Life After People

[Mark]

Anyone watching Life After People?

Life After People - History.Com

Chicago Cable TV Examiner: History presents Life After People premiere on April 21

Life After People (2008) (TV)

 

[Hand of Evil]

Missed last night's show but saw the one last year. It was interesting but one show did not do it justice. I am glad to see they have gone back and putting in a lot more details.

 

[bento]

I tried reading "The World Without Us" in 2007, but had too many other things going on to get through it. I was glad to see the show promoted yesterday on Wired.com, so I have it DVRed. I also caught an hour of last year's show on History International, which I think was the "highlights" reel.

I'm a big fan of any shows like this and "The Future is Wild" series. It gives me some of the same feel that I think HPL strove for - that we're all just little bitty living specks in a universe we can barely imagine. Our time is here, now, and then once we're gone, Earth will go on quite well without us.

 

[Felon]

So, how do these shows predict that human beings will die out while still leaving an otherwise life-sustaining planet behind?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

They don't.

I liked the show. The only downer for me was that they chose a really cute puppy dog to be their iconic "pet stuck in the house, looking for their masters" after we're all gone.

I own 2 Border Collies, so it sort of struck close...especially since I've had a few close calls with death myself. Them stuck in the house and forgotten is one of my little nightmares.

That bit of maudlin confession aside, the show is pretty good. Nice graphics, nice information from the experts.

Even a few surprises- David Brin- Astrophysicist and kick-ass sci-fi novelist- mentioned that SETI recently came to the conclusion that our broadcasts won't travel the universe for eternity as discrete, intelligible signals (yes, it was relevant in the context of the show). Instead, they predict that such signals as we have produced to date disappear into the background noise of the universe in as little as one light year. IOW, not even our nearest stellar neighbors will see Hitler's speeches, the Honeymooners, or even Life After People...unless they come here to see them.

Which made me wonder- if SETI thinks our broadcasts amount to little more than another blip in the cosmic noise, what are they looking for now?

 

[Mark]

Stuff like the 35 year abandoned island make for some great game fodder.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The whole thing is full of gaming fodder- the skyscrapers full of flora and fauna, how quickly nature is reclaiming the Chernobyl evacuation area, what happens when the tunnels below a city stop getting pumped out, the durability of ancient vs modern concrete...

Quality!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Even a few surprises- David Brin- Astrophysicist and kick-ass sci-fi novelist- mentioned that SETI recently came to the conclusion that our broadcasts won't travel the universe for eternity as discrete, intelligible signals (yes, it was relevant in the context of the show). Instead, they predict that such signals as we have produced to date disappear into the background noise of the universe in as little as one light year. IOW, not even our nearest stellar neighbors will see Hitler's speeches, the Honeymooners, or even Life After People...unless they come here to see them.

What a disappointment!

 

[NewJeffCT]

The whole thing is full of gaming fodder- the skyscrapers full of flora and fauna, how quickly nature is reclaiming the Chernobyl evacuation area, what happens when the tunnels below a city stop getting pumped out, the durability of ancient vs modern concrete...

Quality!

Yes, it is amazing how much work it is to maintain things like bridges & tunnels. I think it was either the Brooklyn Bridge or the Golden Gate Bridge that has whole teams of painters and iron workers working full time on bridge maintenance. I thought, "Wow, that's gotta be expensive," and then caught myself and realized that if a major bridge like that was out for even a few days, it would cause huge headaches in terms of traffic having to be re-routed and commutes being made longer and more congested. So, a few dozen full time maintenance workers is probably peanuts in comparison.

 

[Felon]

They don't.

So, it's about a post-biosphere world? I thought Alan Moore covered it pretty succinctly in one issue of Watchmen.

Even a few surprises- David Brin- Astrophysicist and kick-ass sci-fi novelist- mentioned that SETI recently came to the conclusion that our broadcasts won't travel the universe for eternity as discrete, intelligible signals (yes, it was relevant in the context of the show). Instead, they predict that such signals as we have produced to date disappear into the background noise of the universe in as little as one light year. IOW, not even our nearest stellar neighbors will see Hitler's speeches, the Honeymooners, or even Life After People...unless they come here to see them.

Which made me wonder- if SETI thinks our broadcasts amount to little more than another blip in the cosmic noise, what are they looking for now?

Well, SETI is looking for artificial-sounding blips. Patterns.

I don't think it's too huge a shocker to find out signals degrade. It's not much different than driving on a long trip and eventually losing your local station. Which is indeed a disappointment, as my favorite Tales from the Darkside episode involved an alien coming to Earth just to hire Darren McGavin to finish an old black-and-white TV show that was cancelled mid-season.