Life After People?

A very interesting show that tries to answer the question: "How long would the material things of our modern civilization last if people just disappeared?". Instead of dwelling on how every last human is removed from the earth, which is mostly immaterial to the premise of the show, the focus is on the aftermath of our disappearance. I guess it's kind of like watching a car accident or any number of disaster movies, one is compelled to watch even if the subject makes them a bit queasy.

One of the reasons I enjoyed this program so much was due to the post-apocalyptic series by S.M. Stirling I've been reading. It's an enjoyable read but before watching this show I thought his description of how quickly the material things of modern civilization were essentially swallowed up by Mother Nature seemed a bit far-fetched. Having now seen this program it does appear that left unchecked, every material thing we see around us is indeed temporary and man's mastery of Nature a bit more illusory than we imagine. Rather sobering to think that the remnants of the ancient Greek & Egyptian cultures have lasted far longer than ours would if modern society collapsed. A fascinating program, I highly recommend it.

You can watch the rest of the show here. Enjoy!