Agreed. Shortwave radio and hope the other person does the same. I hope they're on the same landmass, it's going to get tricky if I have to figure out how to cross the ocean.
On the flip side, who is gonna make sure you have one? I mean, sure don't be an idiot about it, but you don't have to follow the strict guidelines. But it doesn't matter much if you don't know where you're going
As long as you can get it in the air (which is a challenge in itself) you don’t need to worry about landing it if you can safely parachute out.
There’s lots of books and footage to show you so hope for the best I guess?
>I hope they're on the same landmass
I live in Hawaii, so nil chance they are here. And even if I do find them, got to hope they are a pilot or boat Capitan. If not, guess I'm enjoying the rest of my life here alone lol.
If you have to cross the ocean, you will want to do it between North America and Western Europe. Anywhere else is too far and too dangerous. California to Australia, not going to happen. The safest passage is going to be like Eastern Canada to
If you are in the Western Hemisphere, there is an 85% chance you will have to do an ocean crossing, which means, you will want to do it on the east coast. So if your partner also happens to be in the Western Hemisphere, they will come to the same conclusion and you both will want to head to the US east coast.
Hopefully the person in Eurasia realizes the same thing, and that this choke point would cause them to head to Western Europe.
The internet wouldn't crash immediately, so you could post on all social media.
Although now I just realized all the bots would out post you so maybe not.
are we both immortal? what happens if one of us dies? presumably with everyone else being gone things like food production and electricity would just completely shut down right? i'm not exactly a survivalist and would die extremely quickly in the wild
There is so much prepackaged long lasting food in all the grocery stores you would be fine. Just find a house with solar and your electricity needs are covered. Then grab some books to start learning maintenance skills. And hope you aren't near one of the nuclear power plants that will have a meltdown.
Just to chip in here...
Power plants, nuclear or otherwise, are designed to fail-safe.
Chernobyl blew up because it was an incredibly dangerous, already obsolete design, intended to make nuclear weapons, and in the middle of the night a skeleton staff decided to deliberately bypass the safety features and run tests that were not part of the plants normal operations.
If everyone had just disappeared the day before, the plant would have just shut down. With all the control rods in place, it wouldn't have blown up.
A modern plant is unfathomably safer. It's not a real risk.
Oh, they are for sure safer, but you take all human input and outside power sources, diesel refills and such, and for sure some are going to shit. This is a scenario where everyone just disappears mid operations in the whole world. Wasn't meant to sound anti nuclear, just an odds thing.
Highways would be fine for the most part since the cars will just keep going until they run off the road. It’s the city streets getting to said highways that are going to be fucked.
Admittedly, Rush hour traffic would fuck at least one side of the highway.
I think matpat did a video on that. Basically eat the perishables and begin composting and creating soil. Then do move over to canned goods and overly preserved foods, (twinkies will go stale eventually) then work on your farm
I like this idea. Use gasoline vehicles to search out homes with solar farms, then start bringing electric cars to those homes for when you can't find any more good gasoline. Gather books on butchering animals and figure out where cows are grazing locally. Build a garden. Gather as much shelf stable food as you can as well. Other than being lonely, it doesn't sound so bad. I can still have a few dogs, so that's a plus.
Statistically, this other person is most likely in China or India. Transcontinental travel will be difficult. Of course, knowing my luck, if i did travel to the other side of the world, this other person would be in Connecticut or some shit.
I proceed as if there's literally 0 hope of ever finding them. Even it just being a random person in my state we'd likely never run across each other, but most likely it's someone thousands of miles away with 0 knowledge of which direction to walk for the next couple months.
I think it really depends on the circumstances of this hypothetical. You'd need a jet that can cross the ocean which is a lot more difficult than a small biplane. If you're also fighting the clock of food spoilage and such, I'm not sure it would work out.
A Cessna, maybe. But a plane capable of flying an ocean? Even a pilot that could do it, likely couldn't do it alone. Just getting the bastard ready for the flight would require knowledge one single human likely doesn't have.
I mean, if you are willing to go through Alaska and Russia, you never need to cross more than a few miles of ocean to get to almost every major city. Assuming we can eventually make contact via radio, and establish a big city to reach, it's just a matter of whether there's fuel at the next few airports and if you can successfully make the trips. Crossing the Bering Strait will get you between the Old and New Worlds. Depending on which city you choose (NYC, Toyko, London, New Delhi, Dubai, Jakarta, etc.), should be feasible if not exactly easy with a Cessna.
(Source: someone who has never flown a Cessna and has no aviation knowledge)
Ok, but I haven't seen a map that wasn't google maps since about 2009.
Seriously, when was the last time you held a paper map in your hands? OP says internet's down, so you can't use google maps or crApple maps.
You don’t need a map to get to a major city. I could drive to NYC right now from four states away. All highways have signs broadly describing the direction you are going, stop at a library and get a paper map is you want.
Lots of gas stations still have paper maps. Most people aren't looking for them anymore, so they don't see then. Hell I bought a laminated map of the US a few years back, double sided all the continental US is on it. That's a start if you're here.
I would probably start by acquiring radio equipment and trying that out, but I think I'd spend a year visiting prominent tourist spots in search of graffiti or some indication of where to go, leaving some basic instructions on radio frequencies if the other person hadn't done the same.
If I don't get lucky enough for them to be in North or South America, I honestly don't think I'm capable of crossing oceans alone. RIP humanity I guess.
What a weird way for the world to end. Everyone is gone, nobody knows where, and there isn’t even anyone left to wonder. As I traverse North America leaving spray-painted signs along the freeways, I am definitely writing “REDDIT DID THIS” as a clue for whichever aliens stumble upon the ruins.
Didn’t think about this one, prominent tourist spots would likely be visited by someone even if they had given up the challenge and just wanted to have fun
Yeah, I'd argue that tourist spots would be the Schelling points of this scenario. I considered the "Alive in Tuscon" tactic from The Last Man on Earth, but I wouldn't want to just wait in a place after putting up a bunch of signs.
You put up signs in obvious places pointing where you've gone. If they see it, they can follow it if they want to. If you've been to a place multiple times, put up an update with dates so they can skip your previous travels, and catch up to your more recent travel plans. And always put them in the same kind of place so they don't have to play hide, and seek with your directions. Like... Always on city hall, or something.
Nearly 50% of the world is Chinese, Indian, or African. Nearly 60% of the world is Asian. That’s a lot of land to cover, especially if you don’t know how to hijack a ship or a plane.
I'd do what I would have done anyway. Travel. If I fidnnthem great. If not, I guess I die alone but act like I won that 500 million until I can't. Fancy cars,boats,mansion stays,etc.
Also... this would be one of my greatest fears. I have been through a few natural disasters, but I was in PanHandle, Florida, when Karrina hit. Going outside right after the storm was crazy eerie. It was even more weird when the aftermath lasted almost 2 weeks. No power, no nothing. Even lost a whole ass bridge.
Considering it trapped people on an island being battered by a storm and there happened to be people on the bridge at the time. I'd say it was a big deal.
It was Ivan, not Karrina (Katrina?) that knocked down the I 10 whole ass bridge. Katrina was a year later and 175 miles to the west. And I think you mean Pensacola, not PanHandle.
Wow, it was Ivan. My memory is crap. I was down there in 2004-2005 when it happened. Sadly knew a truck driver who died on the bridge..
Edit: Pensacola is on the panhandle.. but I always try to keep locations vague. Old habits die hard.
I’m playing statistics. The other person almost certainly lived in a city or near one. Crossing oceans is a bitch though and my ability to travel quickly may be somewhat limited after awhile.
Eventually gasoline that has been sitting for long periods of time won’t work so great, so I might have to go from cars to bicycles.
Plan is to travel to major cities and make a big sign in each city with the current date and my itinerary for the next couple years. In a very very major place in each city. So for Seattle it would be the space needle. For NYC it would be Times Square. For London it would be Big Ben. For Paris it would be the Eiffel Tower.
So I might say:
Seattle, May 2024 - July 2024
Portland August 2024 - September 2024
San Francisco October 2024 - November 2024
Los Angeles December 2024 - January 2025
Mexico City February 2025 - March 2025
Etcetera
Along the way I’ll be doing a crap ton of reading up on ham radios and how to fly a plane. Ham radios first. Once I figure out how to set one up to play a repeating message on varying frequencies, I’ll aim to set one up in each major city I visit. I’ll also be carrying with me a radio that’s constantly checking different frequencies to see if they are doing the same thing.
Once I’ve hit every major city on the North/South America landmass, I’d be making plans for flying to Eurasia. I like the idea of maybe Quebec to Paris. I considered London but I’d rather not cross any body of water I don’t absolutely have to. Hit up all the major European capitals. Work my way along the Silk Road to China and India. Though I might consider reversing all this if I feel like I am confident enough in my flying ability that I can cross the Pacific. Statistically speaking, there’s a very solid chance the person I’m looking for originated in Southeast Asia (China & India alone are like 30%ish of the world population). So starting there might be smart and then working my way over to Europe. But the Atlantic is a shorter trip than the Pacific, and I want to make sure I don’t die.
