Total Disappearance of Every Person Within a Continent

[piranha]

Here's a scenario that my friends and I thought of while exploring a partially abandoned naval base: What would happen (on a global scale) if every person in North America suddenly, and without warning, disappeared. Instantly. What would be the economic backlash upon the world? What would the land then be used for? How long would the world keep the continent under quarantine while they try to figure out what happened (or would they at all)? Would there be any wars? What would happen in the middle east? What would be done about the citizens of the NA countries that are then in other countries from a vacation or whatever? In the future, how would the land get divided up? Re-population? And so forth....

Anyway, food for thought.

-JL

[Solar]

Anyway, food for thought.

1-A flamebait. Won't bite.

[piranha]

Anyway, food for thought.

1-A flamebait. Won't bite.

God, it's just an expression!

And yeah, thats pretty much what we came up with. Although, how do they know that it is safe to come on to the continent? If that happened, I wouldn't want to step foot on the continent until I knew I wouldn't disappear.

It's easy, people do it all the time. And throwing 300-450 millions of people off from China republic shores can repopulate NA easily.

Yes, though the car crashes would probably result in wildfires, and many cities would burn. Also, consider earthquakes occurring in California, seriously damaging a lot of infrastructure (and causing more fires). So you'd have to do massive clean up first (though, still easily possible).

Also, what about technology? Windows is a very widely used operating system, and microsoft would be in serious trouble if this were to happen. So how would that affect security patches? I feel like they would seriously slow down, if not stop, meaning that computer malware and etc would spread more. I just kinda get the feeling that open source would increase in popularity significantly.

Also, what about the internet? A good portion of the internet would start to disappear. Although, since a lot of internet routing/power distribution/etc is automatic, some of it would still stay on, at least for a little while. Of course, these issues aren't as important as economics and etc, but they're sill something to take into account.

Also, the maple syrup industry would go into a tailspin cause of canada!

-JL

[piranha]

Microsoft has offices in India. Ireland. Russia. Many other countries. It will lose its head, but not its mass

I realize that, but isn't it's primary base of operations in the US? I feel like it would significantly affect them to the point where they might have to stop many product lines temporarily.

-JL

[b.zaar]

Here's a scenario that my friends and I thought of while exploring a partially abandoned naval base: What would happen (on a global scale) if every person in North America suddenly, and without warning, disappeared. Instantly. What would be the economic backlash upon the world? What would the land then be used for? How long would the world keep the continent under quarantine while they try to figure out what happened (or would they at all)? Would there be any wars? What would happen in the middle east? What would be done about the citizens of the NA countries that are then in other countries from a vacation or whatever? In the future, how would the land get divided up? Re-population? And so forth....

Anyway, food for thought.

-JL

I'd see it all playing out like Mad Max (Road Warrior) or something as small tribes move into the area to claim the remaining resources.

Also, what about the internet? A good portion of the internet would start to disappear. Although, since a lot of internet routing/power distribution/etc is automatic, some of it would still stay on, at least for a little while. Of course, these issues aren't as important as economics and etc, but they're sill something to take into account.

The internet itself is designed to withstand such disasters, I'm sure nothing bad will happen with the internets. Mobile operators on the other hand... With demise of AT&T there are some interesting opportunities for whoever is first to take control of the networks hardware.

There would be a big chunk of the net missing, most of the sites I visit daily are hosted on american servers.

[Solar]

Remember, electricity will still be there until some disaster happens.

There's an interesting point. How long, do you think, will electricity be available with no-one in the control rooms, no-one doing any refueling etc.? I don't know much about how power plants are run, but even with today's capabilities to automate things, I'd be surprised if any unmaintained power plant would remain online for a day.

Anyone with power plant experience who could shed light on this?

[Solar]

Apparently, others wondered before me. Here is an article on the subject.

Summary:

• coal power plants shutdown likely in 2-18 hours.
• nuclear plants shutdown likely in a few days to a week.
• hydroelectric plants will operate for several days to several weeks.
• natural gas plants shutdown likely in 1-3 days.

However, since one failing plant puts a lot of pressure on the transmission grid, it would be only a few hours before the first blackouts occur, and in about 24 hours most of the grid would be dead.

[GReaper]

What would happen (on a global scale) if every person in North America suddenly, and without warning, disappeared. Instantly.

There will be nobody in North America for a while. That's for sure.

The world would be a better place for a while, THAT's for sure.

[GReaper]

The world would be a better place for a while, THAT's for sure.

That's your own view of it and it might be not true for everyone. Now imagine your entire family except you being in the US when this happens.

