Thread: What would you do as the last person in the world?

Build an enormous stockpile of galantamine, choline, melatonin, and canned foods, and dream of the missing people all night long. Refrigeration systems & batteries too to keep all the supplements fresh.

Anyone in this situation would kill themselves or go completely insane. Fairly quickly, too. Sorry, but that's the true answer.

Have you ever tried galantamine?

Actually, under these circumstances, I'd probably try all sorts of psychedelics. I'm way too straight-laced to do so otherwise. That could also make all the people come back, at least temporarily.

I would move to a wonderful villa somewhere with perfect weather and great snorkling. It would hopefully be a place with many electric generating windmills. Maui would work if I could figure out how to get there.

Probably start looking for food stocks and a rigid shelter. Writing and sewing can wait.

It would be paradise and eternal peace.

Originally Posted by BLUELINE976

Probably start looking for food stocks and a rigid shelter. Writing and sewing can wait.

I imagine finding food and shelter would be very easy. Crops would grow wild by the tens of thousands of acres. Nothing would be over hunted or over fished. The best shelters would have no one competing for them.

Play all the videogames! Watch all the movies! Read all the books!

But then...

Spoiler for Time Enough at Last:

Well, my sight is not so bad, so I can find more glasses with my exact dioptries (or almost) if mine break.

And, of course, I would travel with some animal companions (if I'm able to befriend them and take care of them, that is), searching for other humans. I may somehow know that I'm the last human, but there is always hope. I would leave marks everywhere I go, as someone else may be searching too.

Oh, but first I should learn some medicine, just in case I get sick or injured. There are no doctors anymore, so I'll have to either be extremely careful or learn how to treat myself...

I would work triple time on building intelligent AI. Theoretically we are close enough, that it may be possible to finagle your way to intelligent AI even alone, if you are young enough, and you can get already built and designed stuff working together. If you can get the smart AI going, then there is a chance you can save humanity. You need the help, one person can't do much alone but if you had computers helping you, you can do a lot more. Also, if you run out of time you can freeze yourself or something and let the computers advance on their own. Which may eventually result in them getting smart enough to unfreeze and revive you, and with advance medical technology you can use your human DNA to revive the human race, or you could become a computer yourself and live with the computer race, or even if you end up dead the new computers would have human knowledge to continue on.

There are many possibilities, but the first thing first, is you got to get smart AI going and that would be my goal.

Originally Posted by sivason

I imagine finding food and shelter would be very easy. Crops would grow wild by the tens of thousands of acres. Nothing would be over hunted or over fished. The best shelters would have no one competing for them.

Nothing would be produced either.

Yep. Better learn to produce some things. Many products would be piled up everywhere.

I would still be a writer.

Originally Posted by FryingMan

Build an enormous stockpile of galantamine, choline, melatonin, and canned foods, and dream of the missing people all night long. Refrigeration systems & batteries too to keep all the supplements fresh.

ROFL


Good question... I would do the same thing - try to stay healthy in all aspects: Physiological, Psychological and Social. The social would be a little problem here


Staying healthy gives you happiness and the bigger chance to prolong your life by reproduction.

So that's the meaning of life - working on our good health.

I love how everyone ignored my post.

What's the longest any of you have gone without any human contact? I'm guessing not very long. It becomes psychologically unbearable very quickly. As in, you will want to die.

Didn't ignore it -- I showed you how I would "bring them back"

Go insane? Sure. But why would you want to kill yourself? I don't think it would be such a bad life, with the legacy of humanity at your fingertips. There will be no direct contact with other people, but you can read their stories, watch films and videos, interact with the virtual realities they created. You can still dream about them. Nothing can replace contact with real humans, but these things will provide some comfort at least. Many people would choose to live with an animal companion, though I'm not really one who can bond with animals.

I had the same thought as Alric: build an AI. When I asked my sister, she said the same thing. You could build on the works of others, proprietary or not. Although I'm not quite as optimistic when it comes to creating a new civilization - human or robot - all by myself. But at least I would have a companion to talk to and play games with. I would also have a goal for life, something I currently don't have.

Ofcourse, I will need access to computers. I would probably live in a big library, where I can learn about electricity, all the machines left behind, and possibly medicine. Then I would travel, trying to find some great digital archives, such as Wikipedia/Google servers. I would explore all the cities and houses and enjoy the nature.

Finding food would always be an adventure, but it should be relatively easy with all the existing tools, stockpiles and infrastructure. The only real danger would be the things you can't see - germs, parasites, radiation.

I find the idea strangely compelling. I almost want to say I would enjoy it more than my current life. A part of me is always craving for absolute, boundless freedom, and I'm not a very social person. Still, if I could actually choose, there is no doubt I would prefer being among people.

Well if everyone was dead I'd probably break into banks and steal millions of dollars.

This is a fascinating question though. It really throws into light the social aspects of our interests. Anything which involves breaking new ground suddenly seems unimportant -- bleak, even.

After necessities were covered, I suppose I would focus on enjoying myself, via drugs, music, books, and so forth. I think I would also need some kind of ongoing constructive project, which would in my case take the form of learning, and developing skills... I'd read through encyclopaedias, try to develop an in-depth skill in a particular abstract field like physics or maths, and master an instrument.

Originally Posted by cmind

I love how everyone ignored my post.