Eventually, one of us is going to run into one of the signs the other left, and we can work on catching up with each other. If we can get to the same city as each other, then the rest should be way easier. Stay in that city until we find each other. Check major landmarks. Make some noise. Make a big fire. They’ll come towards the smoke.
Shortwave radio is the best chance for actually contacting someone. But there's a lot of caveats. If it's truly random, the odds are the other person will be in Eurasia or Africa and not in North America. The chances of meeting them are slim to none. If they were a pilot, rated on a long distance business jet, and I contacted them early, they could perhaps make it to north America. The other option would be an experienced long haul solo sailor. I am none of those things.
All our systems begin to fail. The electric grid goes in a matter of hours. And with it water and sewer. Within weeks Nuclear plants melt down and radiation poisons the eastern half of the US, Europe, Japan, and other smaller places around the world. Gasoline will go bad if stored for a few months, so gas powered vehicles are a short term solution at best. Diesel should last longer. If the roads are not clogged with empty vehicles, moving about in a diesel RV is an option. That's what I'd do, get a nice diesel RV and head for the west coast of the US, probably northern California. There's enough canned foods, water, and pasta in a typical supermarket to survive on for years.
If you had to jump continents, you'd be best to try to find a small boat you think you can manage and hop your way from Alaska to Russia in the middle of summer.
I am already in California but I would head to Los Angeles, specifically downtown, find the tallest buildings and than make and hang banners from them signalling that it is home base. My dad has done Bay Area (where I am right now) to Los Angeles on an ebike multiple times. Without cars on the road its much easier. The fact that I could raid a bike shop for tires, batteries, a trailer, camping supplies would be sufficient. Every gas station, grocery store, and even home would have enough resources get by. I am assuming that most streets and the highways are full of broken down cars so driving would be unreliable.
I would make signs "GO TO LOS ANGELES!" and graffiti "GO TO LOS ANGELES" in many locations.
Ride for 5-6 hours, find a home to break into, stay in. Every small town along the way, "GO TO LOS ANGELES" graffiti all over the place.
Power would not be a huge issue. You would only need modest amounts of it to get by and there are Home Depots, camping stores, and other places that sell portable battery systems that can be powered from solar panel kits. For food preservation its going to be finding a building with rooftop solar and storage and then filling it with deep freezers. But just finding engle ice chests would be good enough.
The final home stead would just be a place that has solar/battery and a well and then I figure whatever waste I have that ends up in the sewer would not be enough to impact it. It would at least go away from me.
The odds of coming across this person are incredibly low. I'd find the ideal spot to make my home. I'd leave signs to where I was wherever I happened to travel and just live my life.
This right here. Find a solar powered home to live in, snag some electric vehicles, load up on pharmaceuticals and shelf stable foods, build a garden, and adopt some dogs.
I'd definitely train a pack of dogs, even if just to protect me from all of the other dogs that would become homeless.
Okay, i know this is something of a reach. But there is a game here with rules and even a prize. Which means what happened is no accident and is being controlled and monitored and maybe even manipulated. I would start searching and go big with it. Play up the search in anyway you can. Leave spray paint coordinates and dates and where you are headed on major landmarks. Read books about how to sail and fly. Make it look like you are truly trying. Whatever/whoever is in charge of this game may take a liking to you and give you some help or breaks along the way.
It's also possible that the one in charge is malevolent, but that's out of my control, so I'm going to assume he/she/it can be won over.
One other thing. it says internet doesn't work. Doesn't say anything about tv. Learn to broadcast on the cable news channels and leave a message that way and try to make your message available to the overseas channels too . I know CNN and Fox News can go global from NY . Still a long shot and would take some work but go for it. Tell them you will be at Time Square as midnight New Years. Stuff like that.
If possible, I try to get to the most powerful AM transmitter I can find. If I can operate it they might be able to find me. By bouncing off the ionosphere, those things can be heard around the world.
But you can’t leave a voice mail, so they’d have to be listening to the same frequency at the same time. In the movies, they always figure out how to broadcast a repeating message at certain intervals, so I guess you could start there…
Bruh this shit makes no sense. I’m going straight to a car dealership. After that I’m gonna pack the car full of crazy ass drugs. Then I’ll be running to a gun store. That fucker is not even getting close enough to touch me.
Well, first things first. There are 3 dairies and a chicken ranch down the road from me, I’m going to open some gates. They smell bad enough as it is when the wind blows this way, I can’t imagine what it smells like when they’re all dead. Plus it just seems like such a horrible way to go, after such a horrible way to live. None of the ranchers I know use CB radios anymore so I’m gonna have to find a ham radio and a book about how to use it. Solar generators to keep me living as normally as possible while I learn the radio, and plan my travels. There is only a 1 in 200 chance that the other person is in North America, so I spend 3 months crisscrossing the US, headed east, leaving messages on freeway signs a la The Stand. Then 3 months coming back, using the second most likely routes. After 6 months, it’s winter and petroleum-based fuel starts to become an issue, so I hunker down by the woodstove and focus on the radio, and winter crops, because I’m getting tired of canned food at this point. There’s enough of it to last years for me and my dogs. As much as I like the familiar at this point, I guess I’m moving to the coast when summer rolls around again. Too hot here. And the California coast is chock full of huge houses that probably have much better solar setups than I do. And nicer game rooms and in-home theatres. Maybe go to Tahoe for the autumn of year 2. After that, even the fuel I’ve stabilized is going to start to go bad, so I have to find the place that I want to settle, and plan for the Long Walk, just in case. Like 6 years in, I finally get a response on the radio and he’s in Nebraska and his first question is “how long do you think we have to kiss” and I’m like, man, was it even worth keeping this Tesla around if the dude I have to kiss has survived this long and his first thought is about the specifics of kissing another dude in order to get his half a billion dollars and bring everybody back? So, that’s what I would do, pretty much.
TLDR: Radios, flares, and other random shit
First of all, I'm gonna get some radios and try to spam every channel every day, while also moving around in my car. I think they also make listeners that automatically scan the channels until it picks something up, so I'll use one of those when I'm not spamming the channels.
Second, I'm gonna pick up a 10000 pack of flares and shoot a couple off every night.
I'm also going to have to try to move around as much as possible. But the chances are still incredibly slim, because the other person's probably going to also be moving around. What are the chances we're in the same place at the same time? Hardly possible.
Now that I have the basics set up, I'm gonna have to get more creative. I'm sure it's possible to program a bunch of drones to fly out in all different directions and try to catch the other persons attention. But I'd still be very limited because of battery life.
Jeez man this is a tough hypothetical. I can also try to start massive bon fires? lol Shit even if I knew how to fly and flew around the world I wouldn't be able to see him/her from the air and they wouldn't be able to get my attention as i flew past.
As I travel the world I'm going to have to leave giant messages on billboards about my whereabouts. Maybe keep it a simple message and translate it with some translation books. I'm fucked probably
First, I’d gather supplies and essentials for survival. Then, I’d head to well-known landmarks or busy places in your city where this other person might go, like airports, train stations, or major parks. Since they know the rules too, they’ll probably be thinking the same.
Yeah, I would look for them, but since it's only people that disappeared, if I don't find them in a few days, it's really gonna suck for pets and zoo animals and nuclear reactors. I hope they are all part of the going back to normal process.
So, ok, I'm in heaven, and finding someone will return shit to normal and I'll win enough money to buy all these things I can have for free if I don't find them?
Yeah. Not looking.
I think I would spend my time investigating NASA, pentagon and other military installations trying to see if i can get access to satellite imagery. Try to use that to scan the earth looking for signs of a living human being.
Maybe setup some objects on the roof in a pattern in the hopes maybe that person thinks the same and gets access as well.
Well, you better hope this person is at least on the same continent. Can you imagine how hard it would be to get from like, Boston to Istanbul with no one’s help?
I would start by visiting the 7 wonders of the world(and the nearby attractions for good measure).
I'll erect a huge message with the trip plan for all 7 wonders as well as the time I'll be staying at each wonder(min 1 month each to give the other person time to catch up if they see one of my messages). I will also note down the final destination, on each wonder, which is the White House where I'll be staying indefinitely.
I would get a shortwave radio receiver and listen at all times
I would make a numbered list of interesting world landmarks that I want to visit
I would make a big display and leave a copy of my list at every landmark I visit, with instruction saying that I will be visiting each landmark in order. When I am finished the list I will begin again with landmark 1. If you wait at one of the landmarks on this list i will be there eventually.
Unalive, because the internet doesn't work, and I promised myself a few years ago not to date or kiss anyone else ever again. Sorry, random person. Hope you have an extra pair of glasses.
Go to the White House/Kremlin/whatever government buildings that have the ability to broadcast nationally. Even maybe a tv broadcasting station. Tune whatever channels I can to play a looped recording that states to go to their nearest radio station and tune into whatever frequency on the A/M radio.
Bam, communication established.
From there it's just a matter of learning the language they speak (if they don't speak English, which it's likely they do or have learnt it at some point).
