In the off-chance that one has yet to watch History Channel’s Life After People yet, please note that below will have spoilers on the show and my thoughts on it as well.

Introduction

David Brin gives the introduction which is pretty cool considering I enjoy reading some of his books (particularly the fact that he helped co-write the Asimov Foundation and Empire additions after Asimov’s death), but with that said, the introduction on the disappearance of people could have been ‘explained’ in some kind of way rather than just de-materializing them.

Days After People

Fascinating insight that the Hoover damn will run for a long time, never would have thought that dams could last that long automatically without people.

The show also goes into subways which makes me wonder how much it is a waste of energy to have built subway tunnels that require constant pumping rather than building above ground railways (or making them later when the water table rose).

6 Months After People

Wolves, coyotes, bobcats come back to rule the areas we left behind.

1 Year After People

Nature begins to take over towns and cities with plant life beginning to break into cracks into bridges, parking lots, etc. Can destroy stuff in a manner of just a few years. Eventually creates a layer of top soil that builds upon themselves and eventually takes over. Think: Mayan temples.

Estimated that 1 year after people are gone a very small mollusk that infects the inside walls of pipes which will cause the coolants to no longer work, creating high temperatures, shutting down the generators and thereby the Hoover Dam and no more lights for Las Vegas. Of course this means Lake Mead begins to rise to the point of spilling over on the sides of the Hoover Dam, but not destroying it!

5 Years After People

Roads are disappearing due to plants overtaking through cracks in the road, but even then, think about Cambodia as a great example of how ancient temples were taken over by plants and trees.

20 Years After People

Concrete buildings begin to crumble apart which seems so quick, but Chernobyl is a great example of how cities abandoned for 20 years can look like. Facilities really cannot be maintained any longer, and have to be completely rebuilt. Even with radioactivity that killed all wildlife and trees, animals have returned within 20 years. Amazingly, a soccer field within 20 years is unrecognizable now with a variety of trees turning it into a forest.

25 Years After People

Countrysides are beginning to erase evidence of humans with some cities beginning to go under water: London and Amsterdam as the dam controls fail.

Not surprisingly, pigeons do fine, lol, and thankfully cockroaches will not survive in the cold climates, although they have survived millions of years, so they could survive by going underground. Wolves will make a huge comeback, just like they have done recently within Yellowstone National Park.

40 Years After People

Termites begin to take over suburban wood homes, especially without preservatives and insecticides while rot also attacks as well.

Interestingly, salt can have a very horrible effect on stone masons, particularly on the Pyramids and have lasted for so long due to their large sizes without human maintenance.

50 Years After People

Maintenance on bridges is cared for every decade or so and without that, corrosion gets into steel breaking down the steel cables for suspension bridges.

75 Years After People

Most cars are reduced to skeletons.

100 Years After People

Even the Brooklyn Bridge breaks apart.

Humidity and heat breaks apart cellulose from the 1900s ruining films and photos, while books will be eaten by mold, but only in areas with humidity and lots of sunlight. Digital media unsurprisingly will not last for more than a few decades to centuries from digital corruption.

150 Years After People

Streets begin to collapse in cities from subterranean railways that turned into underground rivers.

Yeah! Cats now as they hunt on mice in plant skyscrapers, which of course the cats would love.

200 Years After People

Iron and steel icons begin to collapse across the world which sadly means the Eiffel Tower can collapse from its brittleness, Chicago Sears Tower and Empire State Building collapse as well.

500 Years After People

Concrete structures last the longest over any other structures, with ancient structures lasting over 2,000 years, and yet modern concrete is not as durable.

1,000 Years After People

Cities are unrecognizable, with little evidence of buildings as rivers reassert themselves from former positions.

10,000 Years After People

Radio and TV may actually dissipate within 1 or 2 light-years from our system which is very sad as I thought otherwise, although this is still a theory it seems.

Many colossal buildings like the Great Wall will be around for eons, with the idea that the Hoover Dam will be seen as the last few human-made structures left standing (not counting Mount Rushmore which may actually last for 100,000 years).

Conclusion

I wish that in the end they would have concluded with some positive aspects on what we can do to make something last that long, but that definitely is one of my biases from an optimistic view on life mainly. Still, it was great to watch, although filled a little too much with commercials.