The Last Human Alive...
Posted 18 Aug 2002 by bagginsWhat would you do? and why?
So, i was at a party last night. there were several people there that most of us know. alaric being one of them. and this question was posed:
What if you woke up one day, and there were no human beings left on the face of the planet? ZAP! everybody just disappeared leaving behind all the infrastructure, and everything else that humanity has created to date. You are the only human being alive (you don't know this 100% right away, but after a while you kind of assume, since you have not found anybody...). How do you spend the rest of your days?
So, post your thoughts on this topic here. anything and everything, of course, is valid.
some of my thoughts..., posted 18 Aug 2002 by baggins »
when the question was posed to me, i said i would probably cry first.
then i thought it would be fun to get a really fast car and drive really fast across the country. and i'd learn how to fly a helicopter.
those are just some prelim. thoughts. i don't want to influence anybody yet.MMMMM!, posted 18 Aug 2002 by pedrosoldlady »
Bolt to the nearest Fannie May!Figure be damned!helicopter, posted 19 Aug 2002 by pedro »
Not to rain on your parade, baggins, but I think that if I was going to learn how to fly a helicopter without anyone who actually KNOWS how to fly a helicopter there to teach me, I'd at least want to be sure that there was a well-staffed hospital nearby with lots of doctors and qualified nurses... oh yeah.Enjoy flying that helicopter! Haha. Just being a dork.
counter-intuitive., posted 19 Aug 2002 by pedro »
This is kind of bizarre, but I just realized what I would probably do -- sit down, and write a bunch of music. I can see myself reading the Bible more then actually than now, not in a search for meaning, but just because.But really, my first instinct would be to sit down somewhere and hammer out a bunch of songs.
First..., posted 19 Aug 2002 by smax »
... I'd try really hard to wake up. Then, I'd laugh due to my thinking of a Bob Dylan song at such a bizarre moment.Next.. I'd work on losing my mind.
Third, I'd feel stupid for not learning to fly when I had the chance.
Fourth, I'd go find my neighbor's and parent's dogs, they'd be worried.
The rest would probably involve heading out west, climbing, living in grocey stores until the power ran out and trying to remember where they were doing all that cloning.
Wouldn't matter, posted 19 Aug 2002 by neale »
I'm pretty sure whatever you wanted to do wouldn't matter, because you'd spend so much time just trying to survive you wouldn't have time left for many hobbies. As I've pointed out somewhere else in the diner, humans don't have much in the way of natural defenses, so if you wanted to live, your first priority should be arming yourself. So I'd first drive out to the desert where there aren't as many things like bears and cougars. Then I'd hole up in a Wal-Mart and practice my marksmanship with a gun and with a bow and arrow. I'd pack up and hop back into a car, and probably head up to like, New York or something, and spend the rest of my days doing what I could to preserve as many books as I could find, for future non-human archaeologists.Having a pack of dogs is probably a good idea. If you could recruit enough dogs in your pack you might stand a fighting chance against a large predator. But I have a feeling the dogs might soon discover that they were better off without you.
If you left a fertile woman on the planet in addition to me, my answer would be very different, since then at least there'd be a glimmer of hope of humanity surviving.
This is a pretty bleak question :(
"just trying to survive", posted 19 Aug 2002 by pedro »
No way -- like, I would "borrow" Ben Beckstrom's truck (since it's across the street from my house and he wouldn't be needing it) and go to Jewel and get all the nonperishables.No, I would get a ryder, actually. And get all the nonperishables.
Then I would head north up to Poplar, since I know that place best, and the most dangerous wildlife up there are deer ticks.
I'd install a hand pump on our well and try to stock up on fossil fuels somehow for a generator. (So I could surf the internet -- I mean, I can't fight back the wild animals all day long.)
Then, I'd go to Dan's Feed Bin in Superior and get ALL their seeds and hay and grain and fill up the garage and shop with those things.
Then I'd probably (or at some point, taking a cue from neale) collect the dogs of my neighbors and friends that I liked. (I'd get Hank and Rodie from the Harrington's in Duluth, although that would be pretty psycho, to go there alone, as well as Buster from the Hurshes, and my sister's dog Kip.)
I'd also definitely stock up on ammo, but more for hunting than for self defense -- antibiotics would be more useful for self-defense in Poplar.
Neale's book idea is also a pretty good one, but I think the dogs would stick around, especially if they were fairly domesticated breeds like labs, and provided you had enough bags of dog food.
Oddly enough, living the rest of my life alone at my parents house doesn't sound that bad. I'd probably rig up the roof with enough solar panels to run a cd player.
