What If Nothing Decomposed? | Unveiled

What If Nothing Decomposed?

The cycles of life and death are central to the way that Earth works. Lifespans differ between all living things, but eventually - almost always - organic matter is in some way reclaimed by our planet, and redistributed. But what would happen if the science of all that just… stopped?

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; what if nothing decomposed?

Decomposition is what happens to once-living, organic things when they die. It’s the breaking down of the flesh of those things into simpler and simpler materials, until eventually it’s as though what was once there has disappeared. Really, though, the previously complex organic matter has been siphoned off (via decomposition) into other substances - including water and sugar - and spread back into the biosphere.

The dead body of an animal begins decomposition as soon as that animal has died, although speeds from then on differ depending on a number of variables - most notably the external environment. Meanwhile, there are some living things that effectively feed off of dead things, as part of the decomposition process, including some insects, worms, bacteria, and fungi. These are known as detritivores, or decomposers. Again, then, the place of death within the cycle of life is clear. It can even be said that death contributes to life on Earth, as a whole. During decomposition, dead things are converted into new organic compounds, often to renourish the surrounding soil, the ground and the world in general.

Short of magically throwing our entire planet into a giant and fantastically cold freezer… and just watching the life that was alive freeze in place forever… there’s nothing that could happen in reality to suddenly prevent decomposition on Earth. If decomposition were to be halted, however, via the toggling off of some sort of god-like super-switch, then life ‘round here would certainly be different. If things still lived until they died but then didn’t rot, decay and perish into apparent nothingness, the view outside your window right now, for one, would be vastly different.

Trees and plants, as they are, hold their shape thanks to human intervention (cutting and pruning, etc.) but also thanks to natural change. Green leaves turn brown, die and fall from their branches, gradually mulch on the ground below, and eventually disintegrate - repurposed by the environment. It’s such a fact of life, a sign of the seasons, that no-one really questions it. But what if leaves didn’t do that? They might still, gradually, fall from the trees via wind or rain, but what if they didn’t compost on the ground below, but rather just piled up and up? Before long, we’d be swimming in leaves, if the dead ones didn’t decompose.

What if dead animals retained their form, as well? We might still bury our pets out of sight and out of mind, but what happens to the rest of the animal kingdom? Predators and scavengers would still need to eat, and in fact would have more to choose from than ever before, with dead meat essentially having no “sell-by date” anymore. The flesh of a prey needn’t be “freshly caught”, as in a world with no decomposition it would just stay fresh forever.

Before long, our infrastructure would surely suffer. In another, closely-linked what if scenario, we might’ve asked what would happen if everything lived forever? And one of the most often-cited answers is that nature would eventually reclaim the cities. Trees would grow around and through buildings. Mushrooms would break out beneath roads. And all the artificial industries of humankind would quickly struggle to cope. Nature would eventually win out. And something similar could take place here, in a post-decomposition world. Piles and piles of fallen branches, leaves, whole trees, birds, animals, whole ecosystems just stacking up and up with nowhere to go. It all makes for a pretty unique and definitely bleak alternate world dystopia.

The question of what to do with the dead would take an all new direction, too. Today, with humans, although customs differ around the world, the most popular options remain burial and cremation. Burial might still be an option for a short time without decomposition… but, not for long. Even in the real world, there’s some debate about finding the space for burials, with traditional locations - such as churchyards and cemeteries - apparently “filling up”. Without the knowledge that bodies are at least decomposing into the ground, however, the issue takes another shape. Cremation, on the other hand, might well head the opposite way, and be used more and more. In fact, crematoriums would likely become very significant locations. Without natural decomposition, it would be an unending industrial project to clear dead matter away and dispose of it. An around the clock job, when you consider everything that would need to be dealt with. With even weeds and leaves needing to be fed to the fire, it’s another image that contributes to a quite disturbing picture of what life would be like.

Would there be (could there be) any advantages in such a world? Emotionally, morally, practically and aesthetically speaking, probably not. But scientifically, perhaps. Researchers would essentially have a constant stream of new material to study. With millions of brains automatically preserved, for example, it could be that the mysteries of the brain are solved much quicker. With billions of organs kept just as they were, the business of transplants would never run out of options. As the wood from trees would never go bad, it might also mean more building materials to source. Clearly, the darkness doesn’t lift for long, though… with the idea of mass body storage facilities bringing to mind yet more unsettling possibilities.

It’s been estimated that just over one hundred billion people have ever lived. Around eight billion of them, or about seven-and-a-half percent, are alive right now. Consider what it could mean, then, had the bodies of no-one decomposed… through the hundreds of thousands of years of human history. The number of animals in general to have ever lived is frankly impossible to calculate… and the number of leaves, or blades of grass, is just laughable to imagine. Under such staggering numbers, even the physical makeup of Earth itself would have developed in a completely different way… had nothing ever decayed. The layers of rock and silt that we use to determine prehistoric eras wouldn’t have formed in the same way. The convection currents in Earth’s molten mantle wouldn’t have the same fundamental makeup. Above ground, the atmosphere would have developed wholly differently, too, without the true cycle of life and death to build around.

So, what’s your verdict? What would you predict for how this alternate world could play out? Ultimately - and thankfully - this is just a purely hypothetical prospect. The natural processes on Earth are here to stay, and although modern science is forever striving toward extending life and even achieving immortality… and although we can now preserve selected dead things for a long time… decomposition is an ingrained part of what keeps this planet ticking over. As gruesome as it might seem on the surface, without it we’d be lost. The decay really does bring new life to follow.

Perhaps somewhere in a potentially limitless universe there does exist a place where rot doesn’t set in, where decay doesn’t happen… a bizarre and disconcerting place where death is still the end of life, but it isn’t the end of that life’s physical matter. Perhaps, but most of modern science suggests… probably not. Nevertheless, that’s what would happen if nothing decomposed.