What's the longest any of you have gone without any human contact? I'm guessing not very long. It becomes psychologically unbearable very quickly. As in, you will want to die.

Your post was fabricated anyway so I don't know why you're so indignant that we passed over it. A cursory search reveals historical cases of this very situation where the individuals did not kill themselves. The archetype is Alexander Selkirk, who was marooned for over four years, and upon whom "Robinson Crusoe" was based. Castaway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Want to die =/= Will die.

What? It's easy enough to kill yourself. If Selkirk or any of those other people wanted to die, why didn't they allow themselves to die, or kill themselves? In Selkirk's case he even hid from some Spaniards because they wanted to kill him, and instead waited for rescue by the British. None of those castaways wanted to die or said they wanted to die. The assertion's just wrong, and obviously wrong. Why defend it with a paralogism? You don't even agree with it, you said you would look for supplies and shelter. Rather atypical suicidal behaviour. People don't universally or even typically "kill themselves or go insane".

Originally Posted by cmind

I love how everyone ignored my post.

What's the longest any of you have gone without any human contact? I'm guessing not very long. It becomes psychologically unbearable very quickly. As in, you will want to die.

If you feel lonely, you can always paint a face on a volleyball and name it Wilson ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Originally Posted by Suvid

If you feel lonely, you can always paint a face on a volleyball and name it Wilson ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Hence going insane. I agree with cmind. If you're a hermit or a very strange individual you might not want to kill yourself, but the likelihood of insanity is still pretty high. Ignoring that, the real reason I find the argument against this to be futile is because most people on this website probably wouldn't fall into the category of those who would actually wind up being alright totally alone. I hate people and I would still want to die if I were completely alone and had no hope of every seeing another living person, realistically.

I know this is a hypothetical situation but I feel like a lot of the people responding aren't thinking about how much things would collapse and degrade without maintenance. There wouldn't be any power, not for a very long period of time without expertise and having to perform enough upkeep of the generators that is impossible for just one human being. You would have to do a lot of work to survive. Essentially, without killing yourself you would have your lifespan reduced significantly for the simple fact that there is no one to care for you. It becomes a matter of survival on a day-to-day basis when present and unrotten supplies run out. It wouldn't be possible to spend your time on frivolous things like writing or reading except at very limited times if you value living. In fact I'm willing to bet after living in the hell of having to try and merely survive and without a hope of ever having others to help out or to comfort you (or you to comfort them) you would soon abandon such practices because they serve no practical purpose, and the pain and effort of simply thriving would be too great.

Like you said, it's a hypothetical situation. People aren't failing to consider the practical aspects; they're recognising what the original question is actually about. It's not about surviving in a post-apocalyptic world. If you want to make a thread about that, feel free. But this thread is a thought experiment in which you have unlimited leisure but no companions, as a means to explore our personal values and motives and how they relate to society. Unless I'm severely misunderstanding the original poster.

Originally Posted by Denziloe

Like you said, it's a hypothetical situation. People aren't failing to consider the practical aspects; they're recognising what the original question is actually about. It's not about surviving in a post-apocalyptic world. If you want to make a thread about that, feel free. But this thread is a thought experiment in which you have unlimited leisure but no companions, as a means to explore our personal values and motives and how they relate to society. Unless I'm severely misunderstanding the original poster.

I feel like that should have been outlined in the original post. Call me an idiot (probably am) but I take things rather literally. Besides, it's kind of hard not to on the internet anyway.

Originally Posted by snoop

Hence going insane. I agree with cmind. If you're a hermit or a very strange individual you might not want to kill yourself, but the likelihood of insanity is still pretty high. Ignoring that, the real reason I find the argument against this to be futile is because most people on this website probably wouldn't fall into the category of those who would actually wind up being alright totally alone. I hate people and I would still want to die if I were completely alone and had no hope of every seeing another living person, realistically.

I know this is a hypothetical situation but I feel like a lot of the people responding aren't thinking about how much things would collapse and degrade without maintenance. There wouldn't be any power, not for a very long period of time without expertise and having to perform enough upkeep of the generators that is impossible for just one human being. You would have to do a lot of work to survive. Essentially, without killing yourself you would have your lifespan reduced significantly for the simple fact that there is no one to care for you. It becomes a matter of survival on a day-to-day basis when present and unrotten supplies run out. It wouldn't be possible to spend your time on frivolous things like writing or reading except at very limited times if you value living. In fact I'm willing to bet after living in the hell of having to try and merely survive and without a hope of ever having others to help out or to comfort you (or you to comfort them) you would soon abandon such practices because they serve no practical purpose, and the pain and effort of simply thriving would be too great.

Portable generators are everywhere (gas could last the first 10 years or so if you get it from a proper storage tank). You would not need to have a power grid, just one generator. A windmill powerplant only needs greased and solar panals are going to last a very long time, Also a water wheel generator would work fine. . Canned food will still be good for about 100 years or more (just looked it up). Dried survival food would also last you life time. You would have unlimited guns and bullets and no laws to regulate hunting (you could even use a land mine to hunt if you wanted.) Fruit trees and many crops will grow and produce for decades if not centuries.

I can care for myself unless I get cancer or something. I imagine I would try to not do really dangerous things, but anti-biotics, skin stapling guns and everything else would be free for the taking. You can also learn almost any skill from a book.

So, survival would be very easy, unless you are not intelligant. Then it may be a problem.