbing the abandoned buildings of our cities, it'll draw in the mice and birds who used to depend on our scraps, giving cats a hunting ground they'll never need to leave.
@choinski: That surprises me, as I assumed that the guy who wrote that book was somehow involved (didn't watch the credits).
And yes, the fact that they ignored plastics all together had me scratching my head a bit by the end.
@wishnevsky: Hey! How about a genetically altered virus turned cancer cure that mutates, turning everyone into ravenous vampire-like creatures that in turn spreads it to the rest of the population?
Fantastic article. I can't wait for this too air in the UK.
So domesticated dogs turn into dingos, which are domesticated grey wolves turned domesticated dogs turn undomesticated feral pack dogs.
Oh, and because of the global warming, everything will start shedding their winter coats permanently, which will end up killing them in a freak winter snap.
SPOILER ALERT:
Tool-using, horse-riding apes become the dominant species until they are visted by a time-traveling Charlton Heston.
@Biggrz: I just saw three movies that did that. I think bad zombie movies causing brain cancer is what will kill us all off.
Hey, i just saw a movie on how George Bush turns into a zombie..It's called President Evil.
Damn dirty apes!
heh... "President Evil"
The show doesn't say anything about plagues or anything else. just -poof- no people. No dead bodies at all. BTW how would 6 billion dead bodies effect the world anyway?
anyone remember those books from the 80s, "After Man" and "Man After Man"?
I still have 'em and man they are freaky.
My cats already think they rule the Earth. God help us if they learn to fly. Hope this comes on in the UK soon.
Another hoping to see this in the UK, I've been waiting for it.
As a genre of art, a setting for media, nothing beats the abandoned world, for me. Something about the atmosphere of a forgotten, empty factory or the riverside victorian ruins in my city, simply.. whispers evil and wonderful things to me.
Maybe this is the new punk.
NoPunk.
Not a bad show but the title is a bit misleading. Rather than being about *life* after people, it was more about how quickly evidence of human civilisation would be erased. Yeah, the bits they did have on life were good (except the bit about cats evolving membranes) but there weren't enough of them. Seriously, I think they spent less time on animals than they did on the Hoover Dam.
Yeah, that kinda sucked. The thing I hated the most was the "Eiffel tower falls to its horrifying doom, when the Earth as wreaked its vengeance on all diminishing vestiges of forgotten mankind" sorta talk. Why couldn't they have had a reasonably voiced narrator without the hyperbole? It was seriously the worst narration ever, especially for 2 hours!
The glaring innacuracies and refusal to really consider any place other than NYC made it pretty boring too. How about desert cities? Why is it that NYC becomes a jungle exactly? And the cats...oh man, yeah, they'll evolve into gliding-cats in 200 years?! Finally, as a Canadian I gotta bitch about the Sears tower clip, "No