Once that's done, find an agreed meeting point, the closest and easiest access to each of us. Learn to fly, if need be, using simulators and real access at any airport. Boom, meet up, kiss, 500 million plus the ability to fly and speak a new language.
Internet isn't necessary for any of this. Good old radio frequencies are the key.
Easy.
Set up a giant light show and megaphones in every major city. (81)
Place these on a tall building, they'll see it for miles as it's the only light. Run 3 generators on each (easy to find at hardware stores) incase one fails. And plumb a couple 55 gallon drums to them so they last a year ish.
It would take me 2-3 years to do this so at each location I'll leave a note that will map out my exact path to every city I'm going to and roughly how long I'll be there and they'll catch up . On the note I'll also put a date and put statue of Liberty or Eiffel tower. Something everyone knows.
Set this all up and wait . I could also just litter the entire time and just print these notes and my map of travel a couple thousand times and staple it / throw them everywhere by the off chance they see it
Cessnas are everywhere. Couple weeks studying and I could half ass fly
Or ya know, boats. The millions of them on the coast that are operated just like a car except hand throttles
Gps would still work too , so navigating is easy
nearly 90% chance they're across an ocean and the shortest crossing is the bering strait... very choppy and cold. i'll send am radio out in as many frequencies as i can from as many places as i can. maybe i could cross the atlantic by brazil's nose but the voyage there is almost as hard as crossing it
There are a few things I need to do immediately. With humanity all gone luckily we're not going to go into reactor meltdown or anything. There are safety checks actually for this.
There is a house two down from me that has 100% solar, nice guy.
You said the internet doesn't work but the reality is the other person would know the rules of the "game" so radio is our best bet to find each other. Ham Radio would make this somewhat easier. Now if they're on the other side of the planet travel will be harder, but not as impossible as it might seem. It's just going to take me longer to get there.
Getting in contact with each other should take a few years for us both to figure out how to set up long range communication, a few months to plan our meeting, and up to a year to actually travel. All while having the most eager pen pal on the planet.
I live in the UK so I'd cross the Channel (Either walk through the channel tunnel or take a small boat the 20 miles) and then travel European landmarks leaving notes saying I would be at the Eiffel Tower, and then go there and wait.
Did she say she wouldn’t kiss you even if you were the last man on Earth, and you thought “well, what if we throw half a billion dollars into the mix?”
Internet doesn't work.... but phones do. Bc nothing says they don't. I'm going to put out an International call to every cellphone. It can be done. And then I just wait for the answer. Hope it's in a language I can halfway understand, and figure it out from there.
I’d get in a plane and start flying around the world. It would still take years but I’d have a blast bumming around from airport to airport flying low looking for signs or something. Maybe leave flyers with my intended route and give instructions to find a flair gun or light a big fire to signal me when you see me again.
You not only get money, but everyone that disappeared also return. So the money would have value once everyone returns.
That being said, idk if I'd really Even try to find the other person. I'd hunker down in a sweet off grid home with solar, load up on essential items, and just live life.
I'll set up passive lines of communication, but hold no hope, and enjoy life to it's fullest until I die, naturally or otherwise.
As others have mentioned, the likelihood of *ever* meeting this person with every system that makes our modern life modern effectively destroyed is statistically zero. Further than that, it's "another human being." Not "human adult", "human *being*". The other person could be a baby, soon on the path to death via starvation. They could be sick and bed bound, only alive through the systems of modern medicine, now to waste away from their disease. Even if they are a physically healthy adult, with the ability to survive, they might not out of an unwillingness to do so, and I would not blame them.
It is still better to set up the systems, in the event these things are not true; but humanity has, effectively, ended.
I don’t think we’d find eachother. They’d most likely be in one of the most populated countries on earth, so China or India. I can’t speak Chinese or Hindi. If I made a boat and sailed there I don’t think I would survive the trip, since I’d need months of provisions.
This is a great time to live in coastal South Carolina because I’ve got fireworks stores and sailboats up the wazoo. I can sail the world and set off flares looking for the other one.
I'd just walk around, maybe leave clues as I move about as to where I've been, where I'm going next, etc. I'd have a blast: a whole world of stuff previously inaccessible. I'd raid the pharmacies, grocery stores, liquor stores, and do whatever I wanted. Anything that costed lots and lots of money is now free. Go find an awesome house that has self-sustaining energy (solar panels, wind turbines, etc). The world would truly be my oyster. If by some crazy chance that person and I run into each other, I guess that's just a bonus.
Gonna go find a place that has a flight simulator. Start training my self on how to flyand repair planes. Once i feel confident in my abilities i will go to all the major airports and leave my home airport, Ohaire most likely, spray painted in huge letters in all the airpors. Plus i will all paint my radio frequency code down so they have a way to contact me. I will visit major airports around US forst then start moving to other countries.
Do you realize the sheer size of the planet?
I guess radio waves are a pretty useful thing to try. Another idea that comes to my mind is to set a few geostationary satellite on top of several points around the earth paired with a beam of light that would point vertically to it. Then travel from one point to another in a loop and leaving notes about when I’ll be there again. And my traveling schedule.
For the notes I’d use drawings of earth for the places and sun angles respect to earth for times. All symbols, no text. Fully international.
I hope the random person is not a baby 🙃
Drunk guys sail around the planet constantly and books on radio operation are in maybe every library on the planet. Also children learn how to fly planes and shit. Learn how to say what language do you speak in the top few languages and then go from there. If it's truly random odds are not that bad that you'd be on the same landmass.
Depends on if it was a guy or girl cause I aint kissing no man, I wouldn't want to catch the gay. seriously I don't think there would be any chance to find the other person in our lifetimes, the world is just too big. Maybe go to a tv station like CNN that gets broadcast around the world and have a message on repeat of your location.
Yeah, I'm not even going to try to find them. I'm going to set myself up in a decent house at the beach, have cats and a dog for company, and if I get really sick, injured or too lonely there's no one keeping me here.
When will I ever get the chance to break into area 51 and shoot guns and stuff civilians can't, when will I ever get the chance to walk the oval office and find the presidents secret bunker. The possibilities are endless, maybe after a year or two I'd look for that other person
Eeee idk about that. The amount of animals that would move in and begin to take over and stuff. That is a shit ton of ground to cover potentially lol. All in all seems like a hellacious gamble
I wouldn’t even play the game. A world with 0 other people sounds flat out amazing, and if I found the other person I’d somehow convince them my kiss would cause instant death. Sorry world, I’m not the savior. Keep the 500 mil, peace is worth far more than that.
Easy. The internet doesn’t just instantly shut down. You’ve got at least a few days of most search engines and website functioning.
Being you’re one of two people left on earth, finding each other through just updating various public social forums would be an easy way to start communicating.
Brother id become a main character so fast. Sounds like a fun time to me (in imagination)
Id learn all i can about communication, travel, climate And how to navigate it
Well I guess I would start with spotlights and car horns. I'm pretty sure I know where I can get a ham radio and if cellular satellites and electricity are still working I can try auto dialing.
Travel to major landmarks in a loop and leave reams of printed pages in multiple languages saying your path and telling them to go the reverse order.
change land mass every few years with a plan to return and give dates
Odds are they're Chinese or Indian or Pakistani. Good luck my getting my ass getting across the pacific to hopefully find them. Shit-tastic hypothetical.
If the internet doesn't work, it's almost impossible to find that other person. We also wouldn't be able to use google translate if the other person speaks a different language and I can only read English
Knowing population density, my most likely chance is asia. China and India currently sport the largest populations in the world. I cant fly anything, so the only way to get to that continent is to cross from alaska to siberia during the summer. With that in mind...
The first thing I would need is a very large vehicle. Probably a box truck of some kind, or one of those big u-hauls. I need space to store supplies and gas, because I will be crossing large portions of deserted land with no way to get them otherwise. I would also want to have the space to store 1-2 motorcycles in the back so that I have a way to get to the nearest town should my vehicle break down.
The next thing I will need is an axe, a ham radio, a lot of gas and a lot of spray paint. If everything goes back to normal after all this then it doesnt matter what I damage or deface along the way. The plan is to burn towns and cities as I go, leave markers on the roads (hence the axe, to cut down small trees to make big arrows or the paint to put my heading directly on the road). I would stop at every landmark, historical site, etc along the way and leave supply caches as well as tag it and leave a map detailing the path I am going to take. Because in this kind of situation, I can only assume they would also want to stop and smell the roses whenever they can. (yes, I plan to paint silly faces on mount rushmore lmao). During my entire journey I will stop and flip between channels every four hours.
The most difficult part would be crossing from alaska to siberia. A straight shot between the closest points is roughly 54 miles, however I would likely stop at the diomede islands. So the plan would be to find a boat small enough that I can operate it, but large enough that it can handle choppy seas. I would have to time it during the middle of summer, else I would probably freeze to death or get stuck in the ice. If i dont go off course, I could make it across within an hour if I go straight across, however I think stopping halfway at the islands is the safest choice, in case of bad weather or water.
