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

What would you do if every human being except for you would disappear from the face of the earth? There is no one left who could scold you for your actions but no one left who could ease your worries. Would your usual duties still hold importance to you in a world where you are the only member of society? Now that you´ve gained infinite freedom at the price of eternal loneliness, what to do with this cursed blessing?

Thinking about it makes you realize how much our lifestyles depend on human society.


If I were in such a situation I would perhaps devote my life to taking care of animals. But if these critters were gone as well, I think I would revolve my life around my current main passions: Writing and sewing. Or maybe I would finally start to learn how to draw or how to compose music.

But what point would there be to creating art if there was no one else who would ever get to experience them? I could continue to improve my writing skills, but with no one to read my works I run the risk of repeating mistakes I would have never found on my own and my style could become stale. I could never reach my full potential without the help of external critique.

On the other hand, none of the plushies I´ve sewn were made with the original intend to share them. It can be nice to know that there are other people in the world find joy in my crafts, but this feeling pales in comparison to the feeling of having created something I like with my very own hands. If the whole world would lose interest in them, my own internal drive to create would still be enough to keep me going.


So what about you? What would your life look like if the world became your oyster and yours alone?

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.

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Originally Posted by BLUELINE976

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

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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:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAxARJyaTEA


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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 :hrm:


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.

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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.

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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".

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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.

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

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Originally Posted by Suvid

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Originally Posted by snoop

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.

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That's true. But out of interest, how does a hardcore pragmatist such as yourself answer the question when posed in this different light?

You people really don't get. If any of you want to put your convictions to the test, I suggest you try it out: Find a cabin in the woods somewhere. Fill it with all the food and entertainment you can think of (barring other people). Live in it. See how long it takes for the whole experience to become a psychological ordeal. Don't worry, it won't take long.

I don't think I've seen somebody so riled up over a hypothetical! Well, maybe at the end of a couple years/months (weeks would be easy, I've almost done that before) we'd all go crazy and jump off a cliff.

SO WHAT!?

Are you saying the instant you realize you're the last person left you'd eat a bullet? You wouldn't do ANYTHING else first?

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Originally Posted by cmind

You people really don't get. If any of you want to put your convictions to the test, I suggest you try it out: Find a cabin in the woods somewhere. Fill it with all the food and entertainment you can think of (barring other people). Live in it. See how long it takes for the whole experience to become a psychological ordeal. Don't worry, it won't take long.

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Because no miner, monk, trapper or settler has ever done that?

I imagine few would kill themselves unless they were already unstable. Most would choose to do something to keep them interested in life. That is what the OP is about.

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Originally Posted by sivason

Because no miner, monk, trapper or settler has ever done that?

I imagine few would kill themselves unless they were already unstable. Most would choose to do something to keep them interested in life. That is what the OP is about.

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The people who do that are self-selected, so they have personalities that are less dependent on other people than the average person. Also, they know that they will see people at some point. In that sense, the experiment I proposed doesn't really work because it can't convey the true sense of being alone forever (insert troll face). But no, I don't think most people would stay positive. Perhaps some sort of survival instinct would prevent suicide for some, but it would be a very miserable experience. The only reason some people can't see this is because they're surrounded by lots of people all the time and constantly thinking "if only I could be alone!". But understand that, although being alone for a few hours or a few days can be very relaxing, being alone indefinitely is not the same thing.

You can't deny millions of years of evolution. For most of human history, being alone = death. There is a very strong innate instinct in every one of us to seek out other people. Some people feel it more strongly than others. For example, I can go days without speaking to anyone, whereas I know people who start to feel uneasy if they go 3 hours without speaking to anyone. But no one can go months or years and still be happy. It's like thinking you can be happy without food or water. It just doesn't work that way.

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Originally Posted by cmind

The people who do that are self-selected, so they have personalities that are less dependent on other people than the average person. Also, they know that they will see people at some point. In that sense, the experiment I proposed doesn't really work because it can't convey the true sense of being alone forever (insert troll face). But no, I don't think most people would stay positive. Perhaps some sort of survival instinct would prevent suicide for some, but it would be a very miserable experience. The only reason some people can't see this is because they're surrounded by lots of people all the time and constantly thinking "if only I could be alone!". But understand that, although being alone for a few hours or a few days can be very relaxing, being alone indefinitely is not the same thing.

