| Time Period
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Predictions
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| 1 day
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As the power goes out, bacteria, mold, insects and rodents begin to eat and decompose the produce left on grocery store shelves. The Crypt of Civilization at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta still lies buried underground waiting to be opened, but now, in a world without people, it never will be. In the absence of humans, the damage that is caused by ground squirrels and beavers gnawing at Sacramento’s levees will never be repaired and will eventually cause the city to flood. In Washington, D.C., the United States president's dog Bo wanders through the empty halls of the White House, soon he must escape to survive.
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| 2 days
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In sugar refineries, the loss of power has shut down the plants’ ventilation systems allowing sugar dust to build up; soon sparks ignite the sugar dust and the refineries explode in flames. The pumping stations along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline shut down and oil stops moving through the pipeline. In Valdez, Alaska, without humans to shut off the oil flow, the storage tanks continue to feed the oil tankers causing the tanks in the ships to spill over and spill millions of gallons of oil into the water.
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| 3 days
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Only the solar-powered radio station KTAO in Taos, New Mexico still broadcasts, all conventionally powered radio stations have gone dead.
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| 4 days
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In Rio de Janeiro, the Christ the Redeemer Statue is claimed by the night as its illuminating lights turn off. In the Atlantic Ocean, rats begin to take over an abandoned cargo ship full of wheat. With no more planes in the sky to create condensation with their contrails, it is now warmer in the day and cooler at night. The pumps that pump water out of the Naica Mine fail and water begins to reclaim the mine.
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| 5 days
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Due to raw sewage that has filled up New York’s flooded subway tunnels, the MetLife Building starts to fill with methane gas.
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| 1 week
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In Vatican City, at St. Peter's Basilica, black cats roam freely without fear of being killed as pests. Most sheep will be killed off by predators; the only chance for survival are for the sheep still protected from predators by Anatolian Shepherd Dogs which have been bred for over 6000 years by shepherds to help watch over their flocks. Some German Shepherds from military and police K-9 units have turned feral. The training that they received will help them to survive in the wild. The golf courses of Palm Springs still remain lush and green thanks to the wind turbines that still supply the city with electricity. In Chicago, the electric barrier that protects the Great Lakes from the invasive Asian carp shuts down when the emergency generators fail. Canada geese flock to airports to graze without fear of being killed by planes.
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| 10 days
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Former guide dogs raid abandoned grocery stores but will have trouble surviving in the wild due to the training they received that dulled their ability to hunt. In New York City, linseed oil in paint-soaked rags causes the San Remo to erupt in flames. Spent nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants is generally stored in pools in on-site facilities. Without people to ensure that this water remains cool, the heat of the fuel rods boils it away and the fuel rods catch fire. The resulting nuclear disasters spread fallout over large areas. Most plants and animals within the affected zones die.
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| 1 month
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A storm hits the Dutch city of Rotterdam, without humans to close the giant floodgate that normally protects the city from flooding, Rotterdam floods, destroying the works of art in the Boijman's Museum. Liquefied natural gas tanks begin to fail, causing many fires and explosions. Domesticated reindeer join herds of wild caribou. In Glacier Bay, Alaska, cruise ships capsize due to the weight of composited snow and ice. At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the last emergency battery of the Satellite Transit System fails and the entire subterranean transportation system grinds to a halt. In Los Angeles, the LED lights of the Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier still light up the night due to being run on solar power. The hydroelectric power plants that line the Niagara River shut down and the Niagara Falls is returned to its past glory as the full force of the Niagara River flows over the falls once again.
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| 3 months
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In grocery stores around the world, produce such as, meat, fruit and vegetables have either rotted away or been eaten. Vermin still inside the buildings have taken to eating up the dry goods.
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| 6 months
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In Washington, D.C., half a year of weather have left the American flag on the Marine Corps War Memorial tattered, frayed and just barely hanging on to the statue, soon a strong gust of wind blows it away.
