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Oliver Stone: The Untold History of the United States

Life After People

Posted by history-admin on 19 May 2008

The highest rating documentary ever on The History Channel in the US is coming. This two-hour special relies on experts' knowledge and understanding of history in order to predict the future and paint a picture of what Earth will look like in the days, weeks, months, years and millennia after humans are gone.


Through striking graphics we see how nature will reclaim major landmarks and cities around the world.


What kind of species will survive? Will humans ever return? Will man begin the cycle again, excavating our ruins and trying to imagine what life was like before?

41 replies so far...

  1. oicyurasking

    4:53 PM, 12 August 2012

    No matter what is said, if humans do not wipe ourselves out and I think this is inevitable ! Our sun will (must) burn out and get rid of us all anyhow!

  2. paulitza

    6:04 AM, 25 August 2008

    I must be missing something on my History screen, I remember first receiving these emails, and what a joy it was to watch so many educational as well as interesting presentations. Now, all I seem to have is advertisments. Could someone advise me how to access these wonderful things you all write about?! Thanks

  3. phelanx_8

    2:03 PM, 31 May 2008

    dude that was great, i love that sort of stuff

  4. belisarius

    3:35 PM, 23 May 2008

    happygrim, the idea that somehow sometime we may be able to repay this beautiful pantry/toilet through some esoteric grand plan to save it is the most facinating yet I am afraid. If I were part of the animal kingdom, and able to articulate a response to that idea for a human it would be along the lines of " Thanks but no thanks. Just dissappear. We'll take our chances!" Of course most creatures have no verifiable means of articulation other than to show pain, stress and by finally going extinct. Animals don't have to wait for the comet, we're it. I always find it funny in SciFi invasion scenario's when the Alien 'bad guys' are doing nothing more than behaving resource sucking technically superior apes. There many things I like about us and like all other creatures it is in our nature to be parasitical but I also understand the frustrations reflected by many who think we could and should rise to a new level because of our capacity for sentience and to give meaning. Sure a star can't write poetry but it can inspire it. It has no feelings or goals but it was the first thing we worshipped. There is something beautiful in that. Basically the program was saying, Rest assured the world will continue without us. By the way I am not a crystal wearing vegetarian, but we have behaved badly. Cheers

  5. happygrim

    10:38 PM, 22 May 2008

    First of all very interesting but I find it fascinating that people are so happy to comment on our demise with such bliss, for all the greatness of nature a tree will not write a book a chimp cannot play music. As a species we have cause much damage but much could be done to fix it without removing us from the face of the planet, and what were to happen if we were the by product of a great plan to preserve the earth from a cataclysm surly the species that we leave behind and helped us reach this level of civilization, been our food, clothes and construction material deserve some repayment of their efforts.

  6. belisarius

    4:28 PM, 20 May 2008

    Of course the program was never about "why" humans disappeared but about how long our footprint would last after our demise. Much of what we are I could coldly and objectively say good riddance to. But I would like think that the cosmos just might lament the passing of Beethoven, Van Gogh, Shakespeare and a child's first sense of amazement at its own hand. It's a pity we can't realize the paradise while we are still in the picture.

  7. donvaledon

    3:38 PM, 20 May 2008

    I don't know what killed off all the people on earth but what happened to the people on the space stations? If they are still alive they could come down and repopulate the planet

  8. gregharrism22

    12:40 PM, 20 May 2008

    I really enjoyed the programme. The impact of homo-sapiens has been truly catastrophic on this wonderful jewel of a planet. You cannot help but think how much better off the millions of other species would be without us quickly destroying everything with our devastating pollution and unsustainable demands on Earth's resources. It would have been interesting to see what the impact of ALL the worlds nuclear reactors being unattended would be and whether the vast stockpiles of nuclear weapons would pose any threat to the planet if left unattended. It is great to see that the planet currently has the capacity to quickly regenerate. The oceans particularly which are currently a dump for unbelievable amounts of sewage and waste apparently could regenerate and recover from having its life sucked out by billions of starving humans - if we disappeared. I suppose the reality is though that we will push the planet way past its capacity to ever recover and it will eventually resemble a Martian landscape where nothing will survive. Thanks for a very thought provoking show.

