THE WORLD AFTER MAN ... TV coming up soon

[small axe]

Or it's called something like that, How the world would become if man went extinct etc. How fast the skyscrapers would become hunting grounds for evolved wolfpacks of mutant rats or somesuch. How soon super highways become jungles.

Interestng future stuff for sci-fi writers, maybe. It's on History Channel or Discover Channel or maybe A&E, in a day or so, 20th or 21st maybe?

Worth looking up in the TV schedules, if you care to?

[ChaosTitan]

That sounds pretty interesting, small axe, thanks for sharing. :)

[Pthom]

The program is "Life after People" (http://www.history.com/shows.do?action=detail&episodeId=262869). It is a 2-hour-long program, scheduled to air on the History Channel, January 21, 22, 23, 24 and Feb 2. I'll watch it.

[rugcat]

I will definitely take a look.

[NicoleMD]

Cool.I'll be watching.

[JimmyB27]

Ooh, ooh, ooh! Sounds perfect for one of my WiPs!

Pity I don't have access to the History Channel. :cry:

[Pthom]

It was pretty good--probably could have been done in an hour and been as informative.

Jimmy, check out the program (http://www.history.com/life) on the History Channel site. There is a brief preview and access to a discussion forum.

[small axe]

I enjoyed it, though yes they sort of padded it. Still ... cool show. And disheartening to know how quickly even the huge bridges and skyscrapers would fall into dust. I always imagined the cities would be like the ancient Mayan ruins looming up out of the jungles for five thousand years ...

And I felt like crying when they mentioned all the house pets dying, trapped in houses without food to eat. I'm one of those people who can watch a 2 hour show about the extinction of the human race and then feel heartbroken when I think of the puppies and kitties starving, waiting to be fed, trying to be good doggies and not make a mess on the rugs but ... but no one lets them out.

And then our little Yorkie standing in the middle of the room holding his toys, wondering why no one came out to play with him today.

I watched the skyscrapers fall ... and I wanted to warn the cats and the mice to get out before it's too late.

They tell me about the seas returning to life and a part of me thinks "Well, that's beautiful" ...

I was hoping it would end with a shot of a few surviving humans walking back out into the edenic Earth, beautiful and naked and free to start over again (well, assuming the Grizzley Bears that migrated across the Golden State Bridge didn't eat them) ...

People I'd miss. Civilization ... I'm not sure the world wouldn't be better off without.

And that was a strange thought that it left me with: PEOPLE need not disappear totally for all that "End Of The World" stuff to happen anyway, right?

I mean, turn off the electricity and no one's going to be out there upkeeping the bridges or the roads or the dams. Those suckers are going to fall just like we weren't here. People may be a lot tougher than the show suggests ... but Civilization as we know it might go down like dominoes with just a few minor hits.

Oil crisis goes bad and we're back to towns where most people don't travel farther than they can walk or a horse can carry them. There's not that much space to freefall between 2008 A.D. and 1800 A.D. and 1000 A.D.

Anyway: when the world ends, leave the door cracked for your pets. They didn't screw the world up, and they deserve a chance to inherit the Brave New World after we're gone.

[Lyra Jean]

I saw the show and it definitely gave me ideas for a story or two. Just got to finish my one story first. I'm thinking about buying it on DVD.

[small axe]

Here's one tidbit of info that certainly made me re-imagine a lot of the SF I've read for years: their comment that -- despite the trope of Earth's TV and radio signals traveling out across space to alien worlds -- our broadcast signals scramble into meaningless static after only a few light years.

So much for the easy explanation by the aliens "We learned about the tiny nuances of your civilization by listening to radio 100 light years away." :D

[NicoleMD]

I don't know about you, but I'm going to start writing all of my novels on stone tablets. Look for me, I'll be the one at Starbucks with the slab and chisel.

Nicole

[Melisande]

I saw the show yesterday and thought that it was quiite interesting, even though I found it hard to agree with some of the speculations presented.

I also have to agree with small axe about the pets.

They forgot, however, to show what will happen to the millions of other domestic animals living in captivity for various reasons; breeding for foods, furs etc, and the poor animals that are being experimented on and animals held captive for the making of medications.

It would also have been really interesting with a more penetrative analysis of how manipulated plants and crops would have developed.

I also thought that the show would have gained interest if the perspective had been more world wide instead of concentrating mainly on the US.

[DaddyCat]

An intriguing show, but they were working from the assumption that all six billion+ humans vanished instantaneously and without warning, leaving all other living things and the environment intact. Why start a science fact show with an outlandish science fiction premise?

[brokenfingers]

I saw the show yesterday and thought that it was quiite interesting, even though I found it hard to agree with some of the speculations presented.I agree.

The short range speculation especially seemed pretty sensationalist and their 1, 5, and 10 year claims were even contradicted when they went to Chernobyl to show 20 year changes.