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| 1 year
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The rat population in the abandoned ship in the Atlantic Ocean is thriving living off the ship’s supply of wheat. During the winter, water pipes in houses freeze and burst, this causes extensive damage to the homes in the spring when the ice thaws and melts. Carpenter ants, termites and mold begin to colonize the abandoned houses. The Asian carp have been stopped from entering the Great Lakes due to the lock gates in Chicago that separate the Chicago River from Lake Michigan. In Palm Springs, the wind turbines are destroyed by high winds when their emergency brakes fail. As a result, the city loses power and begins to be reclaimed by the desert. At Andrews Air Force Base, Air Force One has begun to rust and plants have started to take over the tarmac. The Naica Mine has completely flooded with water but the gypsum crystals inside the mine continue to grow; without people to remove them they could grow to up to 30 meters large. Prairie dogs had lost 98% of their former population due to overhunting, now, with no people to kill them as pests, prairie dogs have begun to make a comeback.
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| 2 years
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All produce on grocery store shelves has by now been eaten away or decomposed; pests that evolved to live off of human produce now go extinct. In the Atlantic Ocean, the rats inside the cargo ship have used up the ship’s supply of wheat and succumb to starvation and cannibalism. The rats’ dead bodies help feed starving seagulls. The last igloo in the Arctic evaporates. The Underwater Sculpture Gardens outside of St. George's, Grenada have begun to be invaded by coral.
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| 3 years
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The last watch battery on earth finally runs out of power. In Sacramento, the levees fail due to lack of maintenance and the city floods with water. In Chicago, the Chicago Harbor Lock finally fails and the Asian carp begin colonizing the Great Lakes. Without human farmers intruding on their habitat, Rocky Mountain locusts begin to make a comeback.
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| 4 years
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Sea lampreys now prey upon the Asian carp that have colonized the Great Lakes. In Australia, corrosion is threatening to seize up the hinges that allow the Sydney Harbour Bridge to expand and contract. The reservoir of the NORAD operations facility has begun to leak due to a lack of maintenance.
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| 5 years
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Taipei 101 survives a typhoon thanks to its mass damper system. The degraded circuitry on Air Force One fails and deploys the plane’s false target flares, causing the plant growth underneath the plane to catch fire. The conflagration soon reaches the plane’s fuel tanks, causing them to explode and destroy Air Force One. In New Mexico, a steady flow of toxins continues to flow into the Carlsbad Caverns from the cars that have been abandoned on the cave’s parking lot.
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| 6 years
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In California, the Geysers geothermal power plant explodes when water touches the magma underneath the power plant causing a huge amount of superheated steam to overwhelm the power plant’s corroded pipes.
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| 8 years
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The mission of the Cassini space probe ends but without any people to operate its descent into Saturn’s atmosphere the probe continues to orbit the gas giant. After escaping the White House, Bo’s natural instincts as a water dog have taken effect and he now lives of a steady diet of fish, shellfish and clams.
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| 10 years
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In Dubai, the cables supporting one of the Burj Khalifa’s window washing buckets snap due to corrosion and the massive bucket falls 2,000 feet to the desert floor below. In New York City, the methane that has been seeping into the MetLife Building from the flooded subway tunnels finally ignites and results in a large explosion. In Los Angeles, the Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier finally goes dark. Outside of Sacramento, the Folsom Dam collapses due to excess water pressure; the massive amount of water released during the dam’s failure destroys the suburbs of Sacramento. In Atlanta, kudzu now covers Oglethorpe University but the Crypt of Civilization is still safe underground.
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| 15 years
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In Los Angeles, a wildfire destroys the glass paneling of the Stahl House but leaves the steel frame and the concrete foundation unharmed. In Taos, New Mexico, the KTAO radio station finally falls silent when the computer controlling the station overheats.