You can't deny millions of years of evolution. For most of human history, being alone = death. There is a very strong innate instinct in every one of us to seek out other people. Some people feel it more strongly than others. For example, I can go days without speaking to anyone, whereas I know people who start to feel uneasy if they go 3 hours without speaking to anyone. But no one can go months or years and still be happy. It's like thinking you can be happy without food or water. It just doesn't work that way.

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Sure, most people might descend to madness at some point. But there are always exceptions. Humans may be wired to seek company, but there are always people who managed to defy their evolutionary code. Humans can achieve the most astonishing tasks with enough training and determination. I doubt maintaining their sanity over a lifetime of solitude isn´t one of them.

If you make a statement and claim it to be true for all people in the world, it´s not surprising to find people who disagree with it.

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Originally Posted by cmind

But no one can go months or years and still be happy. It's like thinking you can be happy without food or water. It just doesn't work that way.

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At least you could adopt all the pandas, chimps and such from the local zoo. You could also have a heard of cattle dogs and teach them to dance.

Aside from asking how on earth you know this:

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Originally Posted by cmind

You can't deny millions of years of evolution. For most of human history, being alone = death. There is a very strong innate instinct in every one of us to seek out other people. Some people feel it more strongly than others. For example, I can go days without speaking to anyone, whereas I know people who start to feel uneasy if they go 3 hours without speaking to anyone. But no one can go months or years and still be happy. It's like thinking you can be happy without food or water. It just doesn't work that way.

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You do raise a good point. In the spirit of the OP (what would you do? rather than what are you sure would have to happen to you?), I have a feeling that the first thing I would do is understand that I am no longer human.

Since there are no longer humans in existence, all the physical and spiritual support, all the cultural, societal, and governmental norms and traditions that formed and defined the human herd would be no more. In other words, yes, I might still have the DNA and physical makeup of the race that once occupied and defined my world, but everything else about my existence has changed completely. As the last person on earth, I would be a new race of one, set with the challenges and possibilities of defining my entire existence. That actually seems pretty exciting to me, and not a reason to kill myself.

So, in response to the OP, I would set about living a very comfortable life using the virtually unlimited resources available now (as Sivason described somewhere above), and while watching the sun set over the ocean from my Newport mansion, martini in hand, Beethoven playing behind me, I could consider what I would do with my new existence, how I would define it, and how to get as much joy and enlightenment from that existence. There is so much to explore in this universe, I really don't think doing so in a literally solitary life would be all that bad... it could be me, but perfectly alone is not a very scary condition to me... perhaps I'm already crazy?

Oh, and if all of the above is wrong and I did get lonely, I would lean on my LD'ing skills to create a world (or two, or three...) populated with all the DC's and social life I can handle.

Also, if I am the only human left alive, how would I even know I was insane?

cmind,

We are already alone.








(...In a sense anyway.

Many people feel lonely, even in the sea of people which floods the cities of this world. But we're all here. The need for belonging is only the third level of Maslow's pyramid.)

(EDIT) Okay, sorry for being so somber! :)

;) wouldn't it be a sunrise in Newport?



I would vote myselff president. Then in a suprise uprising I would overthrow the government and declare my self Emperor of the world. I would then stock pile rocket launchers to defend my title from bears.

^^ Actually, Newport is on a peninsula with a west-facing shore, but good point, as the best mansions face east. So I guess I would admire the pretty colors of sunset over the water (and they are), and not watch the sun. Sunrises would be out of the question, even in a "last man on earth" situation...

I would assume there were a reason for me being the last person alive. So I would wait.

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Originally Posted by cmind

You people really don't get. If any of you want to put your convictions to the test, I suggest you try it out: Find a cabin in the woods somewhere. Fill it with all the food and entertainment you can think of (barring other people). Live in it. See how long it takes for the whole experience to become a psychological ordeal. Don't worry, it won't take long.

