What would the world be without us?
Day 21 / 365
I have been reading a bit about ancient civilizations. A slightly controversial belief ( almost a conspiracy theory ) is that we are not the most advanced human civilization. There might have been civilizations that made progress in science and technology but they got wiped out through natural calamities. And thus we can’t find much evidence of there existence.
So that is what was on the back of my mind while watching this Ted Talk. The topic discussed is, what effect would it have on the world if every single human being spontaneously disappeared? More importantly, how long will it take for every trace of humanity to disappear from the earth.
Immediate Effects
The effects over the first few days would be the most severe. With no electricity and no human supervision, big industrial machinery would start to fall apart. Oil refineries would be set ablaze, drainage systems would fail and underground tunnels would get flooded.
By the end of the first week, most emergency generators have shut down, and once the fires have gone out, the earth goes dark for the first time in centuries.
After the first few decades
After 20 years or so the tree roots will slowly start to erode the sidewalks. The flooded tunnels and streets would freeze, and the ice would expand and cause them to erode. After years and years of freezing and melting, these would be turned to crushed concrete, the same way ice erodes rocks.
Earth recovers from humanity
As plant and animal life flourish, slowly the effects of humanity on the earth will start to reverse.
Within 3500 years, it will get rid of the excess lead introduced to the soil due to the industrial revolution
By 6500 years, carbon-di-oxide levels would return to normal.
The migrating birds surely wouldn’t miss us. Lives of a billion birds would be saved due to lack of high tension wires and light pollution.
The human legacy lives on
Even after millions of years, traces of our existence would still be there. The faces of American presidents carved on Mt. Rushmore would survive another 7.5 million years. Most of our bronze sculptures would survive tens of millions of years as well. Even further, buried deep underground the remains of our cities would remain as a techno fossil.
Eventually, these traces, too, will be wiped from the planet’s surface. Humanity hasn’t always been here, and we won’t be here forever. But by investigating the world without us, perhaps we can learn more about the world we live in now.
After watching this Ted talk I’m not so convinced about a technologically advanced ancient civilization. Maybe someday we do find evidence of one existing, but It surely is not a convincing argument to say that their existence has been totally wiped out off the earth.
This story is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here
Yesterday’s blog — How to protect your privacy online