Although another answer (spawned by neale's postscript) which is actually what I would probably do, would be to scour North America looking for another person.
Versailles, posted 19 Aug 2002 by alaric »
There are so many things that I would want to do that it's hard to know where to start. I think the first thing would be to take the closest car, and go find a weapon, a large dog, a first-aid kit and handbook, and some morphine (just in case something bad happens). I would then set up a home base somewhere. I'm not sure where exactly, probably in a nice farmhouse located near an interstate. Then I would gather food, and use a tanker truck to fill a bunch of tanks with fuel to power a generator and my vehicles.
Next I would take a reallly nice car and drive up to my parent's house and take photo albums and things that I wanted from the house, then return to home base again.
After that, I would definitely learn how to fly. I don't think it would be that difficult. I mean, there are thousands of flight manuals, simulators, and different types of airplanes. I'd start small and work my way up to something capable of crossing the Atlantic.
Eventually I'd move my home base out east, near Washington D.C. I'd have to spend at least one night in Lincoln's Bedroom at the White House, and I'd check on the collections at the Library of Congress and the National Archives to make sure they were intact, and spend some time reading. Some other places I'd have to visit are the Groom Lake Air Force Base in Nevada, and Fort Meade in Maryland.
Sooner or later, I would have to leave the good ol' US of A and venture across the Atlantic. If something prevented me from flying, I'd learn how to pilot a large vacht and get across that way. I think I would probably make my final home base at Versailles. I'd live in the palace and grow food in the gardens. I'd have to go over to the Vatican and check out the Secret Archives sometime. It would also be fun to ride across the Great Wall of China on a motorcycle. So many cool things to do. I'd have a ball, and I think I'd get by for a long time.
Wow, morbid but so interesting..., posted 19 Aug 2002 by dex »
I think, being female, I'd propegate the species. I'd set up camp near a good hospital / sperm bank. I'd read the manuals on how to use those cryogenic freezing machines and how to properly thaw sperm and then I'd impregnante myself. Yep, I'd do it. And I'd have a nice store of nubain for the delivery... it's not that hard. I've done it. I would pray to God to help me not die during a delivery, but if I did so what? I'd have gone out trying!I'd find myself some guns, to get fresh meat when necessary. I can hunt, I just don't like to. I'd also stock up on tylenol, penicillin, non-perishable food items, baby formula and disposable diapers, clothing, so on and so forth. I'd go out and do some exploring in a car every once in a while, with a tent in case I couldn't find an unoccupied farmhouse to sleep in. I'd collect batteries from every store I passed - and I'd pick up a CB radio, JUST IN CASE. I'd monitor channels constantly.
The greatest danger would be from disease, so I'd be sure to eat well, exercise and take vitamins, keep myself healthy. I'd make no trips more than 3 days from my house, as I'd want to be near the hospital, as I said, until I was done having kids at any rate.
After having baby #1 from one sperm donor, I'd have another from a second. Maybe, just MAYBE, that way they'd be different enough to propegate the species. I'd keep having babies if I could, each from a different sperm sample... as many as I could, trying hopefully for several girls and a few boys. I'd teach the girls how to use the cryogenically frozen sperm samples (I know they've got manuals somewhere near those computers and the equipment) so that the gene pool would spread out even further. I'd help them gather books and I'd teach them - we'd study medical texts and learn how to do basic medicine. We'd study electronics manuals and learn how to wire lamps to batteries. We'd study science, math, and hopefully be able to exist without causing ourselves major injury. Without other children, the chances of severe disease outbreaks among my babies would be relatively small - still, I'd vaccinate them against things I could find the vaccines for, to be safe.
Once I got done having children (which wouldn't be until it just didn't work anymore) I'd help my daughters, as I said, to have babies. I'd feel bad for my sons, but they wouldn't be allowed to impregnante the daughters - no incest please. I would help my sons and daughters to set up a 'breeding program' whereby they would trace who was related to whom of their children, to ensure the greatest chance of survival of the species. (After about 7 generations, it would no longer be necessary to trace the breeding lines, I think.)
