Posted on 05/06/2021 3:38:00 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The short answer is, it depends... However, putting some of these conditions aside and focusing on population size, the minimum number is likely very small compared with the approximately 7.8 billion people alive today.
Smith's research into early human civilizations and space colonization gives him pretty good insight into our apocalypse survival hopes. He expects big cities would be most vulnerable if global civilization were to crumble, as they import almost all of their food and are heavily reliant on electricity. Surviving populations would, therefore, likely spread out to find resources.
A surviving population of just a few hundred people would need a way of maintaining a breeding system, Smith said. Inbreeding, or breeding between closely related individuals, is one major challenge small populations face.
A sufficient number of breeding-age individuals of the opposite sex, known as the effective population size, would also be required for successful interbreeding to take place.
A starting crew of just 98 people would be enough for a 6,300-year-long journey (travelling in a hypothetical spacecraft at speeds that are possible with current technology) to Proxima Centauri b, a potentially habitable Earth-like exoplanet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the sun, according to a 2018 study published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society led by Frédéric Marin, an astrophysicist...
The Proxima Centauri b crew would not consist of a random sample of 98 humans, but rather 49 unrelated breeding pairs, ready to pass on their genes. The population would only remain genetically diverse and healthy over time under certain conditions, so for example, the crew's breeding would have to be monitored and restricted. Furthermore, a larger starting crew of 500 would likely be a safer choice, as they would be more likely to retain their genetic diversity with more breeding pairs...
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Just ask Noah.
Me.
Follow the so-called science. Zero, humans spring up when the conditions are right. There are trillions of planets in the universe ...
It is extremely difficult to find a plausible “end of the world as we know it” scenario that reduces the world population by even 99%, let alone 99.999%.
Even a reduction of 99.999% would leave 3000 people in the United States alone.
500,000 “One percenters” and 4,500,000 staff.
That sound like a living hell.
An apocalypse is a disclosure.
“A sufficient number of breeding-age individuals of the opposite sex,”
So, back to men and women, I see.
Would they bump into each other at the mall?
I would have guessed two (male and female) and the female is of child bearing age and not sterilized from taking the “vaccine”.
“No more snu-snu!”
But 20% of the population is 🏳️🌈
The only thing in the historical record which "might" reach that level of extinction in a short term event would be a asteroid strike.
All out nuclear war doesn't even come close.
The obvious thing for survivors to do would be set up a radio station and advertise for other survivors to come to them. Survivors would probably be clustered around each other.
All survivors would have abundant resources. Other people would be highly valued.
It would be a golden age for a few hundred years, until the population bred up enough to develop separate tribes and nations.
Short answer: EIGHT! Been there, done that.
If I recall correctly there can’t be less than 500 without eventually getting disastrous birth defects.
Why populations can’t be saved by a single breeding pair
https://phys.org/news/2018-03-populations-pair.html
Same as the number of licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop: three.
No you, 100 young beauties, and 5 young boys who can cross breed later but aren’t a problem now.
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