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I actually think that if you had the internet, you would be just fine. Obviously you would have to remove things like forums where people reply but you could read old stuff people wrote. You could for example go read online reviews, find an interesting movie and then go watch it, and then go read what others said about it and compare your thoughts to theirs. You could see people every day on old tv shows. You got all sort of stuff to take your mind off things, like playing games and stuff too. Hell, you can get a dog if you want, or four dogs.

Being all alone stuck on some island, or a cabin in the mountains or in a cell is totally different than being alone with access to everything you want, internet, cable, movies, games, pets, books and whatever you want.

I would commit genocide.

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Originally Posted by Whatsnext

I would assume there were a reason for me being the last person alive. So I would wait.

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Only interesting response in this entire thread.

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Originally Posted by cmind

Only interesting response in this entire thread.

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The source of his concern is revealed. If he were the last person who would he be rude too. Dogs don't get trolling and cats just ignore it. Being rude to yourself probably just wouldn't give him what he is looking for.



I would enter all sorts of competions and always take 1st place. Best of show everytime!
Oh, I would embrace the madness. Pumpkin juggling?

Step up your game, sivason. Then I might find your posts to be more interesting.

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Originally Posted by cmind

Sorry, but that's the true answer.

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Originally Posted by cmind

I love how everyone ignored my post.

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Originally Posted by cmind

You people really don't get. [...] See how long it takes for the whole experience to become a psychological ordeal. Don't worry, it won't take long.

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Originally Posted by cmind

Only interesting response in this entire thread.

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Originally Posted by cmind

Step up your game, sivason. Then I might find your posts to be more interesting.

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Do you realize that your posts come off as exceptionally arrogant and narcissistic?
This is a hypothetical situation, circumstances can vary depending on how you interpret it and people's answers can vary depending on how they look at it. Are we talking about an apocalypse that you survived or just a sudden disappearance of everybody? Are you going to consider your confusion concerning the situation or do you assume that it is voluntary? Do you assume that electrical power will stay on or will you take the hypothetical fully realistically? If you want it to be 100% realistic, maybe you'd sooner go insane from the conspiracy theories building up inside of you (knowing that people can't literally disappear, they must have deliberately left you or been abducted by someone/thing - or maybe you were abducted by aliens and now you're in a fake replica of your old world?) than the simple loneliness. Some people might answer it as a "What would the immediate first thing to do be?" question, others might see it as a "What things are possible that aren't possible when others exist?" and some might answer "How would I attempt to survive?" or some might go with "What would the loneliness do to me?". I don't think there is any need for you to stomp on other people's answers just because you think your own is the best one.

EDIT:
I would explore homes.

Like I said, Whatsnext had an interesting thought that no one else did. But yes, sometimes people are correct, and sometimes they know they're correct. That's not a sin, it's just a fact. It's 100% silly to think that you could be happy without other people, or bring them back using lucid dreams. I have lots of experience with lucid dreams, and I can tell you they really don't work that way. This isn't Inception, this is real life.

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Originally Posted by cmind

That's not a sin, it's just a fact.

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I didn't say you were wrong, I said your posts come off as exceptionally arrogant and narcissistic, and that the "right answer" varies depending on how you look at it. Do you, for example, think that "I would explore homes" and "I would eventually go insane and kill myself" are mutually exclusive? I believe both are true: but I only mentioned the former because that's part of the interesting (IMO) spit-balling that others in this thread are also doing. To me, the interesting bit is not what will become of me eventually, but how I will react to the situation before the end.

If I am the only person left in the world, it's probably my fault. Sorry folks! :okbyenow:
(inspired by Maeni, somehow :) )

The question was not if you could be happy. It was what would you do? If your answer is shoot yourself just say it.

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Originally Posted by Denziloe

That's true. But out of interest, how does a hardcore pragmatist such as yourself answer the question when posed in this different light?

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Since everything I do concerns other humans in some way, even if I am capable of being isolated for days and don't need to hang out or whatever, I would still think that even in this new light I would have very little to actually do. I would probably just try finding giant stockpiles of drugs (preferably hallucinogens/dissociatives in particular) and just try and learn stuff as much as possible and maybe reading some actually interesting literature or whatever before I die from drug related complications. Otherwise, my hobbies include gaming both on singleplayer and multiplayer games, discussing things on forums, hanging out with my two best and almost only friends (people I would consider friends anyway, not including friendly acquaintances), listening to and playing music, and learning stuff. Whether I'm in direct human contact or not, I'm usually still interacting with humans on some level.

