MovieChat Forums > The Quiet Earth (1985) Discussion > What would you do if you were all alone ...

What would you do if you were all alone in the world from now on?


I would walk naked all the time at summer. I would try not to get hurt since no one can save you, I would learn how to grow fruits and vegetables since no animals around as food sources, and learn how to generate and save electricity.

And I would never use candle to prevent from accidental burning, never do stupid things to keep away from dangers.

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It isn't healthy for a person to be alone for a long period of time. We actually need social contact as part of our survival. We would go mad without interaction and feeling of external importance. Its the reason why we see that stuff in movies and not in real life.

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Why no to animals and yes to plants? It makes no sense.

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These doesn't seem to be any animals in the film.

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ok i get it but it's still a bit of nonsense

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Walking around naked would be the only sensible choice.

I probably wouldn't try to grow my own food, as there are lots of cans in every store, and they can be good to eat for another decade, even without refrigeration.

I probably would do lots of stupid things out of boredom, i'm pretty sure i'd end up dead in a couple of years.

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I wouldn't walk around outside naked, I'd walk around my house naked. We don't just wear clothes as social etiquette (whatever nudists would have you believe) we also wear clothes as armour and protection from heat and cold.

Humans adapted to add and remove layers as we move between cold and warm climates and to utilise whatever was at hand to shield us from attack, this is why we have very little fur and next to no hide. Walking around outdoors with your bouncy or dangly bits uncovered when you don't fully know what dangers are around would be foolish.

I'd find the toughest possible armour that didn't affect my flexibility, maybe good biking leathers (Mad Max was a clever man!), and then the fun would start - Motorbikes, quadbikes, hot air balloons (complete with parachute), self-taught helicopter lessons (again with parachute), speedboats, main battle tank for going shopping because you can park an MBT any where. Obviously at some point I'd have to find out if it really does take 2 miles for an oil tanker to come to a full halt, but I'd work up to that, there'd be lots of time to learn how to swim and how to operate a house-sized diesel engine.

Base-jumping from the top of the Burj Khalifa after I'd found a way to get to the middle east (probabaly use my chopper after I'd mastered flying it), visit mission control at NASA and see if I can contact the people on the space station (anything to help out, they'd get hungry after a while if they had survived the event), go to CERN and see what happens when you put random objects inside the LHC, probably no one has thought about what effect the Higgs Boson would have on a Melon, I'd turn an aircraft carrier in to my own personal floating island. Throw all the jets and military nonsense overboard and kit it out like Monte Carlo with games machines and sh!t, I could have one-man deck parties and discos and such.

I'd read up on biology so I could work on my theory that Kangaroos are descended from Godzilla, I'd have to travel to Australia for that, all zoo animals would probabaly have ate eachother by now.

That's all I can think of so far, guess I haven't really had enough time to think about it.



You don't know sh!t, Jon Snow!

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Good points indeed.

One thing post-apocalyptic movies never touch on, or avoid is, what would happen to power plants. In reality, I would assume that if power plants were suddenly unmanned that they would melt down.

So the first thing I'd do is make sure that there wasn't a nuclear reaction.

Next, stalk up on food and weapons and find a safe place to hide out for a few days and basically ponder all the 'what if's' and prepare myself mentally for my current situation, because unfortunately, there is no one left to bounce ideas off of, and this is something that has never happened before. I'd probably, read several books on the subject, both fiction and non-fiction. So much to consider and ponder if I want to survive.

Once I found myself in a more comfortable position, I'd certainly take up several hobbies to keep myself entertained, otherwise the solitude might make me a little mad. Of all the people I know, a am probably the best at being alone and dealing with solitude, and even I would have a difficult time keeping my wits about me after being alone for the duration of my life. I'd hope to find others, but not bet on it.


grrr arg h4x0r 7Eh pl4NE7

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Agreed that in that particular world you would probably not need to grow your own food; pretty much everything still worked at the onset of the film, including electricity and gas stations. The power of course would fail eventually, but there would be plenty of other fuel sources around to heat water and live on the existing dried, canned, and packaged food for a lifetime.

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At the same time, those cans of food in grocery stores are meant to last a max of 2 years (see their expiry labels). If those cans of food are in enclosed buildings, extreme heat or cold will make the food inside the cans spoil.

If you're in Texas during the summer...those cans are going to be useless within a week....unless you store a bunch of them underground in a cool area. Same thing with being above the snow line in winter...once the cans freeze, they are useless.



Now, what I would do, assuming this event happens either in late winter to mid summer, is to get a good vehicle (truck with lots of cargo room), and head southwest. If possible (I figure you need a month at least if you're on the east coast) your best best if you're in North America, is to try to get to the Pacific coast, down around northern California. Grab as much food, water, fuel, medicine and tools as you can, along with as many seeds as possible, and head west. Cali has a perfect (long) growing season that is kind to all of us without a green thumb. Plus, many farms are already there, so you know there should be some foundation in place to grow crops. Also try to stop at any small town libraries along the way, and grab as many farming, carpentry, medical, nature, astronomy, and other useful books as possible.

Find a good abandoned farm somewhere in Cali, and use it as a base. It has to be an areas reasonably close to some town, but also close to a natural water source, and hopefully decently close to someplace with fishing. Also, very important...know the geography of the location! Is this area known for wildfires or droughts? Is it in a flood zone? Is it downwind of a major manufacturing building or power plant or other potentially hazardous abandoned building? Find a place that is safe!

Once the spot is picked, begin working on it. Then set up as many water catchers as possible, set up a fuel storage point (a good half mile from the farm for safety reasons), and make as many trips as you can to any nearby towns to bring over as much supplies as you can. Also spend time clearing any brush or other dry wildfire fuel to help secure your farm. Also set up ditches around the farm (both irrigation and fire protection), plant seeds, even do some fishing along the coast. Maybe even try to find a few chickens or other small livestock.



If the event happens in winter...bunker down. Find a home/building near a town/city with a wood fireplace, and just gather as much food and fuel as possible (again, store the fuel a couple blocks from your homestead). Riding out the winter is going to be harsh...be prepared to lose power quickly. Grabbing clothing, blankets, tons of batteries, flashlights, candles, cords of wood, food , water, tools, (reference - same as above) books, etc. In the north you can't rely on any big buildings surviving winter without human help (there will be plenty of roof collapses in spring) so you have to try and gather what you can asap. Then, in spring, hope to make the trek to Cali...if possible. Pretty dangerous though...no guarantee roads will even be passable by then.

If you already live from Seattle down to Cali...hot damn! You've got it made. Just gather supplies and books and start farming.

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Honestly? I would kill myself. I think I could handle a world without people, but not a world without animals. Dogs in particular.

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Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world... but for Wales?

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Same here. If only there were dogs around, I'd be happy enough with that.


**May the force be with you.

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I'd watch a lot of movies.

Kinda like I do now.



When I'm gone I would like something to be named after me. A psychiatric disorder, for example.

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I'd read a lot, but I'd be more careful than Burgess Meredith with my glasses.

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Travel to places like Area 51,Dugway,Wright Patterson. Places like that,and see if they really hold some secrets.

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I'd kill my self.

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