Book: The World Without Us

[Animeniax]

Has anyone read this book by Alan Weisman? It examines what would happen to the world's flora and fauna and even human constructs if humans were to disappear tomorrow or gradually die out. A lot of it seems like pseudo-science and a lot is definitely conjecture, but has enough truth and sense to be plausible.

It examines what was here before humans, what possibly happened to other species of life once humans became the dominant organism on the planet, how long the planet would take to recover to its previous state once humans are gone, and how human achievements would fare without us around to maintain them.

Very interesting read.

[Sapphire]

Sounds interesting. If I stumble across it in a bookstore, I'll give it a read.

..Unless someone wants to link me an ebook..?

Speaking of science novels, I like anything by Richard Dawkins, specifically The Ancestor's Tale, which explains the history of humans, retrospectively.

[Kraco]

I liked this book. I rarely buy hardcovers but I'm not sure books like this will be turned into the paperback format in Finnish, so I decided not to wait. From the beginning till the end, it was a good read. Naturally there were many guesses and estimates in the book, but it was made far more believable by the simple fact lots of professionals and experts were interviewed and it wasn't based on the author's imagination. There were multiple pages of references listed at the end, just like in any scientific work.

I took my copy to my dad afterwards.

[Animeniax]

Sounds interesting. If I stumble across it in a bookstore, I'll give it a read.

..Unless someone wants to link me an ebook..?

Speaking of science novels, I like anything by Richard Dawkins, specifically The Ancestor's Tale, which explains the history of humans, retrospectively.

You'd think with the subject matter that his publisher would have made an ebook version to cut down on paper waste. Oh the hypocrisy!

I'll check out The Ancestor's Tale if you check out The World Without Us.

I liked this book. I rarely buy hardcovers but I'm not sure books like this will be turned into the paperback format in Finnish, so I decided not to wait. From the beginning till the end, it was a good read. Naturally there were many guesses and estimates in the book, but it was made far more believable by the simple fact lots of professionals and experts were interviewed and it wasn't based on the author's imagination. There were multiple pages of references listed at the end, just like in any scientific work.

I took my copy to my dad afterwards.

Did it make you feel bad to be human after reading this book? My only consolation is that the next ice age will wipe the Earth's surface clean and kill most everything we haven't killed off by then. Then only our buried nuclear waste (and radio waves sent into space) will continue our legacy.

[Kraco]

Did it make you feel bad to be human after reading this book? My only consolation is that the next ice age will wipe the Earth's surface clean and kill most everything we haven't killed off by then. Then only our buried nuclear waste (and radio waves sent into space) will continue our legacy.

It didn't really make me feel bad as such. But I have to admit I never realised plastics were such a huge problem. Everybody knows they will remain for a long time, but I thought aside from suffocating an occasional sea beast they wouldn't do much of anything beside remaining.

I have been a staunch supporter of nuclear power for a long time, and I can't say anything in this book in that regard would have been very new to me, aside from the fact so few countries apparently have prepared final solutions and many are struggling with it. I guess because Finland is among the top in that respect, I never paid heed to the situation at large. Still, it shouldn't be such a major and acute problem unless humans indeed disappear for some reason. I trust every country will deal with it unless they want to get polluted for good.

[Animeniax]

Yeah I'd like to visit these gyres and see the mess but I think it would lead me to join an ultra-violent arm of Greenpeace after seeing something that horrific.

How exactly do you think countries can deal with waste from nuclear reactors? It can't be destroyed, only buried or moved. Maybe eject it into space?

The problem with the way countries are dealing with it now is that it will create problems for future inhabitants of the planet. Given our propensity to dig and see what's buried in the ground below us, 10000 years from now when evolution has humanity's progeny back on top of the food chain, they will dig and find one of these caches of nuclear waste. Unless they can read English or one of the other languages used on the warning signs or they're intelligent enough to have Geiger counters on hand, they'll unearth lethal radioactive material, possibly unknowingly spreading it and killing lots of people.

[Kraco]

Sending it to space (maybe our own star or one of the gas giants) would be very optimal indeed, but before space elevators it would be insanely expensive and thus impossible. And even with space elevators it would still be expensive.

Burying it very staunchly is the best bet. Sure thousands of years from now they might be dug up by people if we assume the civilization will collapse and rerise losing memories, but there could still be skull and other warning signs left. And it's not like there even existed other options. It sure is better than keeping them in barrels in temporary shelters, protected from rain but nothing else, which is still the situation currently practiced pretty much everywhere. That can't go on forever.

[Animeniax]

I think it's messed up that all equipment used in handling radioactive waste becomes radioactive itself and also needs to be isolated and discarded.

I also found it disturbing reading about the petrochemical complex running underneath and around parts of Houston, since it's my hometown.