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Originally Posted by sivason

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.

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As far as it being easy to survive, how is finding gas and unlimited guns and bullets and everything going to be possible after a few years? Who is going to be servicing the fuel pumps and delivering them to gas stations? How will the gas not naturally degrade (iirc octane levels drop fairly quickly). Animals would begin scavenging a lot of the food left behind. Things would begin falling apart without regular upkeep fairly quickly, even if you managed to travel far enough to get to a location where almost entirely newly built structures are all that's there. Suppose a natural disaster occurs like tornadoes, high winds, terrible storms, hurricanes, volcano eruptions, landslides, or earthquakes occur in your area and destroy what you are depending on for power. What if there is a drought where you are, or a flood? What if lakes we were pumping to prevent a lot of natural disasters from occurring stop being pumped and you aren't aware it was keeping you safe?

If you play things really smart, and you go out on a regular basis and setup encampments with trucks filled with all kinds of food and survival supplies you scavenged in multiple locations so you aren't screwed if something major happens, you may have an easier time, but what is prudent to do may not be exactly clear until it is too late. All I'm saying is, there is a lot more to this than simply thinking "well I'll just steal a lot of stuff and I'll be good, if I'm not a retard (which I'm not) I should be fine". It wouldn't be that easy. The amount of work seems to be underestimated as well. There still wouldn't be any time to be doing anything than making sure you have a continual supply of things vital for survival, moving all that food and supplies and moving them to encampments would require a lot of physical effort and time. If you opted not to do it, then good look facing any threat nature throws at you, you won't get by moving from walmart to walmart once vehicles get tire rot or rusted out from not moving and the vehicle you are using breaks down and you don't know how to keep fixing it unless you're some mechanic. Mechanical things require all kinds of lubrication and things like that in order to keep running. They also need to be cleaned and maintained. I mean the more ways I think of how something might go wrong, the more ways I have to come up with a lot to keep my original strategy for keeping alive actually working.


Also, the arguments for some people being fine without human interaction. Alright, so there are some that would be fine. Why do you think prisons have solitary confinement as a harsh punishment? It's because it's been proven that isolation from human contact actually makes emotional pain centers in the brain light up. Isolation is pain. Maybe you could get over it, but it would still suck ass and eventually all the negatives would pile up and you would probably stop seeing a point in living.

^^ I think you may have missed the point of the OP, Snoop. The question was more a thought experiment about what you would do if given the opportunity of being perfectly alone in the world than it was a practical question about how you would survive in a world without people.

I can see how you may have been confused or misled, given that the impossibility of being alone or long-term survival seems all a couple people want to talk about. But this thread probably would have gone much better if the OP included a note saying something like "This is not a question about survival, but possibilities," I suppose.

[EDIT: I just noticed that you've already posted here, and are aware of the spirit of the OP. I guess I hadn't realized the subject had been changed; never mind!]

Wow Sageous, reading all those interesting posts, I forgot that was the goal of the thought experiment.

If I had no social constraints, what I would do differently is that I would be a nomad on a never-ending adventure. Living in a society stops me from always moving on because I am committed to the people I love. If I did not have these people I love to anchor me in one place, I would walk and never stop, exploring every corner of this Earth. But obviously, the reason I don't do this is because I do put more value in committing to those I love, so I'm not complaining here :)

Ok, not responding to the posts about survival :)

I would find out just how long it would take me to eat all of the canned food in a super walmart. I bet it would be more than a week. Upon finding that out just from curiosty. I would 3 miles to the next Super Walmart and eat all of the canned food there, just to see if there is a difference. Assuming I still want to live here (where no natural disasters have occurred in 60 years, and that was just a mudslide) I would still have one mor Super Walmart with in 3 miles. so I would try just one more time to see if my rate of canned food consumption had gone down or up. Next, out of the madness I would be embrassing, I would shift my experiment to one of the Abertson's stores, as they only carry perhaps 20,000 cans of food. I would repeat this experiment at each of the 15 locations, to see if regular grocery store food lasts as long as Supper Grocery store foods. Perhaps I would try this at the 7 Fred Meyers stores next. Eventually I may have to walk the 30 miles to the next large city before trying it all again.

