# You are the only one alive on earth. What do you do? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 20, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840 "2014-05-20T16:48:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/21 "2014-05-20T21:16:20Z")
Try to calculate how long it will be before the packs of dogs devoured me. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/22 "2014-05-20T21:26:44Z")
If everything manmade is gone, I’d be screwed. I live in the Netherlands, currently about 4 meters below sea level. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/23 "2014-05-20T21:26:47Z")
I don’t see myself actively committing suicide like some people are suggesting. I’d do my best to have a decent rest of my life. But, I’m not an outdoorsman and the OP’s scenario gives me virtually nothing to work with. If this scenario happened right now in May, I suppose I’d have the best chance possible to stay alive while I learn the basics the hard way. I’d give myself a 50% chance of even making it past the first month and maybe a 10% chance of making it through the first winter. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/24 "2014-05-20T21:33:04Z")
Do I know somehow for a fact that I’m the only one? Or can I hope to find other survivors by wandering through the Earth? In either case, it’s a ‘trapped in a desert island’ situation. Fashioning crude weapons with wood and stone, finding a safe, sheltered spot near fresh water and learning how to make fire through what I half remember from Survivor and that Tom Hanks movie would be the plan. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/25 "2014-05-20T22:28:05Z")
- Alternate between rejoicing in the quiet and solitude and worrying about those I love (human and animal. Will my critters still be with me? If I get to keep dogs, cats & horses I have more to worry about but also great travel solutions!) - Do something about shelter/food/water/protection from the hordes of soon-to-be-feral dogs - Do a lot of thinking about where the best place to live is, possibly head for the coast. -Oohh…if \*\*all \*\*man made things are gone I _may_ be screwed because there’s a giant dam & lake not too far away. Not sure enough of the terrain locally to know if I’d be swimming or not. - Chop wood, haul water, carry on til I can’t anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/26 "2014-05-20T22:32:03Z")
No computer, no boyfriend, no job, no house, no refrigerator or processed food? No thanks. I’d probably try to figure out if I was really the only person left on earth but I doubt I’d make it more than a couple weeks. No books! uuugh ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/27 "2014-05-20T23:14:45Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Reported for forum change Dude, you’re the last person alive on Earth. You’re going to have to do it yourself. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/28 "2014-05-20T23:39:26Z")
Be glad there’s no other people? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/29 "2014-05-20T23:53:36Z")
My thought upon reading the thread title was to just get really, really fat. Just eat everything, but apparently that’s all gone as well as everything else I’d have fun with if nobody were watching. To hell with it, I’d just kill myself. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/30 "2014-05-21T00:15:57Z")
Go to Atlanta and retrieve the Coke formula. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/31 "2014-05-21T00:20:41Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > Will my dogs still be alive? My question, too. I think I could go a good long time without human companionship if I had dogs with me. Then I would gather up all the lost and bewildered companion dogs into a big pack to protect me from all the other dogs and scary critters. Food wouldn’t be a problem at first - all those other domestic animals - chickens, sheep, cows, would be easy pickings in the beginning, and horses for mobility, if I could catch them, though there might be some competition when the zoos released their residents. I live not too far from African Lion Safari. Could make for some interesting predators at the top of the food chain. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/32 "2014-05-21T00:29:20Z")
I’m thinking domesticated plants and animals are gone, so no dogs or anything. I’d be well and truly screwed. If I didn’t go insane from grief and despair, I could get water from a nearby stream but after that I don’t know. Not sure if I could make fire, even if I have seen it on Survivor. I could make a spear but I’m not sure what I’d do with it. I could eat grasshoppers and wild salad greens for awhile maybe. I don’t see myself lasting very long. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/33 "2014-05-21T00:33:36Z")
I guess my post cataract surgery lens implants would be gone so I’d be blind with no lens. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/34 "2014-05-21T01:10:54Z")
Surely “everything man made” doesn’t include porn! I mean, there is some made by women. Speaking of which, there all kinds of shit in the world made by women in 3rd world sweat shops. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/35 "2014-05-21T01:11:26Z")
Yeah, without my contacts I’d be pretty blind too, so I doubt I’d last long (or want to). ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/36 "2014-05-21T01:16:34Z")
> [@Earth001](#): > > You wake up one morning to your bed. You noticed that everything is gone. No people and everything that is man made is gone except for your bed and the best set of clothes to protect you. What do you do? First, I’d do something embarrassing like masturbate in public or ride a pink Vespa - someone else is **bound** to show up! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/37 "2014-05-21T02:58:32Z")
I’d curse the fact that I only spent a year in Boy Scouts and never learned to make fire without matches or a magnifying glass. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/38 "2014-05-21T03:08:57Z")
I would try to figure out what was going on. (Which would be hard without my contacts.) I doubt if ever realize the full truth, because how could you ever believe that everyone but you vanished? But if I ever did “get” it, I’d kill myself, go crazy, or find religion. What’s the point if there is now one else? ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/39 "2014-05-21T03:31:50Z")
Make sure I have a clean towel. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840/40 "2014-05-21T03:34:47Z")
If I concluded I wasn’t deep into delusion, I might be motivated to try to survive awhile, since the only explanation is magic or some ultra-advanced intelligence did it on purpose, and they might come back and fix it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-the-only-one-alive-on-earth-what-do-you-do/688840.md?page=3)