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| 20 years
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In Southern California, the nearly all-glass Crystal Cathedral becomes a greenhouse as plant life invades the interior. Meanwhile the concrete Jubilee Church in Rome remains untouched by nature because of a protective coating. The International Railway Bridge on the Niagara River collapses and ships can now drift towards the Niagara Falls. A forest fire in Pennsylvania advances on a fireworks factory, the factory explodes in a spectacular display but with no people around to witness the event. Most domesticated reindeer have been devoured by bears and wolves, those that survive mate with wild caribou, erasing any traces left of domestication. In Washington D.C., the White House’s white paint has been weathered away and the house now appears grey. The Cassini Probe crashes into Enceladus, a moon of Saturn.
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| 25 years
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Snack cakes such as Twinkies may remain edible for 25 years.
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| 30 years
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Most semblances of a prepared meal have long disappeared, but some foods are still edible. Freeze-dried goods could remain edible for 50 to 100 years; canned food could remain edible for hundreds of years if the cans are not compromised by moisture and humidity, while fruitcake could last for over 130 years. However, the structures of the grocery stores that house these products have badly deteriorated over the past 30 years and they begin to collapse. In the American Midwest, the population of the Rocky Mountain locust has returned to its former density and, for the first time in over a century, the locusts swarm.
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| 50 years
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Chlorine tanks, weakened from fifty years of corrosion, fail and send their gas into the surrounding environment. Many animals die of suffocation. Some of the chlorine also seeps into lakes and turns the lakes into deadly acid. Lions that escaped the San Diego Wild Animal Park have become top predators in the California plains. In Los Angeles, after half a century of corrosion all that remains of the Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier is its A-frame. In the National Air and Space Museum at Washington DC, the Spirit of St. Louis takes its final flight when its corroded and chaffed support chains fail. In North Dakota, the KVLY-TV mast collapses during an ice storm when ice from the freezing rain becomes too heavy for the structure to handle. In New Mexico, the steady stream of toxins flowing into the Carlsbad Caverns from the abandoned cars has finally abated and bats begin to repopulate the caverns. In China, the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City collapses after a heavy snowfall due to rotting wood and termite damage. In France, the Palace of Versailles has become a shell of its former self, plant life has invaded the interior, most of the roof has collapsed and the mirrors in the Hall of Mirrors are broken.
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| 60 years
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In Milan, Leonardo Da Vinci’s mural of The Last Supper is destroyed by mold and dust. In Los Angeles, corrosion caused by rainwater causes Randy's Donuts to collapse. On the Niagara River, a lake freighter has become free of its moorings and tumbles over the edge of the Niagara Falls.
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| 75 years
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With no people left to cull their numbers, Texas rattlesnakes grow up to nine feet long. In Australia, the Sydney Opera House collapses after 75 years of saltwater damage and sinks to the bottom of the harbor. The weakened glass and corroded steel structure of the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County gives out and it collapses. In Los Angeles, the Stahl House falls off its cliff face and shatters on the ground, with the Sunset Strip below.
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| 100 years
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In Turin, the Shroud of Turin is exposed to the elements when the roof of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist collapses. Mold and humidity consume the cloth and the image of Christ on the shroud becomes unrecognizable. With its hinges seized and its structure weakened from a century of corrosion, the Sydney Harbour Bridge finally collapses into the harbor. In New York City, the Hutchinson River has reclaimed the former marshland that Co-Op City was built on and the buildings there begin to collapse into the water below. At Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, sand inside the Silver Bullet Roller Coaster leads to its collapse.
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| 120 years
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Palm Springs has been completely consumed by the desert and the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway suffers catastrophic failure and collapses in a domino effect.
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| 125 years
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The LAX Control Tower at Los Angeles International Airport collapses during an earthquake but the Theme Building survives thanks to its mass damper.
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| 150 years
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In the Great Plains of North America, prairie dogs have made a huge comeback, returning to population levels not seen since the late 1700’s. The prairie dog’s main predator, the once endangered Black-footed ferret, has also made a comeback now that the prairie dogs have returned. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum still hangs. But now, it moves too much during an earthquake and is swallowed up, though the ancient Colosseum in Rome will remain standing for centuries more. In New York City, the MetLife Building rips itself apart, destroying the interior of Grand Central Terminal along with it, although the building's four walls will last for decades more. In Charlottesville, Virginia, Monticello is nearing the verge of collapse after 150 years of moisture damage. In London, the floors of the Gherkin fail and pancake down on each other but the unique shape of the building saves its frame from collapse. The Science Museum in London pulls into itself, destroying the prototype of the 10,000 Year Clock in the process.
