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Ask Slashdot: After We're Gone, the Last Electrical Device Still Working?

Leomania writes: After watching a post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi short on YouTube (there are quite a few) and then having our robot vacuum take off and start working the room, I just wondered what would be the last electric/electronic device still functioning if humans were suddenly gone. I don't mean sitting there with no power but would work if the power came back on; rather, something continuously powered, doing the task it was designed for. Are we talking a few years, decades, or far longer?

8 of 403 comments (clear)

  1. WALL-E by ei4anb · · Score: 4, Funny

    you should watch WALL-E next, while pondering that question

  2. Solar powered parking meters by captainpanic · · Score: 3, Funny

    1. Solar powered parking meters, obviously. Humans may be all gone, but you still gotta pay for your spot downtown.
    But seriously though, these are designed to be robust, and to keep working even if the solar panel gets dirty. I don't see any reason why it would fail at any time.

    2. The other one I can think of are (again, solar powered) satellites in higher orbits. But I am not sure how much damage the solar radiation does to those on the long run.

    3. Wouldn't it be sad if the last electric device to work is one of those crappy solar powered moving plants (made of plastic)?
    One of these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  3. Re:XKCD answered this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Gnu Hurd build server??

  4. Easy by mwvdlee · · Score: 1, Funny

    The last electrical device after humanity ends will be the deathray which the aliens used to blast humanity out of existance.

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  5. Re:satellites by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Funny

    A Nokia 3310 will outlast them all.

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  6. We already know by Coisiche · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's actually on an adjacent planet rather than Earth, but Opportunity seems like it will just keep going.

    xkcd joke about it.

  7. Help Stamp Out Care Bears! by TheRealHocusLocus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Topic: Ask Slashdot: After We're Gone, the Last Electrical Device Still Working?
    Reply Subject: Who cares?
    Response: I don't care. I think that it isn't a interisting problem.

    Analysis: Looks like this dim bulb has gone out.
    Tally: Currently at 999 Points of Light
    Who: A Child Left Behind
    What: Passionate declaration of indifference.
    When: 42 years after men last walked on the Moon.
    Where: March For Apathy 2015 [cancelled]
    Why: Dissonant aggressive demotivational pathos.
    What: 's the use.
    How: Did we get here?
    Further Reading on this Topic: Failed Slashdot submission,

    Breakthrough: Manned Space Travel Achieved Using 40-Year Old Technology

    TheRealHocusLocus writes

    "Paul Rosenberg has uncovered some surprising new evidence that manned space travel is not only possible, it has actually been achieved using decades-old technology. Some 40 years in the making, a tale too amazing to remain untold. With a few quaint photographs he asks, could we build this? The answer is no. Or is it? It is uplifting to read that "Productive humans have been delegated to mute observance as their hard-earned surplus is syphoned off to capital cities, where it is sanctimoniously poured down a sewer of cultured dependencies and endless wars..." for it must take something really compelling to prevent us from reaching the stars, and he has nailed it. This essay makes the case that the headliner of 2052 may well be: Breakthrough: Manned Space Travel Achieved Using 80-Year Old Technology. I can hardly wait! Down with robots."

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  8. My Pink Floyd Pulse Album by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The little LED on my pink Floyd pulse album will still be flashing long after we are all gone.