If all humans older than X years old disappeared, how low could X be to still let humanity survive?

[Legacy 755]

If you can access this food supplies, yes your chance of survival would increase. Clean water will be the most important factor here, if they know how to make clean water this is really good.

The non perishable food is a short term solution, you would need to start to look at a long term food supply. 

Next step is how to reproduce and deliver babies.

well, the kids can do farming and take care of trees and vegetables, animals to slaughter and cook them (they can use lighters and ovens from their houses to do so) in primitive way it won't be as difficult as you may imagine, actually young kids will have lots of fun doing so I think that's a good long term solution for food supply

[Viking4s 10,822]

well, the kids can do farming and take care of trees and vegetables, animals to slaughter and cook them (they can use lighters and ovens from their houses to do so) in primitive way it won't be as difficult as you may imagine, actually young kids will have lots of fun doing so I think that's a good long term solution for food supply

wow, they will use there little finger and click on the screen to crop it up!

farming is not that easy and after the crop you need to store them so you can survive the winter (at least in certain region of the work where there is 4 seasons). 

Oven you mean like an oven that works with wood?

[Guest]

13.

[Heles 9,230]

I would probably guess between 10 - 14

[sezze100 418]

Pure survival , i'd say prob 14 to 16 . Returning to the state it was , a lot older and even then returning to the state it is now would take at least a few 100y, if ever .

Many people forget how many knowledge there is on the world , and even more how many experience there is around the world . The experience is what makes things from books/internet into real world results .

I am a chemical proces operator with 28y experience , and the level of knowledge and control over a installation takes at least 10 to 15y to become somewhere in the region of where you can say ... i got it . There are 1000s of jobs like mine , and some things you cannot learn from books , you got to learn from experience . Since that is out , lots of things would absolutely be gone for ever .

[Viking4s 10,822]

If girls, 10-11 

If boys, 14-16

If mixed, 12-14

[Maf 32,863]

If girls, 10-11 

If boys, 14-16

If mixed, 12-14

wOw tHatS SeXiSt!!11!1!!

[Viking4s 10,822]

wOw tHatS SeXiSt!!11!1!!

Girls are more mature than boys, that's a fact :)

[Maf 32,863]

Girls are more mature than boys, that's a fact :)

I didn't realise that you actually set the ages in favour of girls. I thought it was the other way around because of boys' greater physical ability.

This an interesting "off-topic." 

 

Lemme ponder this and get back to you. Perhaps I might even have a decent argument.

Oh man, he's been "pondering" for over 2 days. I bet he's preparing a scholarly essay on the topic  :ph34r:

[Pythor 1,357]

I didn't realise that you actually set the ages in favour of girls. I thought it was the other way around because of boys' greater physical ability.

Oh man, he's been "pondering" for over 2 days. I bet he's preparing a scholarly essay on the topic  :ph34r:

Secure all hatches for the enormous text wall coming..

[sezze100 418]

If girls, 10-11 

If boys, 14-16

If mixed, 12-14

So you believe that girls of 10-11  cam provide the world of food and drinking water , which are the 2 basic things needed to survive . They can can grow enough crops , work the land to do so , breed and slaughter animals ?

Also , growing crops is manual work , since all machines will be out because without maintenance or fuels ( including additives!! ) they would not work . Another thing to realise , that there are no more pesticides/fungicides and even worse fertilisers to let prosper those crops . Another thing to realise is , that water wont be coming from the tap ( who will work in the water company , the 11y old ? ) and neither will there be any electricity flowing ( again , there are people working there ) , so forget searching internet ( server maintenance ), or even lightbulbes .

The world is a hell of a lot more complicated then any 11y old can manage .

[Maf 32,863]

 

I believe services will still function for a while without human intervention. Water and electricity - from days to weeks (some nuclear and renewable plants maybe even for years), while the internet is not one single thing - servers will gradually shut down, but I'm sure big sites like Google have a lot of backup plans in case power cuts down. Stores will have a large supply of non-perishable food. So the kids would have a fair bit of time to grow up slightly and prepare for sustainable survival. Not sure if pesticides are a particularly big deal, people were growing crops for thousands of years before they existed.

[Viking4s 10,822]

So you believe that girls of 10-11  cam provide the world of food and drinking water , which are the 2 basic things needed to survive . They can can grow enough crops , work the land to do so , breed and slaughter animals ?

Also , growing crops is manual work , since all machines will be out because without maintenance or fuels ( including additives!! ) they would not work . Another thing to realise , that there are no more pesticides/fungicides and even worse fertilisers to let prosper those crops . Another thing to realise is , that water wont be coming from the tap ( who will work in the water company , the 11y old ? ) and neither will there be any electricity flowing ( again , there are people working there ) , so forget searching internet ( server maintenance ), or even lightbulbes .

The world is a hell of a lot more complicated then any 11y old can manage .

I believe girl will face the challenge with maturity and face the severity of the situation. You don't realise how many thing girls do or have to do to help their family, many boys are oblivious to this. They are stronger than you think, plus they use their brain to compensate some of the physical disadvantage. This is why they are mature sooner than boys.