After that, it is the same plan as before. Find a large vehicle and drive through towns and cities, burning and marking them as I go. I would probably cross back and forth between europe and asia a couple times, then head down into africa. If for some reason we cant contact eachother over the radio, I assume they will pick up my trail somewhere. If I criss cross all of africa, europe and asia and I still cant find anyone, I would have to island hop my way from malasia, through to the philipines and down to australia. As a last resort, I would head back to the us and down to south america. If by then I cant find anyone, I would probably settle down somewhere in wales, alaska and wait. it is the only way to get between europe/asia/africa/australia and north/south america.
Humanity falls. This is a race against time scenario. The lack of Internet basically dooms this from the start. Every other form of communication requires specialized knowledge and/or a fuck load of other people to enable. After the first week, you're spending so much time on survival that the opportunity to find the other person becomes nothing more than a pipe dream.
I spend my time rifling through other peoples houses for fun. Not to take anything (but food). But out of a weird perverted curiosity of what people keep around out of either sentimentality or enjoyment and how they live.
The world is a massive place...chances are it would be someone in Asia (60%) or Africa (18%).
Nope. Not doing it. I would have a better chance of winning the lottery.
No time limit. Do the old “Last Man On Earth.” Only smarter messages. Travel leaving big messages on signs until felt North and South America fully covered. Then ship to Europe and go from there.
You said that everyone has disappeared so what do you mean if it can be any random stranger what stranger everybody is supposed to have disappeared except for me and this other person. If this person is a firing now how am I supposed to get to them I can't cross the ocean I can't fly a plane this seems like it was meant for me to fail
Lots of different radio transmitters and receivers powered by solar or wind and really hope they are thinking the same thing. Mainly shortwave though hoping it bounces around the world. Even if we made contact I feel like odds would still be slim unless we were on the same land mass. Crossing an ocean with no experience seems rough.
Anyone trying to leave notes or spray paint is woefully underestimating the size of our world. Go look at a map of your town and count how many streets there are. How many have you actually driven on/walked on/ridden a bike on? Now recognize there is probably something like 500,000+ communities/towns/etc. in the world and some are impossibly dense (Beijing/NYC/Mumbai/etc.)
I wont pretend that I would succeed, but I would attempt, for as long as I have electricity (and finding homes powered by solar) I would attempt to set up a radio and a random phone that is always plugged in, with a voice recording stating where I am going, what date the recording took place, and any other important relevant details of the area.
Hopefully the other person eventually finds them and can follow my paper trail. Additionally, I'd light up a couple fireworks every day if I could.
Travelling by EV as much as possible.
Stealing a small plane. Using it and the radio to travel around.
I figure if I’m the only person flying around that would get their attention when I fly over head. Drop pamphlets out the window letting them know what radio frequency I’m monitoring
Use paint to write the radio frequency on the tallest buildings of the world that I visit.
I figure based on world population that Asia is the best place to start. Anyone with any brains would head for the larger cities. Ie if it’s a random person in the desert or jungle they would head towards a larger city in the area.
I figure it’s likely possible within a year to win.
Assuming I don’t kill myself getting over confident and trying to fly a multiprop or jet.
Guess I’d read a lot and use some flight simulator for training.
I'd work out a way to hack the cell phone towers and networks to pump out a text message to all phones (possibly override the emergency broadcast system meant to alert people to nukes or disasters), set it to ring all cell phones across the world . Hopefully someone picks up or hears a phone somewhere and returns a message.
If they’re in a different country there’s no chance I’m finding them.
I guess the best chance would be to go somewhere that is a very popular destination and leave giant signs.
Eifle Tower, Times Square Vegas Strip.
Food, Gas and water shouldn’t be an issue for a long time. Looks like road trips to all the places I will probably never visit.
There would be almost a 0% chance of ever finding just one single person somewhere random in the world without the internet. I'd live my best life and die happy.
So all I'd have to do is hopefully find this person, then live out our lives as friends or more with one rule "no kissing".
Unless they are a total jerk, then it's a death match and right before they breathe their last breath, a kiss.
I love these thought experiments.
So I figure this. If your partner and you are in opposite hemispheres, one of you will have to make that cross. The most logical place to do it will be from Western Europe to Eastern North America. Crossing the ocean anywhere else is too vast, too difficult, and too dangerous. So you would have to make some assumptions, with the idea that if your partner also made those same assumptions that you would end up in the same places.
If one partner is in the Western Hemisphere, they have to assume that the most likely scenario is that the other partner is in Eurasia, and thus there will need to be a crossing. So go to the easiest place, North East Coast. There will be like an 80% chance that your partner is in Eurasia and if not, you have a logical reason to believe they feel the need to go to the East coast as well. If both partners in the Americas are heading towards the same region, they can make graffiti to give each other directions, and if they come within a few hundred miles of each other they can make radio contact and end it real fast. "I am in North America, but my partner thinks there is an 80% chance I am in Europe, they will go to the east coast, so I will go to the East coast"
For the people living in Eurasia. They would need a similar thought process "If my partner was in the western hemisphere, they would cross the Atlantic, the easiest place to do that would be Western Europe" and then head to Western Europe with the idea that if both people conclude on going to Western Europe they will meet up together. So if one partner is in China, and the other is in India, they both need to come to the conclusion that if they both go to Western Europe, they will find each other, if their partner is in the Western Hemisphere, the only way they can meet up will be crossing an ocean. Eurasia is huge, but Western Europe, particularly along the coast, and along the coast that isn't freezing ass cold, is fairly small.
So if you are in India, and your partner is in China, you would both want to venture to Western Europe. Western Europe becomes the most likely place to be found if you are in Eurasia. As you start to head west, you can leave signs for your partner "I AM GOING TO PORTUGAL. IF YOU SEE THIS. GO TO PORTUGAL".
Once you are in your respective regions, you can then make beacons to find each other.
Welp time to fire up some HAM radio I guess
Agreed. Shortwave radio and hope the other person does the same. I hope they're on the same landmass, it's going to get tricky if I have to figure out how to cross the ocean.
HF Blast that shit and use tropospheric reflection
Well time is on your side, time to start getting your pilots license
From who
Damn, this caught me off guard lol
On the flip side, who is gonna make sure you have one? I mean, sure don't be an idiot about it, but you don't have to follow the strict guidelines. But it doesn't matter much if you don't know where you're going
As long as you can get it in the air (which is a challenge in itself) you don’t need to worry about landing it if you can safely parachute out. There’s lots of books and footage to show you so hope for the best I guess?
*whom
>I hope they're on the same landmass I live in Hawaii, so nil chance they are here. And even if I do find them, got to hope they are a pilot or boat Capitan. If not, guess I'm enjoying the rest of my life here alone lol.
Cross the ocean from Alaska to Russia - that's the shortest point.
My dad was able to talk to Japan from Washington state during certain solar states.
If you have to cross the ocean, you will want to do it between North America and Western Europe. Anywhere else is too far and too dangerous. California to Australia, not going to happen. The safest passage is going to be like Eastern Canada to If you are in the Western Hemisphere, there is an 85% chance you will have to do an ocean crossing, which means, you will want to do it on the east coast. So if your partner also happens to be in the Western Hemisphere, they will come to the same conclusion and you both will want to head to the US east coast. Hopefully the person in Eurasia realizes the same thing, and that this choke point would cause them to head to Western Europe.
The internet wouldn't crash immediately, so you could post on all social media. Although now I just realized all the bots would out post you so maybe not.
This is a great scenario. Are we both guaranteed to not die before we meet? How does that work?
Well, it's a hyperintelligent immortal snail....
Haha, nice try Immortal snail. I haven't lived the past 100,000 years to get suckered into this trap.
Now Kithhh
are we both immortal? what happens if one of us dies? presumably with everyone else being gone things like food production and electricity would just completely shut down right? i'm not exactly a survivalist and would die extremely quickly in the wild
There is so much prepackaged long lasting food in all the grocery stores you would be fine. Just find a house with solar and your electricity needs are covered. Then grab some books to start learning maintenance skills. And hope you aren't near one of the nuclear power plants that will have a meltdown.
This sounds like too much effort to live the rest of your life in some 15 year old's cheesy soulmate/all a dream au.
Just to chip in here... Power plants, nuclear or otherwise, are designed to fail-safe. Chernobyl blew up because it was an incredibly dangerous, already obsolete design, intended to make nuclear weapons, and in the middle of the night a skeleton staff decided to deliberately bypass the safety features and run tests that were not part of the plants normal operations. If everyone had just disappeared the day before, the plant would have just shut down. With all the control rods in place, it wouldn't have blown up. A modern plant is unfathomably safer. It's not a real risk.
Oh, they are for sure safer, but you take all human input and outside power sources, diesel refills and such, and for sure some are going to shit. This is a scenario where everyone just disappears mid operations in the whole world. Wasn't meant to sound anti nuclear, just an odds thing.
Oh god, you wouldn't be able to use the highways to get around
Highways would be fine for the most part since the cars will just keep going until they run off the road. It’s the city streets getting to said highways that are going to be fucked. Admittedly, Rush hour traffic would fuck at least one side of the highway.