  9. Earthmum

    12:01 PM, 20 May 2008

    Great program ! What happened to all the non recyclable stuff we left behind though?

  10. belisarius

    8:59 AM, 20 May 2008

    Really enjoyed the program. Pity it wasn't a multipart series that answered just a few more questions but overall quite good. I can think of a few things that might wipe people from the planet and leave most other life intact, and most of the things I can think of we've created ourselves, either directly or indirectly. My wife thought it was funny when they repeated something I have been saying to her for years, that the only creatures that will mourn the passing of humans will be rats and cockroaches. Every other critter will only celebrate. Oh well, we had the choice to behave better.

  11. Clive1952

    4:47 AM, 20 May 2008

    There is really nothing to enquire about. I do not think that people are going to be too concerned about what happens to the world if there is a sudden depopulation of this planet. I mean, who, besides pets that have dveloped a dependence on us, is going to be around to care, one way or another.

  12. maggiealice

    11:20 PM, 19 May 2008

    Doesn't make sense to me that whatever killed off humans didn't also kill off animals and other organic lifeforms. Unless we were all "beamed up" selectively (yep trekkie) I would imagine there would be some people left to survive along with the animals

  13. robijo15

    10:50 PM, 19 May 2008

    I also agree with the other comments , it was highly Americentric. I did still enjoy the program. I did wonder what the effects of the current virus such as bird flu and feline HIV would have on the birds and cats in this new world??

  14. Magpie4eva

    10:50 PM, 19 May 2008

    A very thought provoking documentary. It is good to see that the rubbish that man has created can be repaired by nature, although it is sad to think that any future civilization potentially may not know of our existence/lifestyle. However, in a way though..this situation seems somewhat familiar to where we are :) with our knowledge of life.

  15. christopher

    10:49 PM, 19 May 2008

    Maybe this is just a big circle, perhaps this has happend many times before? If it takes nature such a small amount of time to envelope civilisations this could truly be possible.....

  16. christopher

    10:49 PM, 19 May 2008

    Maybe this is just a big circle, perhaps this has happend many times before? If it takes nature such a small amount of time to envelope civilisations this could truly be possible.....

  17. Magpie4eva

    10:48 PM, 19 May 2008

    A very thought provoking documentary. It is good to see that the rubbish that man has created can be repaired by nature, although it is sad to think that any future civilization potentially may not know of our existence/lifestyle. However, in a way though..this situation seems somewhat familiar to where we are :) with our knowledge of life.

  18. Troobador

    10:43 PM, 19 May 2008

    I love these people who say "they didn't mention this" and "they didn't mention that"... how long did you want the program to run for poeple? I do agree with gingermegs, it was highly Americentric.

  19. missyboop

    10:43 PM, 19 May 2008

    gingermegs: see complimentary forum topic "life after death - how did we die?" on message board

  20. gingermegs

    10:39 PM, 19 May 2008

    This might seem a little morose, but what happened to all the dead people? Wouldn't the decay have an impact on the transformation of the planet? There are, after all, more than 6 billion of us. While I was impressed with the graphics and the research, I found it Americentric. I've been to New York and it's fantastic, but it isn't 'the world'. What happens to Antarctica or Easter Island, to nuclear submarines? How long does it take for the atmosphere to correct itself after we stop burning fossil fuels. Too many unanswered questions.

  21. Magpie4eva

    10:36 PM, 19 May 2008

    A very thought provoking documentary. It is good to see that the rubbish that man has created can be repaired by nature, although it is sad to think that any future civilization potentially may not know of our existence/lifestyle. However, in a way though..this situation seems somewhat familiar to where we are :) with our knowledge of life.

  22. GreendragonDMX

    10:34 PM, 19 May 2008

    Great show!! bit dissapointed it mainly focused on the US as it leaves alot of questions of what will happen to the rest of the world but its good to get a general idea of what it would be like to live after us..or even before we were around

  23. radarrex

    10:33 PM, 19 May 2008

    Totally disagree with Logonblack

  24. jeremycass

    10:32 PM, 19 May 2008

    Fantastic show. Really thought provoking. What it didnt talk about was the effect that man made weapons would have as they deteriorated. Would the nuclear waste cause an explosion?

