Life after people

I know it's been a very long, cold, dark and dreary winter up there in Edmonton...........But keep your chin up, Apothicus old boy, Spring is near upon us and the flowers will bloom, birds will sing and there will be uplifting thoughts aplenty.

"And in the far future does the planet face another ice age after global warming slows,halts and reverses itself?"

And just who would care?

Climate change is inevitable. Paleontological records prove it. If there are still humans around by then, they'll just have to learn to adapt somehow. And if the human race is extinct by then, then it wouldn't make any difference now, would it?

I read the Scientific American article and thought well of it.

Don't know how I missed the show.

What say everybody everywhere take three weeks off to see what happens?

Would smart cockroaches worship bronze sculptures?

Check with Del as far as cats are concerned.

It is likely that if there is warming, there will be cooling, at least for awhile, then warming, and more warming, and collapse, and then it is all supposed to get real cold.

At least that is the long term prediction, from what I remember.

there is a book about it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Without_Us

maybe the world in the future would look like in the animation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_%26_Rule

The year 2012 represents a cosmic shift from the technological to the spiritual. It is believed by some that those who are in concert with the metaphysics will be elevated to a new plane of existence. What will be left behind is destruction, a kind of cleansing by fire. If that cleansing is by nuclear war then plant growth will accelerate dramatically and cover almost everything. With fewer, or perhaps no human beings, CO 2 will dramatically decrease and oxygen production will sharply increase. Ancient aboriginal creation stories begin in water, so great floods are likely once again before the water reseeds over millions of years. The impermanence of our building materials will leave little in the way of modern cultural evidence. The evolution of man in spirit will be the new frontier of existence and will allow a connection with the universe and a continuation of man's journey.

how bout this?

who cares!

we are dead. it doesnt matter

I myself asked once why there were so many guests on CR4.

Members may get into fights, but it is common for Guests to drop in and say something nihilistic.

It doesn't take a psychic to predict bad times will come, or that you will experience in your life failure and pain.

Edignan is right to wonder what glory comes from Guests attitude.

Self hatred is no better than hatred of others, for it is all hatred.

Hmmm.....disapointed.

The majority of replies seem to be. "I'm not there so who cares"?

Most reactor rods have a built in safety feature that expands the area between the fuel pellets to slow the reaction. In theory they would equalize hot but before meltdown.

Brad

If i would not be there it REALLY would be the end of the world

Hi Apothicus,

For me, I can also say "who cares", but maybe not in the same context as you assume.

[when faced with the 'burial' or 'cremation' question (like 'paper' or 'plastic' ), I often reply, "it won't matter to me." really, it won't.]

I can say, as a scientist, I don't really care about the 'life after people' issue, any more than I care about many of the theoretical mysteries of the universe, but I am intrigued and curious ... always. It's always interesting to speculate. That's what most of us do every day.

I'm only concerned when some folks say they know that which is unknowable. That's what too many people do every day.

____Kind regards

Stop bathing and you'll know soon enough.

On everyone's life a little rain must fall...

The various failure modes would probably depend on how quickly people disappeared and how well designed the power plants actually were. In all likelihood there would be no single "rule of thumb" that would apply.

A better question might be "How could such an extinction happen?" Or better yet, could we rule the planet as long as the dinosaurs had it to themselves? And what kind of mutant changes might we see over that time? Would such changes be to our advantage or disadvantage compared to what we understand, at this time.

A super-volcano or a giant asteroid from space could cause the next mass extinction. Or a supernova too close to our solar system could ruin it all. Eventually our sun will run out of hydrogen and expand until the earth becomes a crispy (actually molten) critter. Or I might die in a head on collision on the way home (that would ruin it for me anyway) but I try not to spend much time thinking about these things. Life is too short and I'll never have enough time to do the things I would like to do.

So, in retrospect......it's time to book that vacation......before it's all gone......

I think with a 100% destruction of mankind, the conversation is moot. But, short of a localized supernova, a massive methane burst, a direct hit by a large coronal mass ejection or asteroid we humans will be around for awhile. Some of us would probably survive a CME or super-bug or climate change or super-volcano. Despite our best efforts humans are pretty intelligent.

I think a more serious, and likely, concern is a systemic collapse due to resource scarcity. For most of us, our basic necessities are reliant on cheap energy to create and distribute e.g. food, water, waste etc... At some point this energy resource is going to run out... or rather run into an economic wall where it is too expensive to use. I think we are at least a generation too late in moving away from fossil fuels and we are heading towards a systemic collapse. Time will tell.....

But as you say, we can be very resourceful (non-intentional pun)

And some areas might have to be ceded as uninhabitable - but the valley floor of Arizona around Phoenix was settled in the horse-drawn wagon days.

hate to agree about the generation too late in moving away from fossil fuel.

Really, what harm to the nation were solar panels on the roof of the White House?

Why is Reagan a Hero for tearing them off?

Seems like this happened. Maybe it was a dream.

The book "The World Without Us" is a very interesting read. As for climate change; of course there is climate change! It has and will always happen. I once had a chance to hold a piece of slightly scorched, but perfectly preserved Redwood that was extracted from a "Kimberlite pipe" think volcanic lava flow, from the Diavic diamond mine in the Canadian arctic.

We are just a blink of the eye in geologic time.

Critical banking record systems remain intact using redundant solar power systems, with interest steadily building.

Evolution begins anew. Primates rise to the top again.

In a few million years, some offspring of a lemur inherits my bank account plus interest, along with my Led Zeppelin CDs.

This, my friends, is the cosmic plan.

Without humans the reactors are not likely to explode if the cooling water boils off.

The pet's will generally fair as well as their owners.

The skyscrapers will fall about a year after the insurance runs out; example - Twin Towers.

The far future has always taken care of the past.

We're having a 'Kissing Your A$$ Goodby' party at the newly renovated Grange Hall on 10/12/2012. If your late, you'll never get there.