What If half the population of Earth was wiped out?
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00:00 The world has approximately 7.7 billion people on it.
00:09 Until now,
00:11 half of the world's population
00:13 has been snapped out of existence instantly.
00:16 If you happened to be one of the 3.8 billion people left
00:21 having survived this mass wipeout,
00:24 what would happen to you?
00:25 Would you be able to survive?
00:28 How would society function after such a decimation?
00:31 And could this end up being a good thing for humanity?
00:36 This is WHAT IF,
00:37 and here's what would happen
00:39 if half the world's population suddenly disappeared.
00:43 With 50% of the population disappearing in the blink of an eye,
00:46 there would be mass chaos.
00:48 One thing that's bound to happen?
00:51 Plane crashes.
00:52 There are approximately 10,000 planes in the sky at any given moment,
00:57 carrying over 1 million people.
00:59 Some of the people disappearing in this mass elimination
01:02 are bound to be pilots flying planes.
01:05 This would be a problem for people on the ground,
01:07 as well as for those in the sky,
01:09 since it would be completely unpredictable
01:11 where these unmanned planes would crash.
01:14 There would be hundreds of thousands of car pileups and train crashes.
01:18 You wouldn't want to be undergoing surgery at the time.
01:21 Imagine lying on the operating table in the middle of a procedure
01:24 when all of a sudden, the surgeon disappears.
01:28 If you were to survive all the chaos and destruction
01:30 that would follow this mass vanishing,
01:32 it wouldn't be such a joyous moment.
01:35 Half of your family and half of your friends would be gone.
01:38 Sorry about that.
01:40 However, once you get over the crushing and confusing loss of your loved ones,
01:45 this could be a good thing.
01:47 But not right away.
01:49 At first, civilization would have to deal with losing people
01:52 who held essential jobs around the world.
01:55 The number of world leaders, police officers,
01:58 firefighters, and power grid workers would all have taken a massive hit,
02:02 making their jobs difficult or impossible to complete,
02:06 and in turn, affecting the people who remained on Earth.
02:09 Massive blackouts would occur, and people would generally be less safe.
02:14 For a short time, our food supply would suffer severely,
02:18 with essential products being shipped from all around the world,
02:21 there's less of a possibility of people getting what they need.
02:25 The number of people who grow or make food,
02:27 sell it, and ship it would be significantly reduced.
02:31 But what happens after the dust settles,
02:34 and civilization is able to adjust to this new world?
02:37 Well, believe it or not,
02:39 humanity has already dealt with something very similar to this event,
02:43 known as the Black Death.
02:46 In the mid-1300s, Europe was met with a bacterial infection
02:50 that wiped out 25 million people,
02:53 equal to about half of the continent's population at the time.
02:56 Although the world was met with tons of death and despair,
03:00 there were also benefits that resulted from this event.
03:04 During a time when food supplies were scarce,
03:07 food became more plentiful,
03:09 due to there being fewer mouths to feed.
03:11 The same could be applied to the world today.
03:14 Approximately 36 million people die each year from hunger.
03:19 With 50% fewer people to feed,
03:21 and the world having the same amount of food as it did before,
03:25 the bellies of the world would be much more full.
03:27 And the benefits wouldn't stop there.
03:32 Another thing that happened during the Black Death
03:34 that would happen in our scenario?
03:35 You'd be a lot richer.
03:37 Assuming the world economy stabilizes after this huge event,
03:41 you'd be able to charge a lot more for your skills.
03:44 You could end up being the only person in your town
03:46 who knows how to repair a car,
03:48 or perform surgery,
03:49 or even cook a decent meal.
03:51 With fewer people, your skills would be in higher demand,
03:55 resulting in you earning more money.
03:57 And speaking of money,
03:58 wherever you choose to live would be much cheaper,
04:01 since there'd be so many more available homes.
04:03 You'd no longer be spending your entire paycheck on rent.
04:07 And what about all the things in the world that aren't human?
04:10 What would happen with them?
04:11 Well, the Earth would slowly begin to heal itself from climate change.
04:15 Fewer people means less pollution,
04:17 and less harm to the environment.
04:19 With 50% less people on Earth,
04:21 there's a good chance we'd be able to live comfortably on Earth
04:24 for the next 100 years,
04:26 unlike what will happen if we keep up our current population size.
04:31 Once you forget about the horrible mass elimination that occurred,
04:35 this world sounds pretty good.
04:37 You'd be richer and fatter,
04:39 and the Earth would be healthier.
04:41 Unfortunately, in a couple of centuries or so,
04:43 we'd most likely be back to where we started.
04:46 But even if that happens,
04:48 the world may still end up surviving.
04:50 The core problem is not how many of us there are,
04:53 but how we use the planet and share its resources.
04:57 In theory, we could have 14 billion people
04:59 and still have a thriving planet,
05:01 as long as we use our resources correctly.
05:04 Now, what would happen if this were to actually happen,
05:08 and the world's population suddenly doubled?
05:11 Well, that sounds like a story for another WHAT IF.
05:15 (upbeat music)
05:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]