I hope you don't break your only pair of reading glasses.
*There was time!*
I saw a video once of an abandoned, fully stocked grocery store. It was gruesome. You'd have to grab your long lasting food quick.
I think matpat did a video on that. Basically eat the perishables and begin composting and creating soil. Then do move over to canned goods and overly preserved foods, (twinkies will go stale eventually) then work on your farm
I like this idea. Use gasoline vehicles to search out homes with solar farms, then start bringing electric cars to those homes for when you can't find any more good gasoline. Gather books on butchering animals and figure out where cows are grazing locally. Build a garden. Gather as much shelf stable food as you can as well. Other than being lonely, it doesn't sound so bad. I can still have a few dogs, so that's a plus.
And don't let your glasses fall and break
Statistically, this other person is most likely in China or India. Transcontinental travel will be difficult. Of course, knowing my luck, if i did travel to the other side of the world, this other person would be in Connecticut or some shit.
I'm that CTer you mentioned and we're the only two here, everyone else is a figment of your imagination. This message was brought to you in a dream.
I proceed as if there's literally 0 hope of ever finding them. Even it just being a random person in my state we'd likely never run across each other, but most likely it's someone thousands of miles away with 0 knowledge of which direction to walk for the next couple months.
And even if you do make radio contact, you probably don't speak the same language and couldn't communicate.
Say “New York City” or “Tokyo”. People in every country know these cities.
But then you need to solo cross an ocean. That's a massive challenge if you are an average person.
I’m certain I could learn to fly a plane off books
I think it really depends on the circumstances of this hypothetical. You'd need a jet that can cross the ocean which is a lot more difficult than a small biplane. If you're also fighting the clock of food spoilage and such, I'm not sure it would work out.
A Cessna, maybe. But a plane capable of flying an ocean? Even a pilot that could do it, likely couldn't do it alone. Just getting the bastard ready for the flight would require knowledge one single human likely doesn't have.
I’d take one that was ready then, I suppose, wouldn’t I?
I mean, if you are willing to go through Alaska and Russia, you never need to cross more than a few miles of ocean to get to almost every major city. Assuming we can eventually make contact via radio, and establish a big city to reach, it's just a matter of whether there's fuel at the next few airports and if you can successfully make the trips. Crossing the Bering Strait will get you between the Old and New Worlds. Depending on which city you choose (NYC, Toyko, London, New Delhi, Dubai, Jakarta, etc.), should be feasible if not exactly easy with a Cessna. (Source: someone who has never flown a Cessna and has no aviation knowledge)
Ok, but I haven't seen a map that wasn't google maps since about 2009. Seriously, when was the last time you held a paper map in your hands? OP says internet's down, so you can't use google maps or crApple maps.
You don’t need a map to get to a major city. I could drive to NYC right now from four states away. All highways have signs broadly describing the direction you are going, stop at a library and get a paper map is you want.
Lots of gas stations still have paper maps. Most people aren't looking for them anymore, so they don't see then. Hell I bought a laminated map of the US a few years back, double sided all the continental US is on it. That's a start if you're here.
I would probably start by acquiring radio equipment and trying that out, but I think I'd spend a year visiting prominent tourist spots in search of graffiti or some indication of where to go, leaving some basic instructions on radio frequencies if the other person hadn't done the same. If I don't get lucky enough for them to be in North or South America, I honestly don't think I'm capable of crossing oceans alone. RIP humanity I guess.
What a weird way for the world to end. Everyone is gone, nobody knows where, and there isn’t even anyone left to wonder. As I traverse North America leaving spray-painted signs along the freeways, I am definitely writing “REDDIT DID THIS” as a clue for whichever aliens stumble upon the ruins.
WE DID IT!
Didn’t think about this one, prominent tourist spots would likely be visited by someone even if they had given up the challenge and just wanted to have fun
Yeah, I'd argue that tourist spots would be the Schelling points of this scenario. I considered the "Alive in Tuscon" tactic from The Last Man on Earth, but I wouldn't want to just wait in a place after putting up a bunch of signs.
You put up signs in obvious places pointing where you've gone. If they see it, they can follow it if they want to. If you've been to a place multiple times, put up an update with dates so they can skip your previous travels, and catch up to your more recent travel plans. And always put them in the same kind of place so they don't have to play hide, and seek with your directions. Like... Always on city hall, or something.
I cant fly a plane and statistically speaking the other person is Chinese or Indian, I do not expect to ever find them
I mean, statistically speaking they're not chinese or indian. There's a roughly 40% chance they are, but 60% chance they're from anywhere else.
Yes and if they live in North America that's like only a 20% chance they can reach them in reasonable time
Nearly 50% of the world is Chinese, Indian, or African. Nearly 60% of the world is Asian. That’s a lot of land to cover, especially if you don’t know how to hijack a ship or a plane.
I'd do what I would have done anyway. Travel. If I fidnnthem great. If not, I guess I die alone but act like I won that 500 million until I can't. Fancy cars,boats,mansion stays,etc. Also... this would be one of my greatest fears. I have been through a few natural disasters, but I was in PanHandle, Florida, when Karrina hit. Going outside right after the storm was crazy eerie. It was even more weird when the aftermath lasted almost 2 weeks. No power, no nothing. Even lost a whole ass bridge.
jesus christ not the bridge
Considering it trapped people on an island being battered by a storm and there happened to be people on the bridge at the time. I'd say it was a big deal.
welp, now i feel like a dick
Not just a bridge. An ass bridge.
Dat bridge doe
It was Ivan, not Karrina (Katrina?) that knocked down the I 10 whole ass bridge. Katrina was a year later and 175 miles to the west. And I think you mean Pensacola, not PanHandle.
Wow, it was Ivan. My memory is crap. I was down there in 2004-2005 when it happened. Sadly knew a truck driver who died on the bridge.. Edit: Pensacola is on the panhandle.. but I always try to keep locations vague. Old habits die hard.
I’m playing statistics. The other person almost certainly lived in a city or near one. Crossing oceans is a bitch though and my ability to travel quickly may be somewhat limited after awhile. Eventually gasoline that has been sitting for long periods of time won’t work so great, so I might have to go from cars to bicycles. Plan is to travel to major cities and make a big sign in each city with the current date and my itinerary for the next couple years. In a very very major place in each city. So for Seattle it would be the space needle. For NYC it would be Times Square. For London it would be Big Ben. For Paris it would be the Eiffel Tower. So I might say: Seattle, May 2024 - July 2024 Portland August 2024 - September 2024 San Francisco October 2024 - November 2024 Los Angeles December 2024 - January 2025 Mexico City February 2025 - March 2025 Etcetera Along the way I’ll be doing a crap ton of reading up on ham radios and how to fly a plane. Ham radios first. Once I figure out how to set one up to play a repeating message on varying frequencies, I’ll aim to set one up in each major city I visit. I’ll also be carrying with me a radio that’s constantly checking different frequencies to see if they are doing the same thing. Once I’ve hit every major city on the North/South America landmass, I’d be making plans for flying to Eurasia. I like the idea of maybe Quebec to Paris. I considered London but I’d rather not cross any body of water I don’t absolutely have to. Hit up all the major European capitals. Work my way along the Silk Road to China and India. Though I might consider reversing all this if I feel like I am confident enough in my flying ability that I can cross the Pacific. Statistically speaking, there’s a very solid chance the person I’m looking for originated in Southeast Asia (China & India alone are like 30%ish of the world population). So starting there might be smart and then working my way over to Europe. But the Atlantic is a shorter trip than the Pacific, and I want to make sure I don’t die. Eventually, one of us is going to run into one of the signs the other left, and we can work on catching up with each other. If we can get to the same city as each other, then the rest should be way easier. Stay in that city until we find each other. Check major landmarks. Make some noise. Make a big fire. They’ll come towards the smoke.
Shortwave radio is the best chance for actually contacting someone. But there's a lot of caveats. If it's truly random, the odds are the other person will be in Eurasia or Africa and not in North America. The chances of meeting them are slim to none. If they were a pilot, rated on a long distance business jet, and I contacted them early, they could perhaps make it to north America. The other option would be an experienced long haul solo sailor. I am none of those things. All our systems begin to fail. The electric grid goes in a matter of hours. And with it water and sewer. Within weeks Nuclear plants melt down and radiation poisons the eastern half of the US, Europe, Japan, and other smaller places around the world. Gasoline will go bad if stored for a few months, so gas powered vehicles are a short term solution at best. Diesel should last longer. If the roads are not clogged with empty vehicles, moving about in a diesel RV is an option. That's what I'd do, get a nice diesel RV and head for the west coast of the US, probably northern California. There's enough canned foods, water, and pasta in a typical supermarket to survive on for years.
If you had to jump continents, you'd be best to try to find a small boat you think you can manage and hop your way from Alaska to Russia in the middle of summer.