Boys have more freedom and less chores when they are young. Plus boys are only interested to play and challenges each other. It will all end up with half of them fighting each other to be the leader or the strongest, and the other half will try to see who can destroy the biggest stuff. Some of them will event start to bet on who will win. Lol counting on internet and technology to help you out, so boy mentality-like (you gonna die for sure).

Regarding water in many county now, and in many other a long time ago, girls were the one fetching the water at the well. They are also the one growing vegetable and cooking.

Edited August 23, 2019 by Viking4s

[sezze100 418]

I believe services will still function for a while without human intervention. Water and electricity - from days to weeks (some nuclear and renewable plants maybe even for years), while the internet is not one single thing - servers will gradually shut down, but I'm sure big sites like Google have a lot of backup plans in case power cuts down. Stores will have a large supply of non-perishable food. So the kids would have a fair bit of time to grow up slightly and prepare for sustainable survival. Not sure if pesticides are a particularly big deal, people were growing crops for thousands of years before they existed.

You can believe all you want , since i do work in a similar job , i will tell you that this is not the case at all . If there is nobody there , electricity will shut down in a few hours and a few days maximum. Yes , servers do have a backup system , meaning somewhere else , so that electricity out in 1 place will not affect the backup server since that 1 still got electricity . If all electric is out , well servers are out also , all of them , and no backup power supply like generators are not for providing such facilities ... they require too much of it .

Non perishable food ... fridges are out , but yes , we can have some rice/sugar/flour ffor some while since it stays good long enough .

Without pesticides ... world food production would be not 25% of what they grow now , but yes you would be able to grow some food , not enough for everybody .

You would be surprised how fast a system will collapse when taking even 1 part out and we would be back in stone age in seconds .

I believe girl will face the challenge with maturity and face the severity of the situation. You don't realise how many thing girls do or have to do to help their family, many boys are oblivious to this. They are stronger than you think, plus they use their brain to compensate some of the physical disadvantage. This is why they are mature sooner than boys.

Boys have more freedom and less chores when they are young. Plus boys are only interested to play and challenges each other. It will all end up with half of them fighting each other to be the leader or the strongest, and the other half will try to see who can destroy the biggest stuff. Some of them will event start to bet on who will win. Lol counting on internet and technology to help you out, so boy mentality-like (you gonna die for sure).

Regarding water in many county now, and in many other a long time ago, girls were the one fetching the water at the well. They are also the one growing vegetable and cooking.

Yes i do know girls are more mature , and the physical disadvantage is no point for me . A 11y old brain is my point , girl or boy or alien . I travelled enough to witness plenty of children working also , and they are able to do some things , but not all .

Would i die , certainly , since i am way past all ages mentioned here , but in part of survival , i might surprise some people because i do eat insects without any issue ( yes i do know a few of the ones who you can eat , and have done so many times before ) and i have lived in places where there isnt any running water or toilets or electric . Experiences which any 11y old in this part of the world does not have at all ( let alone +90% of all adults )  . 3th world country children would have a lot more chance , since its a lot closer to them , but even there before 13/14 they still need lots of guidance .

[Maf 32,863]

I believe girl will face the challenge with maturity and face the severity of the situation. You don't realise how many thing girls do or have to do to help their family, many boys are oblivious to this. They are stronger than you think, plus they use their brain to compensate some of the physical disadvantage. This is why they are mature sooner than boys.

Boys have more freedom and less chores when they are young. Plus boys are only interested to play and challenges each other. It will all end up with half of them fighting each other to be the leader or the strongest, and the other half will try to see who can destroy the biggest stuff. Some of them will event start to bet on who will win. Lol counting on internet and technology to help you out, so boy mentality-like (you gonna die for sure).

Regarding water in many county now, and in many other a long time ago, girls were the one fetching the water at the well. They are also the one growing vegetable and cooking.

I'm not sure why we diverted into this "boys vs girls" argument at all, since the idea is about all young children being left alive, rather than a specific gender. And I see no reason for children to divide themselves into single-gender communities if something like this were to happen.

[CooperO 7,960]

Oh please - have you seen toddlers? You have to watch them 100% of the time because they just seem to constantly and actively be looking for ways to injure themselves.

 

That's what I'd like to call survival of the fittest..;p And that doesn't mean the strongest per se, but the best equipped for a given situation.

I actually do believe a world full of 5 year olds could let humanity survive. They definitely wouldn't just be able to pick up where we all left off, but don't underestimate the ease with which these young kids learn and pick up new things. Many of them will likely not be able to survive, but some will be able to find enough food and water to survive for a while and they'll realize quickly enough they need to gather more of that food. Then as they grow older they'll start discovering more, invent new things and so on and then in about a thousand years or so we'll be back to where we are now.

[Pythor 1,357]

That's what I'd like to call survival of the fittest..;p And that doesn't mean the strongest per se, but the best equipped for a given situation.

