What If Half the Population of Earth Was Wiped Out?

WHAT IF

What If half the population of Earth was wiped out?

Transcript

00:00 The world has approximately 7.7 billion people on it.

00:09 Until now,

00:11 half of the world's population

00:13 has been snapped out of existence instantly.

00:16 If you happened to be one of the 3.8 billion people left

00:21 having survived this mass wipeout,

00:24 what would happen to you?

00:25 Would you be able to survive?

00:28 How would society function after such a decimation?

00:31 And could this end up being a good thing for humanity?

00:36 This is WHAT IF,

00:37 and here's what would happen

00:39 if half the world's population suddenly disappeared.

00:43 With 50% of the population disappearing in the blink of an eye,

00:46 there would be mass chaos.

00:48 One thing that's bound to happen?

00:51 Plane crashes.

00:52 There are approximately 10,000 planes in the sky at any given moment,

00:57 carrying over 1 million people.

00:59 Some of the people disappearing in this mass elimination

01:02 are bound to be pilots flying planes.

01:05 This would be a problem for people on the ground,

01:07 as well as for those in the sky,

01:09 since it would be completely unpredictable

01:11 where these unmanned planes would crash.

01:14 There would be hundreds of thousands of car pileups and train crashes.

01:18 You wouldn't want to be undergoing surgery at the time.

01:21 Imagine lying on the operating table in the middle of a procedure

01:24 when all of a sudden, the surgeon disappears.

01:28 If you were to survive all the chaos and destruction

01:30 that would follow this mass vanishing,

01:32 it wouldn't be such a joyous moment.

01:35 Half of your family and half of your friends would be gone.

01:38 Sorry about that.

01:40 However, once you get over the crushing and confusing loss of your loved ones,

01:45 this could be a good thing.

01:47 But not right away.

01:49 At first, civilization would have to deal with losing people

01:52 who held essential jobs around the world.

01:55 The number of world leaders, police officers,

01:58 firefighters, and power grid workers would all have taken a massive hit,

02:02 making their jobs difficult or impossible to complete,

02:06 and in turn, affecting the people who remained on Earth.

02:09 Massive blackouts would occur, and people would generally be less safe.

02:14 For a short time, our food supply would suffer severely,

02:18 with essential products being shipped from all around the world,

02:21 there's less of a possibility of people getting what they need.

02:25 The number of people who grow or make food,

02:27 sell it, and ship it would be significantly reduced.

02:31 But what happens after the dust settles,

02:34 and civilization is able to adjust to this new world?

02:37 Well, believe it or not,

02:39 humanity has already dealt with something very similar to this event,

02:43 known as the Black Death.

02:46 In the mid-1300s, Europe was met with a bacterial infection

02:50 that wiped out 25 million people,

02:53 equal to about half of the continent's population at the time.

02:56 Although the world was met with tons of death and despair,

03:00 there were also benefits that resulted from this event.

03:04 During a time when food supplies were scarce,

03:07 food became more plentiful,

03:09 due to there being fewer mouths to feed.

03:11 The same could be applied to the world today.

03:14 Approximately 36 million people die each year from hunger.

03:19 With 50% fewer people to feed,

03:21 and the world having the same amount of food as it did before,

03:25 the bellies of the world would be much more full.

03:27 And the benefits wouldn't stop there.

03:32 Another thing that happened during the Black Death

03:34 that would happen in our scenario?

03:35 You'd be a lot richer.

03:37 Assuming the world economy stabilizes after this huge event,

03:41 you'd be able to charge a lot more for your skills.

03:44 You could end up being the only person in your town

03:46 who knows how to repair a car,

03:48 or perform surgery,

03:49 or even cook a decent meal.

03:51 With fewer people, your skills would be in higher demand,

03:55 resulting in you earning more money.

03:57 And speaking of money,

03:58 wherever you choose to live would be much cheaper,

04:01 since there'd be so many more available homes.

04:03 You'd no longer be spending your entire paycheck on rent.

04:07 And what about all the things in the world that aren't human?

04:10 What would happen with them?

04:11 Well, the Earth would slowly begin to heal itself from climate change.

04:15 Fewer people means less pollution,

04:17 and less harm to the environment.

04:19 With 50% less people on Earth,

04:21 there's a good chance we'd be able to live comfortably on Earth

04:24 for the next 100 years,

04:26 unlike what will happen if we keep up our current population size.

04:31 Once you forget about the horrible mass elimination that occurred,

04:35 this world sounds pretty good.

04:37 You'd be richer and fatter,

04:39 and the Earth would be healthier.

04:41 Unfortunately, in a couple of centuries or so,

04:43 we'd most likely be back to where we started.

04:46 But even if that happens,

04:48 the world may still end up surviving.

04:50 The core problem is not how many of us there are,

04:53 but how we use the planet and share its resources.

04:57 In theory, we could have 14 billion people

04:59 and still have a thriving planet,

05:01 as long as we use our resources correctly.

05:04 Now, what would happen if this were to actually happen,

05:08 and the world's population suddenly doubled?

05:11 Well, that sounds like a story for another WHAT IF.

05:15 (upbeat music)

05:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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