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What's the minimum number of people needed to survive an apocalypse?
Live Science ^ | 05/05/2021 | By Patrick Pester

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 ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: apocalypse; astronomy; catastrophism; minimum; people; repopulation; science; thebidencatastrophe; thecartercatastrophe; theobamacatastrophe
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To: Codeflier

Then you’re kids would have to have sex with each other.


61 posted on 05/06/2021 5:37:37 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: Codeflier

Be careful what you wish for. 10,000 nagging pregnant women would be hell to deal with.


62 posted on 05/06/2021 5:38:08 PM PDT by ytrebil
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To: Adder

2

It worked before.


With my luck it would be me and a “trans woman”.


63 posted on 05/06/2021 5:41:34 PM PDT by doragsda
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To: BenLurkin

just one is needed to survive ME!!!... ideally there would be about 1,000 women to care for my needs and a hand full of guys so I would not over dose on all that estrogen.


64 posted on 05/06/2021 5:44:47 PM PDT by PCPOET7 (`)
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To: BenLurkin

>>” I hasten to add that since each man will be required to do prodigious... service along these lines, the women will have to be selected for their sexual characteristics which will have to be of a highly stimulating nature.”

Wouldn’t work today.

They would announce the future is female and say that they don’t want to be held back by raising a child.


65 posted on 05/06/2021 5:51:07 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (Lean on Joe Biden to follow Donald Trump's example and donate his annual salary to charity. L)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

13 Women

Bill Haley 1954
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOSGEEswmqQ

The Renegades 1966
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu2pKXSIzr4


66 posted on 05/06/2021 5:54:43 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (Lean on Joe Biden to follow Donald Trump's example and donate his annual salary to charity. L)
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To: BenLurkin

Related (a little), SpaceX successfully landed Starship SN 15 yesterday, so Elon is making progress toward his goal(s)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9eoubnO-pE


67 posted on 05/06/2021 5:55:07 PM PDT by Paul R. (You know your pullets are dumb if they don't recognize a half Whopper as food!)
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To: Codeflier

That’s how to Wilt the Stilt


68 posted on 05/06/2021 5:55:34 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (Lean on Joe Biden to follow Donald Trump's example and donate his annual salary to charity. L)
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To: BenLurkin

The real issue is food and water supplies. Security from others might need numbers, however it just gets back to the food supply for any given number.


69 posted on 05/06/2021 5:58:03 PM PDT by Clean_Sweep
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To: marktwain

There was murder even among Cain and Abel


70 posted on 05/06/2021 5:58:22 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (Lean on Joe Biden to follow Donald Trump's example and donate his annual salary to charity. L)
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To: LadyDoc

Sure, but who is going to kill the spiders?


71 posted on 05/06/2021 5:58:56 PM PDT by CodeToad (Arm up! They Have!)
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To: a fool in paradise
I never heard that song before! Thanks for linking it.

Lyrics "Thirteen Women"

Great lyrics (and a wee bit suggestive, too!)

I had two gals every morning
Seeing that I was well fed
And believe you me
One sweetened my tea
While another one buttered my bread

Two gals gave me my money
Two gals made me my clothes
And another sweet thing
Bought me a diamond ring
About forty carets, I suppose

72 posted on 05/06/2021 6:20:35 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session" - Gideon J. Tucker)
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To: BenLurkin

So a spacecraft travels more than 6000 years to get to Proxima Centauri. Then what? They find that there’s nothing interesting there and come back? When their descendants reach earth no one has any knowledge of the project and nobody can understand English as it had been spoken 12,000 years earlier? At least maybe they can stay in touch with the people back on earth via Facebook.


73 posted on 05/06/2021 6:57:25 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: BenLurkin

Two very healthy ones.


74 posted on 05/06/2021 7:01:51 PM PDT by familyop
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To: minnesota_bound
"Myself and many many women supermodels."

and the viagra....don't forget the viagra so you can actually participate.....

75 posted on 05/06/2021 7:02:45 PM PDT by cherry (we are the dominionated)
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To: LadyDoc
"Actually, all you would need is 100 women, some frozen sperm, and a turkey baster.

Sorry guys.
"

Similar to the current trend of two generations of women hooking up with ugly, bad boys? So the next generation would be short, fat and criminal, with pudgy facial features, pit bull mixes for pets, mental illnesses, lots of tattoos and unhealthy habits.

76 posted on 05/06/2021 7:07:33 PM PDT by familyop
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To: BenLurkin

There were eight on the ark.


77 posted on 05/06/2021 7:09:18 PM PDT by MHGinTN (A dispensation perspective is a powerful tool for discernment)
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To: USAF80
Now how will they pick the 500?

They are reviewing Facebook posts right now to weed out the undesirables. :)

78 posted on 05/06/2021 7:09:28 PM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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To: a fool in paradise

http://www.lerctr.org/~transit/healy/20000.wav


79 posted on 05/06/2021 7:49:00 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: LadyDoc

Someone’s got to kill the spiders.


80 posted on 05/06/2021 8:30:11 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change with out notice.)
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