The Last Person Alive

[Mycroft]

I'd try to create clones in a laboratory. I suppose this may sound arrogant, but I genuinely believe that if all the world's equipment and knowledge was available to me and it was my single goal in life, I would probably be able to do it.

...no doubt creating a Room of Horrors a la Alien Resurrection in the process.

Edit: clones of other people! Even I'm not that narcissistic.

 

[Totenkindly]

Exactly. Wouldn't it be a bitch if after the day you kill yourself, super intelligent extraterrestrials land on Earth?

Then again, if they were coming to Earth in order to "serve man," perhaps suicide would have been preferable.

I'd try to create clones in a laboratory. ... Edit: clones of other people! Even I'm not that narcissistic.

lol... that's what I was wondering! (I mean, if you're going to save the human race, it would be nice to get busy with someone other than yourself, right?

 

[Maverick]

I guess it all depends on the circumstances. If vestiges of civilization remained I'd settle in a farm nearby. I'd grow my own vegetables and have animals for meat.

I would then proceed to investigate a nearby library. I'd first get all the cooking, medical and applied science books. I'd collect cars, petrol, medication, additional books, food from convenient stores, a powerful computer, video games, guitars, wine and cannabis grains. I'd find a way to continue having electricity, heating and water. Then I'd happily spend the day reading, playing video games, eating different food, enjoying wine, driving expensive sports cars and smoking pot.

Hey it sounds awesome

I would really miss my girlfriend though. If we were both the last people alive, it would be paradise!

 

[Wandering]

It wouldn't be that much different than ending up stranded on a deserted island.

Oh yes it would! Because when you're stranded on a desert island, you can always have HOPE that somehow you'll get back to civilisation. And you know that there are people missing you out there. Two things you don't have if you know you're the last person on Earth.

Which, duh , makes me realise that no I wouldn't die, for a simple reason: I *couldn't* know that I'm the last human on Earth! So I would keep living and traveling and searching, always hoping to find another human being somewhere. After all, if insignificant me survived, then why not someone else?

 

[INTJMom]

...
I *couldn't* know that I'm the last human on Earth!
...

This is a good point. How would I find out I was the last person on earth? How would I know for sure?

What would you do if you were the last person on Earth? How would you react?

However if I did know for sure that I was the last person on the face of the earth, I don't think I can imagine how I would really feel.

Certainly, I would mourn the deaths of all my loved ones for a very long time. I know I wouldn't live for very long because I am lousy with gardening, so I could only live as long as I could find fresh food in stores and homes. There would be no one to run the power plants so there would be no electricity or water either I guess, except for rain water. I would definitely become very religious. I guess I would just stay close to my home town where I was familiar with my surroundings (because unfamiliar surroundings make me paranoid after a while) and I would eventually die of starvation.

I'm assuming everyone else would have died all at once like in some sci-fi movie so wouldn't there be the horrible stench of death everywhere? I would be incredibly depressed with all that death around me. I would want to die too. I would be terribly afraid of wild animals - or are they all dead, too? Thankfully, I know such a scenario will never happen, so I don't have to worry about it.

I'd like to imagine that I would travel and go see all the beautiful places of the world, but realistically, I don't believe I could actually accomplish that.

As much as I need time alone, and dislike interacting with people, the fact is that people make the world what it is and without people, the earth would eventually just be overrun by weeds and wild animals.

 

[Sandy]

I'd be okay, but like kiddo says, I would probably be surrounded by animals to talk, hug, and take care of.

 

[Mempy]

It would be hard to know what you'd really do, wouldn't it? I think eventually electricity would stop working, the tv stations would stop running, and the internet would probably collapse, don't you think? Hmm... that's an interesting thought. Like Mav, I'd take many, many trips to the library. I'd probably read every manga and interesting book I could find, since there'd be nothing else to do! It would be sad to know that anything I created or thought could never be shared with another soul. I'd also, like others have said, continuously wonder if there WERE others out there. I'd probably try to find them, but how scary would it be to get lost in the world, knowing there was no one around to help you? Gosh, this is a depressing and terrifying thought. Not to mention the soul-crushing sadness of losing EVERYONE you EVER loved. I think my heart might explode instantly from sadness. I would probably die, as they say, from a broken heart.

 

[Grayscale]

It would be hard to know what you'd really do, wouldn't it? I think eventually electricity would stop working, the tv stations would stop running, and the internet would probably collapse, don't you think? Hmm... that's an interesting thought. Like Mav, I'd take many, many trips to the library. I'd probably read every manga and interesting book I could find, since there'd be nothing else to do! It would be sad to know that anything I created or thought could never be shared with another soul. I'd also, like others have said, continuously wonder if there WERE others out there. I'd probably try to find them, but how scary would it be to get lost in the world, knowing there was no one around to help you? Gosh, this is a depressing and terrifying thought. Not to mention the soul-crushing sadness of losing EVERYONE you EVER loved. I think my heart might explode instantly from sadness. I would probably die, as they say, from a broken heart.