Then, my usefulness complete, I would move to a small cabin, with my guns and my stored food and bunches of seeds, on a lake for bathing. I'd have many dogs and many cats and I would write the story of how it all happened, for posterity's sake. I'd farm, garden, knit. I'd read every book I could get my hands on. I'd keep company with my animals and my hopefully many descendents until I passed away.
wow... good answer, but creepy., posted 19 Aug 2002 by pedro »
Dex, if you found a lab with frozen embryos (not sperm), you could have two children who were completely genetically separate, and your daughters could have children that were also completely genetically separate from them. I can see this relieving a few particular problems with your original scheme, as well as bringing a very diverse gene pool into being in a short amount of time, versus the 7 generation plan.alaric took my motorcycle idea., posted 19 Aug 2002 by baggins »
i have lots of ideas, but one would be to get as many amps and PA systems, and stuff, as i could. then i'd hook them up and place them around the Grand Canyon (id read up a bit on the Acoustics of National Wonders). then i'd go get a Les Paul, an ES-335, Brian May's homemade SG-lookin thing, and maybe a few basses, and go rock. i'd probably have to stand real far away, so i didn't lose my hearing. maybe the amps would only be on 10, instead of 11, i don't know. also, i'd place miscrophones all over the place and record it all. i'd also keep my eyes out for other humans. and i'd keep a handgun on me, and a shotgun nearby. probably morphine, too.
i think i'd also learn how to surf.
maybe i'd go and, posted 19 Aug 2002 by baggins »
find Jimi Hendrix's Strat and learn how to play lefty...Easy, posted 20 Aug 2002 by crackmonkey »
I'd use my blood as a serum to revert all the mutants living in the stadium, then die in the fountain. Or something.Damn dirty apes!
Strat, posted 20 Aug 2002 by neale »
But that would mean you'd have to set foot in the EMP--eww!dex, I hadn't considered frozen embryos. That's a good idea. The problem is, refrigeration takes electricity, and that would surely not last long. So I think you, as a woman, would have better luck reproducing than I would. But even then, you might only get one shot at it before all the little spermies warm up enough to die. Maybe you could find a sperm bank in a very cold climate for subsequent kids.
As far as interbreeding goes, I talked to an innuit once who told me how they did it. There were three clans within the tribe: bears, ravens, and seals (or something like that). A woman in a clan could only marry into one specific clan. Apparently that was good enough to keep genetic diversity. I think you'd have to make it a part of your religion: the fear of supernatural punishment is probably the best way to assure that an uneducated population will carry on a tradition they may not understand.
Speaking of that, you might want to adopt some other religions' food practices, like no pork (too easy to get diseases from undercooked pork) and fasting on certain days to make sure the diet wasn't too meat-heavy.
I'd like to remind everyone that should doomsday actually happen, a good amateur radio will get you a heck of a lot more coverage than a CB. CB is just the 11 meter band, which can go pretty far with enough power, but commercial CBs are restricted to under 1 watt, so people don't burn themselves. An amateur radio can cover everything from the 80-meter band to microwaves. You'd want to stay with the low-frequency (high-wavelength) bands for maximum coverage. Make an antenna out of wire that is as long as the wavelength you're interested in, for the best reception.
Of course, you'd have to find a way to generate electricity for any of *that* to matter. That's why I think saving the books would be the best idea. At least, when your population was large enough, someone might start to relearn some science.
generators, posted 20 Aug 2002 by crackmonkey »
Eh, you could run generators at start, and if you had any sort of technical know-how at all you could convert a diesel engine over to run on salad oil, which could be produced agriculturally by your progeny.Also, no more anti-hemp laws. Great rope for everybody!
electricity and books, posted 20 Aug 2002 by alaric »
Electricity generation is easy enough. You just need a big enough generator and the proper fuel for it. When I was in high school, my town in northern MN flooded, the national guard brought in generators to power essential systems: their HQ building, shelters, lift stations, etc. Basically five or six generators gave the town enough power for anything that was necessary, and this was for 1000 or so people, much more than would be needed for the single last human being left on earth. My grandparent's farm has a generator that kicks on when power has been lost for ten seconds. It gives power to all buildings on the farm, including running all the systems in a huge chicken house (25,000 hens). Also, 99% of the time a building that housed a genetics company, sperm bank, hospital, or anything sensitive to power outages in general would already have backup generators, and all you'd have to do is keep them running (no doubt you will be able to find a manual for it somewhere) Anyway, my point is that creating an electricity souce is not that hard, especially considering the circumstances we are speaking of.As far as books go, except for temperature variations, they are pretty safe where they currently are: in libraries. Unless the billions of rats that would soon occupy cities have easy access into and out of the buildings, the books will be okay. As far as the weather affects reading material, you'd be hard-pressed to find an ideal location to house that many books without climate control. After all, you're the last person (and we males would find it very hard to reproduce, even with the miracles of modern medicine). Even assuming in many, many years intelligent life is either recreated or comes here in some other manner, you'll have been long dead and unless you created a power system that could run indefinitely without maintenance, they'll be without power and protection once again. So, in my case, I'd leave the books where they are.
