Post-Apocalyptic Scenarios That Don't Involve Robots
When I was a wee lad I vaguely recall reading a picturebook about a fictinal group of archeologists from the year 4000 (or something) sorting through the decaying remains of America. If memory serves, it followed the team of scientists and their various "wtf?" moments as they came upon some of the oddities of the late Twentieth, such as artificial plants and the wreckage of the St. Louis Arch.
Following that theme, I really enjoyed this piece in the New Scientist from a few weeks ago, playing out a big "what if humans just... disappeared" scenario. I wish the author explained more of the chemistry when claiming phosphates and nitrates, etc. would be "cleared away" by the environment, but the conclusions are interesting nonetheless. Turns out, the Earth is pretty resilient, which is I suppose a testament to the success of our species that we've been able to screw it up so effectively.
Comments
I read the same artical and seemed to recall that the earth would only return to 'normal' should we all disappear tonight, leave it another decade or two and I wonder if the situation would be the same. We can all do a little to reduce our effects on the planet, particulalry to reduce global warming.....
Posted by: Charlie Cheese | October 24, 2006 04:53 AM