Nah, see, you would just have to be more self sufficient! Learn how to operate dam gates and turbine systems, take off and land commercial jets, etc. I would make humanity proud!

The only sad thing for me would be when I myself was about to die. No more chances... the last one in the last few moments. I would try to stop it but it would be inevitable. As things got dark I would be thinking... noo, don't go away world, I love you.

 

[Kiddo]

...take off and land commercial jets...

I would stick to small aircraft. Somehow I bet those big aircraft are a terrible pain to land without a control tower.

 

[runvardh]

I'd have to work out artificial gestation first, I'm thinking; and while the first batch is cooking I'll work on some particle experiments. I guess the only thing I'd really have to worry about is running out of frozen eggs before getting anything viable.

 

[Grayscale]

I would stick to small aircraft. Somehow I bet those big aircraft are a terrible pain to land without a control tower.

Why? It's not like there is gonna be anyone else on the runway. Why even use a runway, crash land it on the interstate, who cares?

 

[Mempy]

That reminds me. I was going to offer up the thought that a woman might be able to repopulate the earth if she found some frozen sperm somewhere... like in an in vitro lab? I don't know if sperm can survive freezing, but it's an interesting scenario.

 

[Kiddo]

That reminds me. I was going to offer up the thought that a woman might be able to repopulate the earth if she found some frozen sperm somewhere... like in an in vitro lab? I don't know if sperm can survive freezing, but it's an interesting scenario.

That is an excellent point. There are tons of labs with frozen sperm and eggs. A woman could possibly start the repopulation process. It would even be better if we had artificial womb technology at that point. Then a woman wouldn't have to sacrifice her own body to the process and could even have several kids going at once. Hey, with AW technology then even a guy could do it.

 

[Grayscale]

I can see it now, the woman running her hands over a along a line of sperm receptacles...

"Hmm, choices, choices..."

 

[Randomnity]

I'd be too focused on survival to worry about much else.

Getting even simple food and shelter without power, industry, stores, physical labour, etc would be more challenging than you might think. At least after the supplies from the stores are used up. I suppose that could last years or even decades though, given a sufficient number.

I'd move somewhere warm enough to survive winter but cool enough to be able to farm decently. And find a whole lot of books to tell me how to do stuff. And try to forget how lonely I am.

It'd be pretty miserable.

 

[runvardh]

Honestly, if the infrastructure is there I can't see how a person can't get it running. There is a central location of operations for this stuff, just have to know how to operate it. Set it up to text you if something goes wrong; I already know that stuff exists, I've worked with it.

 

[Mempy]

I'd be too focused on survival to worry about much else.

Getting even simple food and shelter without power, industry, stores, physical labour, etc would be more challenging than you might think. At least after the supplies from the stores are used up. I suppose that could last years or even decades though, given a sufficient number.

I'd move somewhere warm enough to survive winter but cool enough to be able to farm decently. And find a whole lot of books to tell me how to do stuff. And try to forget how lonely I am.

It'd be pretty miserable.

My thoughts too. I think living without electricity, which is feasible if there were no humans to run it and you didn't know how to keep it running yourself, would be harder than one might think. Not to mention, what if you break a bone while no one else is around? Catch a disease or some kind of virus?

This thread is awakening my anxiety.

 

[JivinJeffJones]

What would you do if you were the last person on Earth? How would you react?

I've frequently fantasized about this exact scenario, and always decided that it would be quite a sucky situation to be stuck in Australia for. You could have so much more fun in North America or Europe. I guess a lot of those fantasies involve wanton vandalism and sticky-beaking, with some random masturbation in highly inappropriate places. You could move into Bill Gates' house for a few months. Poke around in the Pentagon. Ultimately, my ambition would be to introduce kangaroos to Africa, where I think they'd do extremely well. I'm not sure what I'd finally end up doing. I'd probably drown when my yacht capsized at the first storm. Or I'd cluelessly sample every drug known to man until I accidentally overdosed. There would certainly be no shortage.

I had a dream about a week ago that everyone else on earth had died and the first thing I did was go out and "steal" myself a big, hugely-expensive yacht. I was pretty excited about it, as I recall.

 

[reason]

What would you do if you were the last person on Earth? How would you react?

"Wow, what next? Will I be stranded on a desert island with my favourite collection of music?"

 

[faith]

What would you do if you were the last person on Earth? How would you react?

Find a sperm bank and have a kid so I wouldn't be alone.