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| 175 years
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Plant and animal life has now completely returned to the former dead zones around nuclear power plants and the power plants themselves collapse. In Washington D.C., the White House collapses after over a century of water damage to its sandstone structure. In Los Angeles, the Capitol Records Building folds into itself but the concrete echo chambers underneath the building will continue to last for a very long time. In New York City, the buildings of the United Nations Headquarters are in dire straits; finally the General Assembly Building falls out of the skyline along with the Secretariat Building following shortly after. At Ulysses S. Grant's Tomb, the entombed body of Ulysses S. Grant is now buried under six feet of humus.
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| 200 years
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In San Simeon, an earthquake topples the Hearst Castle. Zebras descended from the Hearst Castle’s private zoo’s zebras still survive on the California plains and are hunted by cougars. In Taipei, the Taipei 101 disintegrates when its tuned mass damper fails and freefalls through the building. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline collapses during an earthquake but the remains of the pipeline could last for over 2000 years due to the low rate of corrosion in Alaska.
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| 250 years
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In Rio de Janeiro, a strong wind topples the weakened Christ the Redeemer Statue. In Dubai, metal corrosion caused by humidity has devastated the Burj Khalifa and finally the winds of a massive desert sandstorm cause the world’s tallest building to knock over.
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| 300 years
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In London, the Gherkin has been reduced to a steel skeleton for 150 years; finally a strong wind causes the corroded structure to dance it's way down as if you were to place a carrot in a blender. In Butler, Pennsylvania, the photographs stored inside the Corbis Archive have become completely unrecognizable. The Chesapeake Bay now covers Annapolis, flooding the Tomb of John Paul Jones.
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| 500 years
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In Rome, the dome of St. Peter's Basilica caves in after its steel support chains weaken. In Washington D.C. the dome of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress also caves in. The Marine Corps War Memorial remains recognizable, though it is now covered in swamp vegetation.
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| 1,000 years
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The Colosseum in Rome crumbles during an earthquake but outlives every single one of Rome’s modern-day structures. Anatolian Shepherd Dogs have avoided crossbreeding with other dogs and still protect their flocks from predators. Of the coast of Grenada, the Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park has become a coral reef, exactly as its creator had intended.
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| 1,500 years
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At Niagara Falls, the American Falls have run dry after the Canadian Falls have eroded upstream of Goat Island.
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| 4,000 years
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Honey preserved in glass jars still remains edible and could possibly even be mankind’s last surviving food item. The NORAD base remains recognizable.
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| 5,000 years
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At the base of Mount Everest, glacial ice thaws revealing a long dead mountain climber. But now, his body is exposed and bacteria begins to feast.
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| 6,102 years (AKA 8113)
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In Atlanta, the walls of the Crypt of Civilization have been cracked and breached and moisture and mold has decimated the artifacts inside.
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| 10,000 years
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Descendants of house cats still survive in the wild but have adapted to be larger than their ancestors in order to help them catch larger prey.
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| 50,000 years
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The KEO Satellite, a space time capsule carrying messages from the citizens of present Earth to humanity 50,000 years from now, finally falls back into Earth's orbit. But without humans to reclaim the satellite, it crashes and sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
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| 2,000,000 years
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Bacterial life is thriving on Enceladus, brought to the Saturnian moon, it stowed away from Earth on the Cassini Probe. More complex lifeforms will evolve and eventually terraform the moon.
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| 50,000,000 years
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Buried under layers of sediment, various human artifacts made of plastics still survive. In New Orleans, plastic and glass Mardi Gras Beads remain fossilized in the swamp that used to be Louisiana. Plastic goods will be the last objects produced by humanity still identifiable. All that is left of humans themselves are piles of bones and oil particles.
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