I just hope I can find enough paper and pens to keep good notes.

On the embrassing the madness side of this, I would keep all the cans and assemble statues of imaginary friends.

A bit sentimental. I've been contemplating the idea of just taking a tent and getting the fuck out of here.. If there where no more people I could just go into houses and steal their food. i'd have so much fun... I would love it if u guys where around though. Even just on dreamviews I would just post pictures on my stolen laptop with my stolen camera of how i'm chilling with 50 dogs.. :D sidenote: someone should make a movie with this idea.

Grow a long beard, get skinny, and talk to my volleyball. :wino:

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Originally Posted by Sageous

^^ I think you may have missed the point of the OP, Snoop. The question was more a thought experiment about what you would do if given the opportunity of being perfectly alone in the world than it was a practical question about how you would survive in a world without people.

I can see how you may have been confused or misled, given that the impossibility of being alone or long-term survival seems all a couple people want to talk about. But this thread probably would have gone much better if the OP included a note saying something like "This is not a question about survival, but possibilities," I suppose.

[EDIT: I just noticed that you've already posted here, and are aware of the spirit of the OP. I guess I hadn't realized the subject had been changed; never mind!]

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…Well, I guess the wording of my opening post does put the most emphasis on how you´d use your newly gained freedom, but it doesn´t have to be restricted to that. I do agree that the posts about your new life goals will probably be more interesting since each of them will be more individual than say survival strategies.

But “What would you do as the last person in the world?” can be read in many different ways. I wouldn´t say that posts defy the “spirit of the OP” since it wasn´t set in stone in the first place.

Being the last person left could be either heaven or hell depending on your perspective. It would be bitter sweet. Everyone is invited to think for themselves which of the two tastes would out weight the other.

If you focus on the sweetness, you could talk about how you’d rearrange your lifestyle now that you can live outside of society’s restrictions and push the worries of survival aside.

If you focus on the bitter side, feel free to ponder (and post) how you´d approach the challenge of living alone after losing access to all the possibilities which our human society used to provide. The danger of running out of food and other resources as well as the danger of becoming insane under the pressure of isolation are some very valid discussion points in that context.


As long as both discussions can peacefully coexist I don´t see a problem.

If I was the only person on earth, I will make robots to replace the people, but of cause they will serve me like a king.

Break into a chips and chocolate factory and eat till I become so fat I explode...

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Originally Posted by Sageous

^^ I think you may have missed the point of the OP, Snoop. The question was more a thought experiment about what you would do if given the opportunity of being perfectly alone in the world than it was a practical question about how you would survive in a world without people.

I can see how you may have been confused or misled, given that the impossibility of being alone or long-term survival seems all a couple people want to talk about. But this thread probably would have gone much better if the OP included a note saying something like "This is not a question about survival, but possibilities," I suppose.

[EDIT: I just noticed that you've already posted here, and are aware of the spirit of the OP. I guess I hadn't realized the subject had been changed; never mind!]

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The first part of my post was my attempt at following the spirit of the thread, the second part was a rebuttal to sivason's argument. No worries man, thanks for pointing it out because I'm pretty dense at times and as was already mentioned it flew over my head at first.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pu...orror_7453.png

Guys, I just realized... If all the humans disappeared suddenly, all the pets that are inside their owner's house would slowly die, hungry and alone, desperately scratching the doors for freedom...

Now I need to hug my cats :(

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Originally Posted by Suvid

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pu...orror_7453.png

Guys, I just realized... If all the humans disappeared suddenly, all the pets that are inside their owner's house would slowly die, hungry and alone, desperately scratching the doors for freedom...

Now I need to hug my cats :(

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It is probably worse than that since many would likely escape and go feral and wild street dogs might end up attacking you as you go on with your life.

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Originally Posted by Alric

It is probably worse than that since many would likely escape and go feral and wild street dogs might end up attacking you as you go on with your life.

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You'd have to live up in the mountains anyway because the urban areas and lowlands would all be radioactive from the fallout of all the world's nuclear power stations melting down.

