Current Events > Thanos' finger snap should have killed very few people

(+) Yeah! (+)

If you were to randomly pick half of every living organism in the universe, the likelihood of even a single human being chosen is extremely low. Those unfortunate enough to be chosen would be bacteria, insects and plants, which collectively outnumber us by quite a lot. Heck, bacteria alone.

Yeah but that wouldn't be any fun

I think he snapped half of every species.

sabin017 posted...

I think he snapped half of every species.

Yeah, like the intent was half the population of every species.

It would average at half of every species, wouldn't it? Even if half of humanity was wiped out, it was still far fewer deaths than microbes.

Bandit_Keith posted...

Yeah, like the intent was half the population of every species.

And wiping out half of plants, microbes and fungi would have far greater bad effects. Nitrogen cycle? Oxygen production? Decomposition? It would wreck the ecology and kill a lot of those left.

Verdekal posted...

And wiping out half of plants, microbes and fungi would have far greater bad effects. Nitrogen cycle? Oxygen production? Decomposition? It would wreck the ecology and kill a lot of those left.

Yeah, which is why the Internet said, "why not just double all resources?"

Is it better explained in the comics exactly how it works? And if Thanos philosophy is roughly half or strictly, exactly, half? Because the snap could either assign every life form a number and then pick exactly half those numbers like a lottery, or alternatively, every life form has a 50/50 chance of dying - in which case it wouldnt be exactly half, but average closer to it the larger the sample size (and the entire universe is obviously a very large sample).

And yes, there would be a lot of additional deaths caused by people randomly disappearing. Pilots in flight are just the beginning.

Bandit_Keith posted...

Yeah, which is why the Internet said, "why not just double all resources?"

From what Ive heard his motive in the comics wasnt to combat unchecked population growth but simply to impress Death or something?

Even if it was to combat overpopulation that 50% would be back to problematic levels within another couple of generations. And he definitely didnt plan on doing it every two or three generations

Dark_Arbron posted...

From what Ive heard his motive in the comics wasnt to combat unchecked population growth but simply to impress Death or something?

Yes. He was trying to get her to date him. That's why the after credits of the first Avengers has him grin when the mouth dude says that fighting humans is to "court death."

The far funnier thing he does is basically make a female version of himself that's madly in love with him to try and make Death jealous lol
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/9d27f1cc.jpg

Dark_Arbron posted...

Even if it was to combat overpopulation that 50% would be back to problematic levels within another couple of generations. And he definitely didnt plan on doing it every two or three generations

Here's the thing. Thanos is just insane. His plan is not meant to be taken seriously. When his planet died, it broke him. He became convinced that everyone and everything would have been just fine if they'd only listened to him. He isn't really trying to make the universe a better place, he's trying to convince a bunch of dead Titans that he was right.