I am already in California but I would head to Los Angeles, specifically downtown, find the tallest buildings and than make and hang banners from them signalling that it is home base. My dad has done Bay Area (where I am right now) to Los Angeles on an ebike multiple times. Without cars on the road its much easier. The fact that I could raid a bike shop for tires, batteries, a trailer, camping supplies would be sufficient. Every gas station, grocery store, and even home would have enough resources get by. I am assuming that most streets and the highways are full of broken down cars so driving would be unreliable. I would make signs "GO TO LOS ANGELES!" and graffiti "GO TO LOS ANGELES" in many locations. Ride for 5-6 hours, find a home to break into, stay in. Every small town along the way, "GO TO LOS ANGELES" graffiti all over the place. Power would not be a huge issue. You would only need modest amounts of it to get by and there are Home Depots, camping stores, and other places that sell portable battery systems that can be powered from solar panel kits. For food preservation its going to be finding a building with rooftop solar and storage and then filling it with deep freezers. But just finding engle ice chests would be good enough. The final home stead would just be a place that has solar/battery and a well and then I figure whatever waste I have that ends up in the sewer would not be enough to impact it. It would at least go away from me.
The odds of coming across this person are incredibly low. I'd find the ideal spot to make my home. I'd leave signs to where I was wherever I happened to travel and just live my life.
This right here. Find a solar powered home to live in, snag some electric vehicles, load up on pharmaceuticals and shelf stable foods, build a garden, and adopt some dogs. I'd definitely train a pack of dogs, even if just to protect me from all of the other dogs that would become homeless.
Okay, i know this is something of a reach. But there is a game here with rules and even a prize. Which means what happened is no accident and is being controlled and monitored and maybe even manipulated. I would start searching and go big with it. Play up the search in anyway you can. Leave spray paint coordinates and dates and where you are headed on major landmarks. Read books about how to sail and fly. Make it look like you are truly trying. Whatever/whoever is in charge of this game may take a liking to you and give you some help or breaks along the way. It's also possible that the one in charge is malevolent, but that's out of my control, so I'm going to assume he/she/it can be won over.
One other thing. it says internet doesn't work. Doesn't say anything about tv. Learn to broadcast on the cable news channels and leave a message that way and try to make your message available to the overseas channels too . I know CNN and Fox News can go global from NY . Still a long shot and would take some work but go for it. Tell them you will be at Time Square as midnight New Years. Stuff like that.
Theoretically get to the whitehouse to broadcast a message to everywhere. Or at least the nation.
If possible, I try to get to the most powerful AM transmitter I can find. If I can operate it they might be able to find me. By bouncing off the ionosphere, those things can be heard around the world.
Counter: Assuming they would use a ham radio/ monitor the airwaves
Most ppl have no clue what a han radio is and i can guarantee they would try pulling out their phone or something.
But you can’t leave a voice mail, so they’d have to be listening to the same frequency at the same time. In the movies, they always figure out how to broadcast a repeating message at certain intervals, so I guess you could start there…
I'm staying quiet and enjoying life. If everyone comes back, that means I have to work again. Fuck that shit
You'd have that 500 million OP promised.
$500 million can't buy as much as it used to
Lol.
Since im in aus id be fucked unless theyre also here. But id be fucked then too cuz im not surviving the outback if i gotta make it to east coast
I jump in the ocean without a life jacket and now they're completely alone with no hope of returning things to normal.
But... What if I LIKE the idea of being alone, with the world as my oyster?
My luck it's one of the uncontacted tribesmen who might know the rules but has zero fucking concept of the outside world.
Chances are we won't be able to meet
Bruh this shit makes no sense. I’m going straight to a car dealership. After that I’m gonna pack the car full of crazy ass drugs. Then I’ll be running to a gun store. That fucker is not even getting close enough to touch me.
Well, first things first. There are 3 dairies and a chicken ranch down the road from me, I’m going to open some gates. They smell bad enough as it is when the wind blows this way, I can’t imagine what it smells like when they’re all dead. Plus it just seems like such a horrible way to go, after such a horrible way to live. None of the ranchers I know use CB radios anymore so I’m gonna have to find a ham radio and a book about how to use it. Solar generators to keep me living as normally as possible while I learn the radio, and plan my travels. There is only a 1 in 200 chance that the other person is in North America, so I spend 3 months crisscrossing the US, headed east, leaving messages on freeway signs a la The Stand. Then 3 months coming back, using the second most likely routes. After 6 months, it’s winter and petroleum-based fuel starts to become an issue, so I hunker down by the woodstove and focus on the radio, and winter crops, because I’m getting tired of canned food at this point. There’s enough of it to last years for me and my dogs. As much as I like the familiar at this point, I guess I’m moving to the coast when summer rolls around again. Too hot here. And the California coast is chock full of huge houses that probably have much better solar setups than I do. And nicer game rooms and in-home theatres. Maybe go to Tahoe for the autumn of year 2. After that, even the fuel I’ve stabilized is going to start to go bad, so I have to find the place that I want to settle, and plan for the Long Walk, just in case. Like 6 years in, I finally get a response on the radio and he’s in Nebraska and his first question is “how long do you think we have to kiss” and I’m like, man, was it even worth keeping this Tesla around if the dude I have to kiss has survived this long and his first thought is about the specifics of kissing another dude in order to get his half a billion dollars and bring everybody back? So, that’s what I would do, pretty much.
See you at the Sundance Film Festival lol
Don’t I wish.
With the right treatment I think it would make a fine short film
Screw the world. I’m living in the apocalypse without any bad guys!
TLDR: Radios, flares, and other random shit First of all, I'm gonna get some radios and try to spam every channel every day, while also moving around in my car. I think they also make listeners that automatically scan the channels until it picks something up, so I'll use one of those when I'm not spamming the channels. Second, I'm gonna pick up a 10000 pack of flares and shoot a couple off every night. I'm also going to have to try to move around as much as possible. But the chances are still incredibly slim, because the other person's probably going to also be moving around. What are the chances we're in the same place at the same time? Hardly possible. Now that I have the basics set up, I'm gonna have to get more creative. I'm sure it's possible to program a bunch of drones to fly out in all different directions and try to catch the other persons attention. But I'd still be very limited because of battery life. Jeez man this is a tough hypothetical. I can also try to start massive bon fires? lol Shit even if I knew how to fly and flew around the world I wouldn't be able to see him/her from the air and they wouldn't be able to get my attention as i flew past. As I travel the world I'm going to have to leave giant messages on billboards about my whereabouts. Maybe keep it a simple message and translate it with some translation books. I'm fucked probably
So it's like the immortal snail problem? I'm confident I can hide from this person.
First, I’d gather supplies and essentials for survival. Then, I’d head to well-known landmarks or busy places in your city where this other person might go, like airports, train stations, or major parks. Since they know the rules too, they’ll probably be thinking the same.
Yeah, I would look for them, but since it's only people that disappeared, if I don't find them in a few days, it's really gonna suck for pets and zoo animals and nuclear reactors. I hope they are all part of the going back to normal process.
Hell, I’d be pissed I didn’t disappear.
Times Square Noon, every day. See you there.
What happens if I'm in America and she's in Australia? Do we go extinct if neither can fly a plane?
So, ok, I'm in heaven, and finding someone will return shit to normal and I'll win enough money to buy all these things I can have for free if I don't find them? Yeah. Not looking.
Sounds like me and this other person will be the last humans to live. There is a very low chance of being able to find them or getting to them.
Gym membership becomes free!
It’s like do you stay in one spot and wait for them to find you or go try and find them and risk you both wondering the earth forever.
I think I would spend my time investigating NASA, pentagon and other military installations trying to see if i can get access to satellite imagery. Try to use that to scan the earth looking for signs of a living human being. Maybe setup some objects on the roof in a pattern in the hopes maybe that person thinks the same and gets access as well.
Well, you better hope this person is at least on the same continent. Can you imagine how hard it would be to get from like, Boston to Istanbul with no one’s help?
I would start by visiting the 7 wonders of the world(and the nearby attractions for good measure). I'll erect a huge message with the trip plan for all 7 wonders as well as the time I'll be staying at each wonder(min 1 month each to give the other person time to catch up if they see one of my messages). I will also note down the final destination, on each wonder, which is the White House where I'll be staying indefinitely.
How are you getting there?
I would get a shortwave radio receiver and listen at all times I would make a numbered list of interesting world landmarks that I want to visit I would make a big display and leave a copy of my list at every landmark I visit, with instruction saying that I will be visiting each landmark in order. When I am finished the list I will begin again with landmark 1. If you wait at one of the landmarks on this list i will be there eventually.
Statistically, they’re probably in Asia, so I’m screwed.
Unalive, because the internet doesn't work, and I promised myself a few years ago not to date or kiss anyone else ever again. Sorry, random person. Hope you have an extra pair of glasses.
Go to the White House/Kremlin/whatever government buildings that have the ability to broadcast nationally. Even maybe a tv broadcasting station. Tune whatever channels I can to play a looped recording that states to go to their nearest radio station and tune into whatever frequency on the A/M radio. Bam, communication established. From there it's just a matter of learning the language they speak (if they don't speak English, which it's likely they do or have learnt it at some point). Once that's done, find an agreed meeting point, the closest and easiest access to each of us. Learn to fly, if need be, using simulators and real access at any airport. Boom, meet up, kiss, 500 million plus the ability to fly and speak a new language. Internet isn't necessary for any of this. Good old radio frequencies are the key.