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Originally Posted by cmind

You'd have to live up in the mountains anyway because the urban areas and lowlands would all be radioactive from the fallout of all the world's nuclear power stations melting down.

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Good point. I wonder how you could get a map of all the reactor locations with no internet. This actually would be a big problem in many areas. Even if none were nearby, wind or water may carry it to you. Note to self: get a Geiger counter.

I know I saw a video once that explained what would probably happen with the world if all people disappeared in an instant. It was pretty interesting, I think they concluded that Hoover Dam would be the last lights to go out, if I remember correctly. I like the idea, it would be awesome to be able to see cities, centuries after everybody had disappeared. Just to see how maybe the animal kingdom has taken over. What wouldn't happen to big cities with sky scrapers and such? Imagine trying to survive alongside wildlife that's slowly taking over what used to be civilization.

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Originally Posted by Maeni

I like the idea, it would be awesome to be able to see cities, centuries after everybody had disappeared. Just to see how maybe the animal kingdom has taken over. What wouldn't happen to big cities with sky scrapers and such? Imagine trying to survive alongside wildlife that's slowly taking over what used to be civilization.

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I do wonder who will replace us when we become extinct. Just the same way we replaced the dinosaurs. :bump:

5 Mass Extinctions have already happened. The dominant species always dies.

Attachment 8218

Some links to the prior mass extinctions.
Mass Extinction, Mass Die-Off Information, Prehistoric Facts -- National Geographic
BBC Nature - Big Five mass extinction events

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Originally Posted by Maeni

I know I saw a video once that explained what would probably happen with the world if all people disappeared in an instant. It was pretty interesting, I think they concluded that Hoover Dam would be the last lights to go out, if I remember correctly. I like the idea, it would be awesome to be able to see cities, centuries after everybody had disappeared. Just to see how maybe the animal kingdom has taken over. What wouldn't happen to big cities with sky scrapers and such? Imagine trying to survive alongside wildlife that's slowly taking over what used to be civilization.

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It was a Discovery tv series, "Life After Humans" or something like that. I've seen it too. As for cities, nature would reclaim them very quickly. After 100 years, you would be hard pressed to even know they were ever there. Some of the sturdier buildings might still be sort of standing, but they would look more like steep hills, covered with vegetation.

I really have no idea... Loneliness is one of the most painful things. I would have to master meditation in order to not kill myself. I would be a farmer, drink rainwater, generate electricity with solar pannels, and in my free time I would listen to music and build my music collection.

Take on the role as a steward for the environment around me, read whatever I could get my hands on, develop survival skills, try to domesticate an animal or two just enough so that I have something to keep me company but it's still able to fend for itself in the wild (if possible), meditate, etc.

I have thought about this since last month. I came to one important conclusion:

The internet would keep working, but only for a very limited time, somewhere between hours and days. Before long something would go wrong and that would be the end of internet.

My conclusion there fore is that I must rush to a place with a great printer and internet set up, such as the Kinko's copy center, with in the first hours of everyone else meeting what ever end.

I would then search the internet for every topic I can think of that would be important. The following is a short list of things I would want to print off:

Location of all Nuclear reactors in any area with in 500 miles of any area I may travel too.

Malaria prophylaxis (prevention) and treatment, plus areas of epidemic diseases such as malaria

Location of wind farms, solar panel warehouses, hydro electric dams that are small enough for a single person to maintain, and operation/maintenance manuals for each.

Location of pharmaceutical warehouses, dry goods warehouses, natural ice caves, and radiation protocol supplies (detectors, iodine tablets, suits, etc..)



Next, on the very first day, while electricity is likely still working I would go to all of the grocery stores near by the Hospital near my house. I would clean out all of the perishable stuff from a couple, so they would not foul the store later as they rot. I would take all of the items I would like, such as cheese, meat, dairy and I would take them to the hospital and place them in the deep freeze.

The next day I would go around the hospital and turn off most of the breakers to reduce power consumption. I would figure out a section that could be maintained close to the deep freeze and kitchen. I would clear that area of any bodies and close any security doors into other areas. Hospitals have emergency back up generators that will already be set up. I would simply need to maintain the gas and oil levels in the generators.