new idea:, posted 20 Aug 2002 by pedro »
I'd become an evil dictator, bent on ruling the world. I mean, what a great opportunity!lots of good ideas, posted 21 Aug 2002 by baggins »
i think after learning to fly i'd find a prepacked parachute, learn the proper techniques for opening it mid-air, and then jump out of a plane. who'd fly the plane after i jumped you ask? well, nobody. but who cares? i can afford a plane crash. i'd probably do it over like Iowa or something, just so that it would be less likely to crash into somewhere or something semi-important.
and in closing, id like to sing to you a favorite song of mine: This one time I saw Homestar punching a kitten in the neck.
Speaking of kitten, posted 21 Aug 2002 by neale »
If you had the rest of your life to yourself, attempting to find kitten might not be a bad use of that time.true..., posted 21 Aug 2002 by pedro »
It would actually make life kind of like a big game of robotfindskitten.nightmare, posted 22 Aug 2002 by mercurymouth »
i would probably kill myself.More Compelling Question, posted 22 Aug 2002 by neale »
What if you were one of the two last people alive on earth... and the other person were Charlton Heston?Oh man..., posted 22 Aug 2002 by dex »
No way. I'd just pretend I was the last person alive - see above answer!me and C.Heston, posted 22 Aug 2002 by baggins »
if we were it for the human race, i think i'd make him watch Planet of the Apes (both versions). then maybe go play paintball (or something else involving non-lethal guns). i think if he were around with me, i'd get this creepy feeling of being crowded every time i encountered him. i mean, we've got the WHOLE EARTH and he has to follow me around? it wouldn't be that way with somebody i loved. or even liked. but, i don't think i'd want to spend much time with him. so being 1 of 2 humans left, and being sorta obligated to hang out with him would be kind of awkward, inhibiting, and claustrophobic.whatserface canadian swimmerwomman with big lips, posted 22 Aug 2002 by pedro »
If we were the last two people on earth, then I must be the mute animal woman love interest character.i agree, posted 22 Aug 2002 by alaric »
I think I agree with baggins. I mean, if you thought you were the last person on earth, and then found another person, and you didn't get along with that person at all, It might even be worse. That being said, I'd probably get along with Charlton Heston. We'd go out and have a good time hunting, and later he could regale me with stories of what it was like to be Moses.i just want to say..., posted 23 Aug 2002 by baggins »
i think my post is brilliant, and thanks alaric for agreeing with me. im glad you would get along with Chuck 'Moses' Heston. that cat is Mack -a- Def!!you rock alaric!, posted 23 Aug 2002 by pedro »
...for using the word "regale" in conjunction with Charlton Heston telling stories.regalia, posted 23 Aug 2002 by neale »
I don't know, man, I think I'd be scared of CH regaling me. I mean, every time he smiled or laughed I'd have to witness the teeth!In searching for that link, I stumbled across this. Neat!
i think this is true:, posted 25 Aug 2002 by barefootjumper »
i would walk around naked in the forest eating wild blueberries until i was eaten by a bear, fell off a cliff, drown in the rapids or was gnawed to hell by a squirrel.i'm in accord with mercurymouth, posted 8 Dec 2002 by neoacerbitas »
I would kill myself.I'm thinking , posted 25 Mar 2003 by ConeyIsland81 »
I would do something similar to what Alaric said. I think the best thing would be blowing up things you don't like....like stealing the biscuits out of a Kentucky Fried Chicken and then decimating it with explosives.Having the White House to myself and sitting in the oval office...wow. For fun, I would make really absurd presidential addresses.
I guess I would do some really dumb things.
FEotD, posted 31 Aug 2006 by blvdgirl »
I'm not adding anything to this today (looking back, I see that I never really did), but I just wanted to give it a boost back into your hearts and minds today cause I just read it and thought you couold too...I would be lonely, posted 15 Jun 2007 by insectaturk »
I would be very upset that everyone was gone. I would wish my father was around to give me good advice. I would survive a long time...it wouldn't be hard to live off canned food, etc. I wouldn't be afraid of driving when there's no traffic. The difficulty would be in surviving without other humans. Eventually I would come out of my depression and go around exploring. I don't think I would read much at all. I would fish and hunt and spend a lot of time in old churches talking to saints so I wouldn't feel so alone. I wonder if I were the last person on Earth if it would be ok to learn to perform mass?