At the end of Planet of the Apes, original version, the Statue of Liberty reveals that Bright Eyes has been on Earth the entire time. The World Without Us shows the decline of Manhattan over the course of 15 millennia with Liberty Enlightening the World sticking out of the ice. In short this monument is recognizable and evocative in mainstream media.

But how resilient is the Statue of Liberty? Would it withstand the rigors of the centuries, standing in the midst of corrosive salt water? At best I'd say without human maintenance Lady Liberty would only last a century before beginning to collapse (barring tidal waves, earthquakes and other natural disasters) in on herself before reducing to a pile of scrap rather than remaining for the ages as a symbol of mankind's hope.

well, considering the scope of the renovation in the late 80's- when she was barely a century old and had been constantly maintained- i'd say that she wouldn't stand for very long.
not counting the effects of mother nature, any humans surviving any sort of apocalypse would probably strip her of her copper skin to make weapons or other tools needed for survival. there's a lot of copper just siting there, and it's much easier to work with than steel.

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"blacker than the blackest black... times infinity."- Nathan Explosion
The.. Best.. Thread..Ever...

I think they (The World Without Us site) are way too generous in their assumptions about the quality of construction and strength of materials in the average home. That little clip of the home slowly decaying should be about doubled in speed. I suppose it depends on local conditions, but around our parts that house would have fallen in about 1/2 to 1/4 the years they give it.

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Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Especially modern houses that are all cheap plastic and plywood. They don't build them like they used to...

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

Yeah, there are a few old buildings around us (turn of the last century) that were well built and even those are barley standing after only 30 or 40 years of neglect. That waferboard and vinyl junk - total disintegration as soon as the roof even thinks about leaking.

I got a kick out of the part where the inside walls start to decay and as the surface peels up it reveals actual boards of real wood being used on inside walls. HA!

Amazing anecdote: Our home, a little over 100 years old, was sheeted with rough-cut genuine 1X6 oak boards. The subfloor is the same. When I cut into the side of the house to put in a new door, I could not believe it. One of the local old-timers told me that back then they built the area houses out of what was around. So our home is built of old growth pine and oak. You should see the width of the roof boards. Many of them are close to 2' wide.

The old barn was the same way. Even though the roof was mostly rotted, just tearing it apart for bonfires was amazing. There were plenty of boards (old cedar) on that roof that were 18 to 24" wide and 15 to 20' long. I don't think wood like that is even generally available anymore. The stalls were made of the same 1X6 oak that was used in the house. I've saved all of it that wasn't rotted from years of being smeared with horse poop.

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Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

The answers so far take into account her current composition, but in 2029 she gets a makeover, with adamantine injections.

I agree. I also think that the mold, insect and vegetation problems would be so much quicker that even 1/4 of the time seems generous.

I have seen abandon buildings (mainly built as cottages in the 30's/40's) that were in total collapse within one or two decades.

I have also seen newly built homes, where the builder went belly up, be engulfed completely inside with mold within a year.

As far as Liberty is concerned, I think that is always thrown in, whether it's realistic or not, just to add that emotional response.

History's Universe did the same thing with Manhatten. The buildings were still standing even after about 200-300 feet of sediment has buried the city.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

It also depends on how the world ends up being without us. Factors such as nuclear bombs, acid rain or exotic stuff like nanotechnology that could potentially wipe out our species, won't be too kind to copper either.

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"I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive." - Carl Sagan, 1995

My 1965 (or so) house is clad in asbestos sheeting.

When it finally does go, after the apocolypse, I hope the survivors leave it alone...


(It's also full of Rimu, a wood that is now prized and expensive, but in the old days was used the way Pinus Radiata is used now.)

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Measure once. Cut twice. Power tools are fun.

Plywood? You wish! It's all OSB (Oriented Strand Board, AKA flakeboard) today. Not near as good as plywood in my opinion.

My main house, built in 1980, has clear cedar siding with a 10" reveal. Probably cost $50,000 for the material today, if you could get it at all. New houses are sided with "composition" materials, consisting of sawdust & glue. Unless you spring for more to get the sawdust and cement ones.

I always thought it peculiar in Planet of the Apes that the Statue of Liberty was the only structure in all of New York to survive!

And for a real survivor, try the great pyramid. Around 5000 years old, if I recall correctly, and that's in spite of man's attentions more than because of them.

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Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant.

In the book "The World Without Us", the author does cover that houses in different climates will deteriorate based on those climate conditions. It's an interesting read - from what I can tell he did his homework. Scary about all the plastics though...

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A. Elk (Miss)

Plastic and styrofoam last ages. To deal with budget woes, we could have put a styrofoam plaque on New Horizons with the old Pioneer info and maybe some new stuff. (Would styrofoam survive being launched into space?)

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Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"The only way to explore the universe is to go and look." - Brian Cox
Well, the best way to find out is to go there and, find out. - Raven's Cry
'Evolution and science are one thing, but you don’t mess with Yoko Ono. Everybody knows that. ' - 386sx

I found this image last year or so off of BoingBoing. It's pretty interesting and the comments about the shoddy building materials of today's homes do color it a bit.

It will of course depends on where you live, but here at least they generally don't make houses like they used to, but they make them better and longer lasting than they used to. However, people may not realize this because of the survivor effect. The old houses that are still around were really either really well built to begin with or have been extensively renovated.

Is that some sort of Botox for copper sculpture?

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Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

After that will claws pop out of the backs of her hands?

Is that a slimy material? If so, she would have walked away anyway.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

No, I think that adamantine is the same as adamantium, the famously indestructable material from the Marvel Universe.

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Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"The only way to explore the universe is to go and look." - Brian Cox
Well, the best way to find out is to go there and, find out. - Raven's Cry
'Evolution and science are one thing, but you don’t mess with Yoko Ono. Everybody knows that. ' - 386sx

So would it make sense for similar future sculptures to be made out of Kevlar, or carbon-fiber panels or something like that? I mean, if you built one today, you wouldn't use copper would you?

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Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Adamantine is a chemical compound while adamantium is the actual element.