The third day I would search high and low for a truck that delivers gasoline, or at the very least set up a truck with smaller gas containers I could fill while the pumps were working. I would keep looking every day until I scored a nearly full semi truck that delivers gas. I would park it by the generators at the hospital.



What would I do then? Well I would plan out where I may want to relocate to eventually, but I would not attempt to travel until I had mastered survival in my home town and put tons of thought into it.

Good plan, sivason.

It's funny how radiation protection now plays such a huge role in survival, when just 60 years ago it wasn't even a thing.

Thinking about the internet issue: I think if you're really clever, you could locate an ISP and hook up their servers to solar or wind power. I believe (I could be wrong) they keep a cached copy of most of the static pages on the web, so that would give you unlimited access to all that stuff. Or failing that, find the local Google server. But power might be a bigger issue. Maybe this is getting too complicated for one person.

I think all of you are too smart for me when it comes to being the last person on the earth. Honestly,the first thing i would do if i walked outside and noticed no one around is laugh a bit thinking how funny this is but that I have to remain serious. Than I would pray about it, take my keys and a weapon than walk out the door and investigate the area. After a while if i get no answer from my prayer or see no one outside i would probably keep investigating until i find a answer. Of course I'd be taking care of myself as well. The search for all of you and the other human beings would be tiring and after waiting for a while i would get tired of waiting. Even finding food that does not get expired would be tiring. So I'd probably just eat the foods that have a far off expiration date and try to grow my own food in the meanwhile. I know!!! I'd go to the place where people go to see flowers and use their soil to grow food for myself! I'd also read books on growing your own food. As I'm doing that I will try to make signs in the sky or anywhere else for humans. I would keep searching and searching and searching until...╭( ✖_✖ )╮I die.Cause even though I'd be really lonely and scream out to God or the sky "whyyyyyyyyyyy!?" for someone to hear me. Hope would drive me to keep living.

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Originally Posted by cmind

Good plan, sivason.

It's funny how radiation protection now plays such a huge role in survival, when just 60 years ago it wasn't even a thing.

Thinking about the internet issue: I think if you're really clever, you could locate an ISP and hook up their servers to solar or wind power. I believe (I could be wrong) they keep a cached copy of most of the static pages on the web, so that would give you unlimited access to all that stuff. Or failing that, find the local Google server. But power might be a bigger issue. Maybe this is getting too complicated for one person.

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No, but google does. Head right for google in California. They have a ton of freebie snacks there as well while you're busy printing.

Actually I'm not sure if their data center is on-site or not. They probably have copies on-site at least.

I don't know if it's been answered yet, but the very first thing I'd do is a RC :).

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Originally Posted by FryingMan

No, but google does. Head right for google in California. They have a ton of freebie snacks there as well while you're busy printing.

Actually I'm not sure if their data center is on-site or not. They probably have copies on-site at least.

I don't know if it's been answered yet, but the very first thing I'd do is a RC :).

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Thanks for the correction.

I think google probably has lots of local servers. My guess would be that no human is more than a few hundred miles from a google server. But if you find one, you don't need to bother printing anything*, just hook up a laptop and a source of electricity.

*Unless the servers have some sort of time-out mechanism, where they automatically delete cached web pages after a certain amount of time has passed

Roam around the earth until i expire.

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It is probably worse than that since many would likely escape and go feral and wild street dogs might end up attacking you as you go on with your life.

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So much for being "natural." :(

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It is probably worse than that since many would likely escape and go feral and wild street dogs might end up attacking you as you go on with your life.

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Not to mention that without human intervention, after 10-15 days all of the worlds nuclear power plants would go critical and basically turn every major city into Chernobyl. :shock:

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Originally Posted by JadeGreen

Not to mention that without human intervention, after 10-15 days all of the worlds nuclear power plants would go critical and basically turn every major city into Chernobyl. :shock:

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Looking at a map of current reactors, every one in the Eastern USA would face potential radiation. The West has few reactors. Southern California over to LasVegas, Nevada, and part of Washington state would be at risk. Lucky I am in the broad swath in the West that would be well away from this problem.