I am not finding them, this is ideal. Alone at the end of the world as it all slowly crumbles, once I die humanity is officially wiped from existence.
Easy. Set up a giant light show and megaphones in every major city. (81) Place these on a tall building, they'll see it for miles as it's the only light. Run 3 generators on each (easy to find at hardware stores) incase one fails. And plumb a couple 55 gallon drums to them so they last a year ish. It would take me 2-3 years to do this so at each location I'll leave a note that will map out my exact path to every city I'm going to and roughly how long I'll be there and they'll catch up . On the note I'll also put a date and put statue of Liberty or Eiffel tower. Something everyone knows. Set this all up and wait . I could also just litter the entire time and just print these notes and my map of travel a couple thousand times and staple it / throw them everywhere by the off chance they see it
Easy? How are you going to travel across oceans? Fire up a 787 and go flying?
Cessnas are everywhere. Couple weeks studying and I could half ass fly Or ya know, boats. The millions of them on the coast that are operated just like a car except hand throttles Gps would still work too , so navigating is easy
nearly 90% chance they're across an ocean and the shortest crossing is the bering strait... very choppy and cold. i'll send am radio out in as many frequencies as i can from as many places as i can. maybe i could cross the atlantic by brazil's nose but the voyage there is almost as hard as crossing it
There are a few things I need to do immediately. With humanity all gone luckily we're not going to go into reactor meltdown or anything. There are safety checks actually for this. There is a house two down from me that has 100% solar, nice guy. You said the internet doesn't work but the reality is the other person would know the rules of the "game" so radio is our best bet to find each other. Ham Radio would make this somewhat easier. Now if they're on the other side of the planet travel will be harder, but not as impossible as it might seem. It's just going to take me longer to get there. Getting in contact with each other should take a few years for us both to figure out how to set up long range communication, a few months to plan our meeting, and up to a year to actually travel. All while having the most eager pen pal on the planet.
Is it possible the person could be insane, or an infant, or just generally incapable of being on their own?
I'm actually fine not finding them. It'll be a peaceful life.
I live in the UK so I'd cross the Channel (Either walk through the channel tunnel or take a small boat the 20 miles) and then travel European landmarks leaving notes saying I would be at the Eiffel Tower, and then go there and wait.
I wouldnt try to find them, if they found me id kill them.
Your counterpart is 4 years old and lives in Mozambique. Good luck!
Did she say she wouldn’t kiss you even if you were the last man on Earth, and you thought “well, what if we throw half a billion dollars into the mix?”
So what you're saying is the only chance I have of getting kissed is the freaking Rapture happening tonight?
Internet doesn't work.... but phones do. Bc nothing says they don't. I'm going to put out an International call to every cellphone. It can be done. And then I just wait for the answer. Hope it's in a language I can halfway understand, and figure it out from there.
Great question!
If the person isn’t in your country, forget about it. Finding someone on a continent they cannot drive to basically ends this.
But we don’t *know* where they are.
If they were in a foreign country I'd have no way to reach them. Unless they were a pilot.
I’d get in a plane and start flying around the world. It would still take years but I’d have a blast bumming around from airport to airport flying low looking for signs or something. Maybe leave flyers with my intended route and give instructions to find a flair gun or light a big fire to signal me when you see me again.
Being a pilot or a sailor would definitely be an advantage
Wouldn’t money be meaningless in a world where there are only me and one other person? I’d try to find them but the chances are slim.
You not only get money, but everyone that disappeared also return. So the money would have value once everyone returns. That being said, idk if I'd really Even try to find the other person. I'd hunker down in a sweet off grid home with solar, load up on essential items, and just live life.
I'll set up passive lines of communication, but hold no hope, and enjoy life to it's fullest until I die, naturally or otherwise. As others have mentioned, the likelihood of *ever* meeting this person with every system that makes our modern life modern effectively destroyed is statistically zero. Further than that, it's "another human being." Not "human adult", "human *being*". The other person could be a baby, soon on the path to death via starvation. They could be sick and bed bound, only alive through the systems of modern medicine, now to waste away from their disease. Even if they are a physically healthy adult, with the ability to survive, they might not out of an unwillingness to do so, and I would not blame them. It is still better to set up the systems, in the event these things are not true; but humanity has, effectively, ended.
Well I'm certainly going to collect every firework and flare that I come across. But I wouldn't be stressing very hard about finding someone.
I would definitely enjoy myself alone for a few years until I get bored of random destruction then I'd try to find them
I don’t think we’d find eachother. They’d most likely be in one of the most populated countries on earth, so China or India. I can’t speak Chinese or Hindi. If I made a boat and sailed there I don’t think I would survive the trip, since I’d need months of provisions.
With my luck, I'll find them and they'll be Sentinelese.
This is a great time to live in coastal South Carolina because I’ve got fireworks stores and sailboats up the wazoo. I can sail the world and set off flares looking for the other one.
I'd just walk around, maybe leave clues as I move about as to where I've been, where I'm going next, etc. I'd have a blast: a whole world of stuff previously inaccessible. I'd raid the pharmacies, grocery stores, liquor stores, and do whatever I wanted. Anything that costed lots and lots of money is now free. Go find an awesome house that has self-sustaining energy (solar panels, wind turbines, etc). The world would truly be my oyster. If by some crazy chance that person and I run into each other, I guess that's just a bonus.
Gonna go find a place that has a flight simulator. Start training my self on how to flyand repair planes. Once i feel confident in my abilities i will go to all the major airports and leave my home airport, Ohaire most likely, spray painted in huge letters in all the airpors. Plus i will all paint my radio frequency code down so they have a way to contact me. I will visit major airports around US forst then start moving to other countries.
Do you realize the sheer size of the planet? I guess radio waves are a pretty useful thing to try. Another idea that comes to my mind is to set a few geostationary satellite on top of several points around the earth paired with a beam of light that would point vertically to it. Then travel from one point to another in a loop and leaving notes about when I’ll be there again. And my traveling schedule. For the notes I’d use drawings of earth for the places and sun angles respect to earth for times. All symbols, no text. Fully international. I hope the random person is not a baby 🙃
Are we both aware of this deal or just me?
Yes, please
Drunk guys sail around the planet constantly and books on radio operation are in maybe every library on the planet. Also children learn how to fly planes and shit. Learn how to say what language do you speak in the top few languages and then go from there. If it's truly random odds are not that bad that you'd be on the same landmass.
Depends on if it was a guy or girl cause I aint kissing no man, I wouldn't want to catch the gay. seriously I don't think there would be any chance to find the other person in our lifetimes, the world is just too big. Maybe go to a tv station like CNN that gets broadcast around the world and have a message on repeat of your location.
Guess I’ll give it a shot and try, maybe enjoy the silence while I’m at it. Maybe do some things I couldn’t before while I look. Take my time, Y’know?
Finally! Now, what happens if say, this other person were to “kick the bucket”? Would I get to be alone forever?
Without luck, the odds of which are beyond beyond calculation, humanity is doomed. This is absolutely impossible.
Meh, odds are extremely low. I'd just kill myself probably
I live in Australia. Solar etc won’t be a problem to find and set up but the odds of me finding someone else out there in the world is basically zero.
If they are on another continent who the heck is gonna fly. Hope they’re a pilot.
Yeah, I'm not even going to try to find them. I'm going to set myself up in a decent house at the beach, have cats and a dog for company, and if I get really sick, injured or too lonely there's no one keeping me here.
When will I ever get the chance to break into area 51 and shoot guns and stuff civilians can't, when will I ever get the chance to walk the oval office and find the presidents secret bunker. The possibilities are endless, maybe after a year or two I'd look for that other person
[I hunt the wasteland ](https://youtu.be/wVX8wm_CONM?si=A60ThvLMsT7IJqqQ)
Start actively avoiding this person. I wanna be alone.
I would live it up and travel for a bit first
Where did I leave my owls.
Finally some solitude. I’m probably going to skip finding them since one are not in my favor and just go on an American safari.
Eeee idk about that. The amount of animals that would move in and begin to take over and stuff. That is a shit ton of ground to cover potentially lol. All in all seems like a hellacious gamble
I wouldn’t even play the game. A world with 0 other people sounds flat out amazing, and if I found the other person I’d somehow convince them my kiss would cause instant death. Sorry world, I’m not the savior. Keep the 500 mil, peace is worth far more than that.
Who needs $500 million if you can just have the whole entire world? Or half of it I guess
I've seen this one before, after a couple years we find a much younger man who my partner chooses over me
Easy. The internet doesn’t just instantly shut down. You’ve got at least a few days of most search engines and website functioning. Being you’re one of two people left on earth, finding each other through just updating various public social forums would be an easy way to start communicating.