I actually do believe a world full of 5 year olds could let humanity survive. They definitely wouldn't just be able to pick up where we all left off, but don't underestimate the ease with which these young kids learn and pick up new things. Many of them will likely not be able to survive, but some will be able to find enough food and water to survive for a while and they'll realize quickly enough they need to gather more of that food. Then as they grow older they'll start discovering more, invent new things and so on and then in about a thousand years or so we'll be back to where we are now.

Try fifty thousand years... Yeah maybe a few toddlers could scrap together enough food and water to live by, avoid natural disasters, build a shelter, not freeze or overheat due to weather conditions, elude diseases, and survive into adulthood... but that would be 1 in every five thousand 5 year olds on the planet. These 5 year olds would then grow up into selfish adults, probably lose all communication skills (5 year olds only have about 3 years of actual talking under their belt) and live in the wild the rest of their days. Humanity would never regain its former self.

[CooperO 7,960]

Humanity would never regain its former self.

I'd expect history to repeat itself. People are always looking for ways to make their life easier.

[u812ic 1,674]

Since the subject of how boys and girls mature, chew on this for awhile:

 

It has been a known fact that girls mature faster than boys. Now, there is scientific proof. 

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/10529134/Girls-really-do-mature-quicker-than-boys-scientists-find.html

 

Girls brains begin to mature at age 10 and have more complex thinking than boys of the same age. Boy's brains don't begin to develop until age 15. So, boys at the age of 15 are just starting where the girls were at age 10. 

 

This topic is not about who is smarter, but rather which children, gender is not a factor, are more creative, ingenuitive, imaginative, inventive, resourceful, persistent and natural insight. 

 

Some respondents are suggesting an apocalypse has occurred. The OP didn't mention an apocalypse. The reason for the disappearance of adults is not an issue, so it shouldn't be one. 

 

Someone mentioned going back to Medieval Times. We could actually go back further than that. Each one of us carries DNA that can be traced back to the humanoid evolution. I read sometime ago, that man, if left to his/her own devices, would eventually revert back to that point in evolution by behavior, aggression. That's how they survived. It is the present form of evolution that survived because on the aggression...overpowering the weaker, less mentally developed.

 

Would children, eventually, begin to revert back to that aggressive DNA? 

 

https://hbr.org/1998/07/how-hardwired-is-human-behavior

 

In the animal kingdom, Humans are the beasts.  

[Guest]

Wait...Wait a minute!! Is there still the internet for learning? Phones and cell phones for distance communications? If so, then the children may be able to figure out a line of communications to fill in some of the gaps.

No one to maintain the servers and power plants, so the Internet would be dead within a month.

[Cyborg 3,197]

One of the major things I learnt when studying Evolution was that, it can vastly vary depending on factors like environment changes, availability of resources and several other factors.

 

The theory of fittest for survival and natural selection are still relevant to date, and IMO if really young kids (like 5 years) are just left on their own on this planet at this current situation most of them will not be able to survive. But if we considering putting them back to the beginning (kind of near the time when Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals existed) I'm certain we would reach right where we are right now because during that period, the environment obviously changed in such a way that we led to discovery of tools etc. 

 

But if we were to leave kids at this instant of time, I'd say they should be atleast 17 or around in order to be able to adapt and use the technology we're leaving behind.

 

And lastly, if we start afresh from this point (with these climatic conditions, depleting ozone layer etc.) I'm certain the future would look nowhere close to what we predict because of random mutations and stuff.

[kaisdf 3,322]

Post-apocalypse is my favourite genre when it comes to reading, and in three different series, it has been everyone over the age of 15, and it seems to go quite well - so perhaps 12-14 year olds would also be fine?

 

I recon a "borderline"

Nice speling :x

 

Edited August 26, 2019 by Maf
Just ignore this edit line ok, thx

[Maf 32,863]

 

I recon a "borderline"

Nice speling :x

I don't know what you mean, it's spelled correctly  :ph34r:

[Viking4s 10,822]

As coop said 5 years old would survive, they have the abilities (curious, innovating and independent). If they are in great numbers, then some would be lucky enough to survive through the deceases, hunger, winter, wild carnivorous, natural disasters...
Older kids would survive in greater number, with strength and more knowledge they would overcome some of the above issues.  

 

Is maf looking to write a manga in the trend of Dr.Stone?

Edited August 26, 2019 by Viking4s

[kaisdf 3,322]

As coop said 5 years old would survive, they have the abilities (curious, innovating and independent). If they are in great numbers, then some would be lucky enough to survive through the deceases, hunger, winter, wild carnivorous, natural disasters...

Older kids would survive in greater number, with strength and more knowledge they would overcome some of the above issues.  

 

Is maf looking to write a manga in the trend of Dr.Stone?

They might be able to survive temporarily, but very, very few of them would even know what a harvest was, let alone how to do so. Also, since electricity would be dead, work would all have to be done manually, and 5 year olds wouldn't have the strength or attention span to do so.

 

 

 

 

I don't know what you mean, it's spelled correctly  :ph34r:

Well, I mean, you're getting closer - at least that's wat

 

I recon