  25. Troobador

    10:30 PM, 19 May 2008

    Agreed, there are alot of topics not covered in the show, however the show has done exactly what it set out to do... makes us think... It's great that hopefully so many people like those here, will now start to think in depth about the 'little things'.

  26. radarrex

    10:22 PM, 19 May 2008

    Great dream but why was there no mention on earthquacks

  27. Troobador

    10:14 PM, 19 May 2008

    Pripiat and Chernobyl are amazing examples of life after humans... And regardless of what happened there, nature is reclaiming it... And it's time we started to take notice... Nature will win, and it's time we went back to living in harmony with it and not trying to beat it back into what we humans like to believe is, submission.

  28. missyboop

    9:59 PM, 19 May 2008

    i agree. but will we leave the earth in a habitable state? Yay! they finally mention cats. I find it hard to believe that they inter-breed with dogs though.

  29. marksmith67

    9:48 PM, 19 May 2008

    all i can say is that bring it on , we as humans have been selfish and turned the world into a big mess . i actually felt pretty happy watching it go back to the way it was. goodbye humans its time to leave !!!!!!!!!

  30. missyboop

    9:31 PM, 19 May 2008

    It is much more impressive if you look at each topic individually. Not very realistic though. I mean, cats would help keep the rodent and bird population down, and they breed like rabbits! spiders would take over very quickly too, feeding off the billions of insects that infest the abandoned buildings. I guess each country would deteriorate at different rates, according to their native animals and plants, and the pests that are introduced.

  31. pegsta2000

    9:18 PM, 19 May 2008

    Prrety amazing show. Think there would still be some humans lurking about somewhere though lol

  32. missyboop

    9:10 PM, 19 May 2008

    Yeah, poor kitties. my belief though is that we will kill off most wild animals before we disappear.

  33. LoganBlack

    9:07 PM, 19 May 2008

    Well, Grottorex, for one, it's strange that you are half way through and ask what happens to cats. Maybe it is discussed in the second half. But, soaked in my snooty and self absorbed attitude, I would enigmatically propose that they might do as other domesticated pets would; multiply and eat each other until theres nothing left. But I would watch the show instead of typing this, I may find out. Secondly, wednesday, as you suggest, the Sydney trains don't work when fully staffed anyway, so we can safely assume nothing will change. And Sallysworld, why is it fair for the animals to reign once again without humans interfering? Ahh, natural selection. There's a lot of people (approx. 5,789,726,017 - thats about 5.7 billion) religious types that would disagree with that theory, but I agree. Jacobson, I agree, it's strange that the FUTURE is on the HISTORY channel, however, past, present and future are all the same moment, according to some, so it's like, the.. now channel..

  34. sueburns

    8:54 PM, 19 May 2008

    good so far, but if there are as many ads in the next episode don't know if I'll bother

  35. badchoices_nz

    8:27 PM, 19 May 2008

    Interesting look at what the hell we're doing... almost suggests the argument that we, as humans, are in fact parasites in some shape. Although, I missed the first 5 mins, how did humans disappear??

  36. underworld

    8:21 PM, 19 May 2008

    how awesome is the force of nature who will prevail on earth?

  37. TimJohans

    8:18 PM, 19 May 2008

    I thought it was a great programme. About the world electricity supply though, when they mentioned that the Hoover Dam could have been the final source of generation, would'nt photovoltics and solar power have been this? Those large desert arrays must surely have lasted longer than mechanical turbines? Also, would'nt nuclear reactors continue to operates, due to total resistance in the transmission cables? Food for thought...

  38. Grottorex

    7:43 PM, 19 May 2008

    Wow awesome really enjoyed it. half way thru atm. What happenens to the domestic cat???

  39. wednesday

    12:49 PM, 19 May 2008

    The graphics look impressive and it's a good premise, so i'll have to give it a look. Having said that using Sydney trains I've got a reasonable idea of what expect when our infrastucture hasn't been maintained by humans for 50 years or so.

  40. Sallysworld

    11:42 AM, 19 May 2008

    From what I can tell, the animals will be reclaiming their land which seems perfectly fair to me.

  41. Jacobson

    11:30 AM, 19 May 2008

    I will be tuning in for sure! Strange that it's on the History channel, but looks interesting nonetheless.

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