Our world, without people?

[Utrecht]

From a zooalogical perspective there is a book called "After Man" by Douglas Dixon that shows what animals might be around one people dissapear. More information can be found here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-0237059-9592931?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Also, even after a structure like a roadway dissappears - you can still see where is was by its affect on the surrounding landscape. For example, up in the Rockies, there are old Rail-Road beds that are as plain as day - even though the actual timbers rotted away 100 years ago....

 

[pensiv]

To give you an idea of roads - the interstate highway system came to be in the Eisenhower years. Note that mere decades later it is in constant need of repairs.

Much of highway deterioration is due to traffic, take away the traffic and the stress factor is cut by quite a lot.

 

[Umbran]

Much of highway deterioration is due to traffic, take away the traffic and the stress factor is cut by quite a lot.

As I understand it, the leading cause or road damage is thermal expansion/contraction stress combined with later ice damage. Thermal stress creates small cracks, ice expansion widens them.

 

[Driddle]

As a pet owner, I have to wonder how long the domesticated dog population, as a species, would take to restabilize into a few steady "breeds" from natural selection on their own.

I'd expect the common house cat would express a wide variability in individual appearance for much longer than dogs. Because the cats we know are all about the same size and body shape already; their main differences are in fur and coloration, not the skeleton.

Yeah, the overwhelming majority of zoo animals would die right away for various reasons. But I wonder if the odd gazelle(?) or emu ranch in the Southwest would be able to survive and thrive without our interference?

I vaguely remember reading somewhere once, a long time ago, a supposition that without automobile traffic to thin the herd, the armadillo population would make huge advances in North America.

 

[Wombat]

From a zooalogical perspective there is a book called "After Man" by Douglas Dixon that shows what animals might be around one people dissapear.

I love all of Dixon's books in this series -- After Man, The New Dinosaurs, Man After Man (great for those who like Transhuman Space)

Really intriguing books!

 

[Driddle]

I love all of Dixon's books in this series -- After Man, The New Dinosaurs, Man After Man (great for those who like Transhuman Space)

Really intriguing books!

CORRECT: Dougal, not Douglas.

 

[ergeheilalt]

Can some kind community supporter link the Churnoble picture threat? That had just a lot of pictures of what cities and towns would look like it over two decade. It would be a good place to start I think.

Erge

 

[mmadsen]

Can some kind community supporter link the Churnoble picture threat? That had just a lot of pictures of what cities and towns would look like it over two decade. It would be a good place to start I think.

A mirror (of a site with photos of Chernoble): http://home.alexburke.ca/pripyat/index2.html

(Oh, and you don't have to be a community supporter to post a link.)

 

[mmadsen]

As a pet owner, I have to wonder how long the domesticated dog population, as a species, would take to restabilize into a few steady "breeds" from natural selection on their own.

It would only take a generation or two. Stray dogs around the world share the same basic morphology.

 

[ergeheilalt]

A mirror: http://home.alexburke.ca/pripyat/index2.html

(Oh, and you don't have to be a community supporter to post a link.)

I know that
I was asking for the thread, as IIRC, there were some good ideas in it.

Erge