I guess I'd walk around naked and eat a bunch of food from like buffets and shit while it's fresh and wander in peoples houses, go through crap to learn about peoples life and their travels. I'd probably wander into off limits buildings too. Probably die from messing around with flying crafts, or live long enough to die from the Chernobyl like events to come. I'd definitely get some Baskin Robbins first though. Vegas would be fun for a few hours I suppose. There would be a lot of singing Freddie Mercury songs out loud. It's be nice to find some rich persons lamborghini, I'd take that for a spin, drive it through a mall, then just gank stuff from the mall.

I think dogs could provide the psychological support necessary to ward off madness.

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Originally Posted by IndieAnthias

I think dogs could provide the psychological support necessary to ward off madness.

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I agree, and you could even have exotic pets you rescue from the zoo.

I would gather everything I need to survive, plants, weapons, Necessary clothes, things for a tent, Kinda minecraftish style.
Then go to a mountain ,make a place for self sustaining lifestyle , and meditate until I die or I become a bodhisattva.
And then maybe I would invite other sentinent beings to earth from space, and let them somehow solve the problem of breeding since I'm the last human left...

Seriously, is anyone here taking ideas from any books? Because I'm going to need those books!

Edit: Okay, after a quick search, found a good compilation of such pieces of literature. One thought that came to me after Cmind's comment of Sivason's post concern regarding radiation was how each of these authors (regardless of the time in which their works of fiction are set) incorporate the existing (or aking to exist) technology into their works.

I'll assume as most others have that there was an element of preparation here.

First an foremost would probably be acquiring a storage facility with fuel reserves and extremely well regulated environment for preserving my giant collection of update electronics and books. In this sense the next 40-60 years (asssuming I could even live that long with little to no medical knowledge) could easily be spent interacting with artifacts from the present.

All of the english wikipedia only takes up 11 full bookshelves. I imagine with access to libraries all across the country acquiring useable knowledge on most topics would be relatively easy.

The next point to make is whether animals exists. Dropping all elements of realism fo a while, would you still have pets? If so i think survival would not be a problem. Domesticated cats and dogs especially provide a comfort at least comparable to that of a human.

In terms of hobbies, I'd probably sway away from computers etc for self preservation. Traditional arts such as weaving, spinning, jointery are much more useful as well as interesting when the only thing to show for is improving you own comfort in life.

I'd probably spend my final few years building. So when I'm on my death bed, dying in agony because of a terrible stomach ulcer I can watch my gigantic 2km long rube goldberg machine go from start to finish whilst listening to the benny hill theme tune.

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Originally Posted by dutchraptor

I'd probably spend my final few years building. So when I'm on my death bed, dying in agony because of a terrible stomach ulcer I can watch my gigantic 2km long rube goldberg machine go from start to finish whilst listening to the benny hill theme tune.

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Very awesome!

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Originally Posted by Narwhal

I guess I'd walk around naked and eat

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me gusta

http://i61.tinypic.com/35cep3p.jpg

If anyone likes reading about this topic, try "The purple cloud", beautiful book about the last man on earth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxCd2-7-aJA

Imagine being stuck all by yourself in that. Not fun-sounding at all. Right now, humans are the dominant species of Earth--and when you take out the overlord, the underlings rise up. You would no longer be fearful of people hurting you, but instead wild animals. The food in your local shops would eventually go bad, and if you got sick or hurt, whom would take care of you? Even if you could handle solitude on an emotional level, on a physical level you'd be quite vulnerable. Most people nowadays aren't trained for survival in the wild. At the end of the day, our power comes not just from our intellgence, but our numbers. To say the least, as the last human on earth it is unlikely any of us would die from old age.

It's hard to give an answer... I think I will kill myself, at this point, I can't live without people. But first I will travel. All the world. And then I can die happily :chuckle:

I didn't see anything about animals being out of the equation, so I would start taking care of animals and the animals would be my new friends. I would acquire a Yukon Denali XL from any GM dealer, and load it up with supplies and my new dog friends, and We would set off for Nasa Mission control and start there. I would also go to the Vatican and walk freely through their secret archives and read whatever I choose to understand what Ancient History was really like. I would also try to search the Amazon or some indigenous areas of the rainforest as a last ditch effort to find any human beings left on the planet. I would also try to get to egypt and find out whats under the sphinx's paw. I would try to contact extraterrestrials.