What If All The Insects Disappeared?
|| Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay ||
In this series of open-ended questions we will explore with the Ask.Steem Community hypothetical questions prefaced with the words "What if".
The questions will delve into the infinite possibilities stretching from the highly improbable (but possible) to the highly probable. When the mind is stretched to think in that manner, it becomes the hotbed for new ideas, hypotheses, theories, discoveries and inventions. The world we live in and the conveniences we take for granted are largely the by-products of the imaginary adventures our forefathers undertook after having asked countless hypothetical "What if" questions.
We will also explore the scenario analysis known as 'Counterfactual Thinking' - analyzing the possible alternative scenarios instead of those that happened. What events would have followed if something didn't happen or something else had happened? Questions like, "What if Japan won in World War II ?" "What if Hitler believed in ahimsa, like Mahatma Gandhi? "What if President John F Kennedy was not assassinated on November 22, 1963?"
The process will encourage you to think critically and creatively out of box, however ridiculous it may be. It could be both educational and fun.
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First things that come to mind: soil would be quickly decimated. Without the many insects that are relied on for their decomposition powers and place in the soil food web, most soils would lose their nutrients and structures quickly.
Birds populations would suffer immensely and quickly with the loss of insects as a source of food.
So, so many crops and plants would be completely lost without bees to pollinate them.
Basically, it'd be bad!
Thanks for your answers @metaphortune, As you pointed out it would be bad. It would, however, be hard to predict the intensity of these consequences, their sequence and their timelines.
This question was inspired by this post in Business Insider, which illustrates some of the possible and would-be scenarios.
One interesting follow-up question we could ask is: What could possibly cause all the insects to vanish? What do you think?
That will be a sign of imminent doomsday!