I was just joking. And I thought he meant North America residents, not everyone as every single person being there at that time.

Seriously now, first there would be panic, second desperation and third conflict ( over who will get the abandoned land, that is )

[DavidCooper]

After seeing what happened in Japan, you have to wonder how bad the pollution from nuclear plants would be if no one was left to keep pumping water in.

[Combuster]

After seeing what happened in Japan, you have to wonder how bad the pollution from nuclear plants would be if no one was left to keep pumping water in.

You realize that even if Fukushima would have blown up completely, there was nothing left for it to destroy? The earthquake and resulting flood had already taken care of that. Disposing of a nuclear plant's crew is a completely different scenario compared to nuking the installation itself.

[DJAlexem]

You realize that even if Fukushima would have blown up completely, there was nothing left for it to destroy?

Wrong, there was still the survivor that it could have destroyed...

If everyone in america did just suddenly disappear withpout warning, here's my idea of it:

Day 1 {
OK, Global panic has started, the world has come to a standstill. All major leaders from around the world are attending an emrgency conference somewhere in europe, all major health, science, military, and peacekeeping organisations from around the world are in constant discussion. The border between south america and north america is closed off, ships and other things are stopping at america's ports in wonder of why there is no answer to the call for a port guide.
The media is out of control, with millions of different rumours as to the event spread around the world. TV is nothing but news and interviews, debates and reports. Everyone around the world is in either shock, or disbelief... or if you hate america, rejoice. There will be some that have snuck back in to have a look at what is left. Looters are immediately trying to cross the border.
}
Day 2 {
So the world is aware of the global crisis, stock market is at a near standstill, the internet is flooded, with a slightly less number of active servers than yesterday. Footage and media being uploaded every few seconds, people searching for images of what is left. The emergency conferences have resulted in teams of scientists and soldiers going in to take a look and attempt to find the cause, fully kitted up as if entering an area that has been recently nuked. There are little groups of people who have already made it into NA, perfectly fine, roaming the streets, looting house after house, or trying to deperately find their loved ones. There is no hope.
Governments are trying to bring the economy back up to scratch, and get things generally working again, but the world's population is still in panic, doomsayers roam the streets of major cities and small towns alike, there is no salvation. As a bonus, I predict many suciidal killings or shootings, taking down many people with them. The pressure is just too much for the world.
}
Day 3 {
The scout teams report no traces as to where the NA population could have disappeared to, so they try to keep this info quiet, to avoid even mor panic. But seeing as wikileaks is hosted in the UK, many advanced hackers intercepted this and uploaded it there, the media has had a look, revealing to the population the terrible news. by now, some people, although few, are already moving into america trying to get a look for themselves, media are on the ground, many fires have been started in the major cities due to people's kitchen appliances being left on at the time of the disappearence. As well as this, Arsonists have attacked major cities buning down what they can then getting the fk out of there...
}
Beyond... {
Beyond those 3 days, i predict that the governments and organisations for many things will wanna move into america and get its most important heritage out, things like super computers, special documentation, the entire library of congress or whatever its called, the bill of rights, and the constitution. Any servers will be recovered, and any secret or important technology will be taken back, as well as this, animals and plants will be collected (only america specific ones) and rehabilited into large eco domes in Britain, france, etc...
}

This is only MY view, any additions?

[Solar]

Global panic... world has come to a standstill... stock market is at a near standstill...

Let me guess, you are a US citizen?

While the scenario will certainly involve quite some angst around the world, I doubt that the world would "come to a standstill". The stock markets, for example, would certainly take a grievious hit, and might close for a couple of days until things calmed down a bit, but I certainly doubt that London, Frankfurt or Tokyo would stay paralyized for long.

Life will go on.

...move into america and get its most important heritage out, things like super computers, special documentation, the entire library of congress or whatever its called, the bill of rights, and the constitution...

That made me crack up. Supercomputers? Of the top 5, only one is located in the US. And you really believe anyone outside the US - aside from a couple of historians - gives a **** about the bill of rights or the constitution?

...animals and plants will be collected (only america specific ones) and rehabilited into large eco domes in Britain, france, etc...

Why? They'll probably fare very, very well indeed where they are, with all the humans gone...

[qw]

My guess: in the Middle East and elsewhere in Asia, millions of people will celebrate. Sorry for the sarcasm, but large parts of the planet have little reason to grieve when the US population disappears.

[DJAlexem]

lol, im aussie. xD, but history like that would make any overseas americans wanna preserver it...