What was the point of Life After People

[the_poochies]

Is this program based on the 2008 book The World Without Us by Alan Weisman? I read the book last summer and it was completely engrossing.

It really didn't concern itself with how humanity suddenly disappeared; just what would happen to the Earth if we all vanished. The author imagined what would happen to familiar places over time: a typical suburban home, New York City, Gulf Coast petrochemical plants, nuclear plants (using Chernobyl as a case study) and common animals like house pets.

He proposed some fascinating theories on why large mammals suddenly died out in North American tens of thousands of years ago yet survived in Africa (the African mammals grew up around evolving humans and developed a natural fear of them; when humans crossed the land bridge from Asia into N. America, the North American mammals didn't have that fear of humans that their African cousins had).

The book was creative, easy-to-understand and is well-paced. I recommend it highly.

[rgG]

I had seen this program before on the History channel and re-watched most of it again last night. I did not find it depressing, just interesting. I had more of a "circle of life" reaction to it. It just reinforced the idea that we humans are constantly fighting back the forces of nature to keep our fragile structures and society intact. I see this myself all the time when I work in my yard and around my house. If you don't constantly keep up with maintenance and upkeep, nature will just take things back. Not depressing really, just a fact of life/death.

[MGS_forgot_password]

Well, it's a hell of a lot better than the UFO and Nostradamus crap they have been showing.

[Robert M]

rgC,

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I love shows that do a "What if?" scenario. Definitely the same driving force behind my love of speculative fiction even craptacular speculative fiction like the "Deathlands" series of post-apocalyptic Earth. To me, Life After People is about the impact we have had on the world and what would happen if we were all to suddenly vanish. The end result is the stage in the cycle of life on our planet. I just enjoy seeing what they _think_ will happen after humanity as we know it now departs from the planet.

Robert

[ka jowct]

Kinda pointless as if there is no people, who would care?

That is the narcissistic outlook of most humans, I suppose. I found the show encouraging and optimistic: all other life on earth would fluorish in our absence. I'm not inclined to think that one (incredibly destructive) species that's been around for a blink of an eye in terms of the planet's history is the only species that matters.