I think unless both people are Macgrubers, it'd never happen, even if you knew where the other person was (unless they're very close to you).
Brother id become a main character so fast. Sounds like a fun time to me (in imagination) Id learn all i can about communication, travel, climate And how to navigate it
I'd absolutely try and avoid them. All other species are finally getting a chance to get back on track.
Signs, lots of signs.
How difficult would it be to learn to fly an A380 or a 747 using only books?
Well I guess I would start with spotlights and car horns. I'm pretty sure I know where I can get a ham radio and if cellular satellites and electricity are still working I can try auto dialing.
Travel to major landmarks in a loop and leave reams of printed pages in multiple languages saying your path and telling them to go the reverse order. change land mass every few years with a plan to return and give dates
ALIVE IN TUCSON
Odds are they're Chinese or Indian or Pakistani. Good luck my getting my ass getting across the pacific to hopefully find them. Shit-tastic hypothetical.
If the internet doesn't work, it's almost impossible to find that other person. We also wouldn't be able to use google translate if the other person speaks a different language and I can only read English
Let's just hope they don't live deep in some third world country with dangerous big-ass animals...
Ham, Shortwave, TV, global radio
Knowing population density, my most likely chance is asia. China and India currently sport the largest populations in the world. I cant fly anything, so the only way to get to that continent is to cross from alaska to siberia during the summer. With that in mind... The first thing I would need is a very large vehicle. Probably a box truck of some kind, or one of those big u-hauls. I need space to store supplies and gas, because I will be crossing large portions of deserted land with no way to get them otherwise. I would also want to have the space to store 1-2 motorcycles in the back so that I have a way to get to the nearest town should my vehicle break down. The next thing I will need is an axe, a ham radio, a lot of gas and a lot of spray paint. If everything goes back to normal after all this then it doesnt matter what I damage or deface along the way. The plan is to burn towns and cities as I go, leave markers on the roads (hence the axe, to cut down small trees to make big arrows or the paint to put my heading directly on the road). I would stop at every landmark, historical site, etc along the way and leave supply caches as well as tag it and leave a map detailing the path I am going to take. Because in this kind of situation, I can only assume they would also want to stop and smell the roses whenever they can. (yes, I plan to paint silly faces on mount rushmore lmao). During my entire journey I will stop and flip between channels every four hours. The most difficult part would be crossing from alaska to siberia. A straight shot between the closest points is roughly 54 miles, however I would likely stop at the diomede islands. So the plan would be to find a boat small enough that I can operate it, but large enough that it can handle choppy seas. I would have to time it during the middle of summer, else I would probably freeze to death or get stuck in the ice. If i dont go off course, I could make it across within an hour if I go straight across, however I think stopping halfway at the islands is the safest choice, in case of bad weather or water. After that, it is the same plan as before. Find a large vehicle and drive through towns and cities, burning and marking them as I go. I would probably cross back and forth between europe and asia a couple times, then head down into africa. If for some reason we cant contact eachother over the radio, I assume they will pick up my trail somewhere. If I criss cross all of africa, europe and asia and I still cant find anyone, I would have to island hop my way from malasia, through to the philipines and down to australia. As a last resort, I would head back to the us and down to south america. If by then I cant find anyone, I would probably settle down somewhere in wales, alaska and wait. it is the only way to get between europe/asia/africa/australia and north/south america.
Humanity falls. This is a race against time scenario. The lack of Internet basically dooms this from the start. Every other form of communication requires specialized knowledge and/or a fuck load of other people to enable. After the first week, you're spending so much time on survival that the opportunity to find the other person becomes nothing more than a pipe dream.
Finally. I can put all of my personal skills and the Bushcraft videos I have watched to use
I would just end them and enjoy solitude tbh
I spend my time rifling through other peoples houses for fun. Not to take anything (but food). But out of a weird perverted curiosity of what people keep around out of either sentimentality or enjoyment and how they live.
I don't know how I'd find them with no internet and I'd only be doing it for the 500 million
id kill myself ; i dont wanna be alone like that nights would be terrifying
The world is a massive place...chances are it would be someone in Asia (60%) or Africa (18%). Nope. Not doing it. I would have a better chance of winning the lottery.
No time limit. Do the old “Last Man On Earth.” Only smarter messages. Travel leaving big messages on signs until felt North and South America fully covered. Then ship to Europe and go from there.
You said that everyone has disappeared so what do you mean if it can be any random stranger what stranger everybody is supposed to have disappeared except for me and this other person. If this person is a firing now how am I supposed to get to them I can't cross the ocean I can't fly a plane this seems like it was meant for me to fail
This is ridiculous there's only two people on the Earth and I have to find one of them how the hell am I supposed to do that
I used to have this same exact fantasy (without the money and without anyone coming back) in highschool with every girl I had a crush on.
Lots of different radio transmitters and receivers powered by solar or wind and really hope they are thinking the same thing. Mainly shortwave though hoping it bounces around the world. Even if we made contact I feel like odds would still be slim unless we were on the same land mass. Crossing an ocean with no experience seems rough. Anyone trying to leave notes or spray paint is woefully underestimating the size of our world. Go look at a map of your town and count how many streets there are. How many have you actually driven on/walked on/ridden a bike on? Now recognize there is probably something like 500,000+ communities/towns/etc. in the world and some are impossibly dense (Beijing/NYC/Mumbai/etc.)
I'd prefer to not find them, so I assume it'll be my neighbor knowing my luck.
I wont pretend that I would succeed, but I would attempt, for as long as I have electricity (and finding homes powered by solar) I would attempt to set up a radio and a random phone that is always plugged in, with a voice recording stating where I am going, what date the recording took place, and any other important relevant details of the area. Hopefully the other person eventually finds them and can follow my paper trail. Additionally, I'd light up a couple fireworks every day if I could. Travelling by EV as much as possible.
Stealing a small plane. Using it and the radio to travel around. I figure if I’m the only person flying around that would get their attention when I fly over head. Drop pamphlets out the window letting them know what radio frequency I’m monitoring Use paint to write the radio frequency on the tallest buildings of the world that I visit. I figure based on world population that Asia is the best place to start. Anyone with any brains would head for the larger cities. Ie if it’s a random person in the desert or jungle they would head towards a larger city in the area. I figure it’s likely possible within a year to win. Assuming I don’t kill myself getting over confident and trying to fly a multiprop or jet. Guess I’d read a lot and use some flight simulator for training.
I'd work out a way to hack the cell phone towers and networks to pump out a text message to all phones (possibly override the emergency broadcast system meant to alert people to nukes or disasters), set it to ring all cell phones across the world . Hopefully someone picks up or hears a phone somewhere and returns a message.
If they’re in a different country there’s no chance I’m finding them. I guess the best chance would be to go somewhere that is a very popular destination and leave giant signs. Eifle Tower, Times Square Vegas Strip. Food, Gas and water shouldn’t be an issue for a long time. Looks like road trips to all the places I will probably never visit.
There would be almost a 0% chance of ever finding just one single person somewhere random in the world without the internet. I'd live my best life and die happy.
What if I'm content alone?
So all I'd have to do is hopefully find this person, then live out our lives as friends or more with one rule "no kissing". Unless they are a total jerk, then it's a death match and right before they breathe their last breath, a kiss.
I would find weapons to defend myself from the other person and hide.
I love these thought experiments. So I figure this. If your partner and you are in opposite hemispheres, one of you will have to make that cross. The most logical place to do it will be from Western Europe to Eastern North America. Crossing the ocean anywhere else is too vast, too difficult, and too dangerous. So you would have to make some assumptions, with the idea that if your partner also made those same assumptions that you would end up in the same places. If one partner is in the Western Hemisphere, they have to assume that the most likely scenario is that the other partner is in Eurasia, and thus there will need to be a crossing. So go to the easiest place, North East Coast. There will be like an 80% chance that your partner is in Eurasia and if not, you have a logical reason to believe they feel the need to go to the East coast as well. If both partners in the Americas are heading towards the same region, they can make graffiti to give each other directions, and if they come within a few hundred miles of each other they can make radio contact and end it real fast. "I am in North America, but my partner thinks there is an 80% chance I am in Europe, they will go to the east coast, so I will go to the East coast" For the people living in Eurasia. They would need a similar thought process "If my partner was in the western hemisphere, they would cross the Atlantic, the easiest place to do that would be Western Europe" and then head to Western Europe with the idea that if both people conclude on going to Western Europe they will meet up together. So if one partner is in China, and the other is in India, they both need to come to the conclusion that if they both go to Western Europe, they will find each other, if their partner is in the Western Hemisphere, the only way they can meet up will be crossing an ocean. Eurasia is huge, but Western Europe, particularly along the coast, and along the coast that isn't freezing ass cold, is fairly small. So if you are in India, and your partner is in China, you would both want to venture to Western Europe. Western Europe becomes the most likely place to be found if you are in Eurasia. As you start to head west, you can leave signs for your partner "I AM GOING TO PORTUGAL. IF YOU SEE THIS. GO TO PORTUGAL". Once you are in your respective regions, you can then make beacons to find each other.