Will humans survive the century?
Analysis
BBC
4.6 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 11 March 2019
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What is the chance of the human race surviving the 21st century? There are many dangers – climate change for example, or nuclear war, or a pandemic, or planet Earth being hit by a giant asteroid.
Around the world a number of research centres have sprung up to investigate and mitigate what’s called existential risk. How precarious is our civilisation and can we all play a part in preventing global catastrophe?
Contributors
Anders Sandberg, Future of Humanity Institute. Phil Torres, Future of Life Institute. Karin Kuhlemann, University College London. Simon Beard, Centre for Existential Risk. Lalitha Sundaram, Centre for Existential Risk. Seth Baum, Global Catastrophic Risk Institute.
Film clip: Armageddon, Touchstone Pictures (1998), Directed by Michael Bay.
Presented (cheerily) by David Edmonds. Producer: Diane Richardson
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.6 | My name's Linda Davies and I commission podcast for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.4 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable |
| 0:14.3 | experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC |
| 0:20.4 | makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, |
| 0:33.1 | find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.4 | Thanks for downloading analysis, the podcast about the ideas behind the news. |
| 0:41.7 | It'd be great if you could rate us wherever you get your |
| 0:44.4 | podcasts. Well at least it would be great if you think we're any good. What with the |
| 0:49.7 | endless Brexit process you may be feeling a little down, a little anxious. |
| 0:55.5 | So here's a program to bring a smile back to your face. |
| 0:59.0 | Will humans survive the century? What do you think the chances are? |
| 1:04.0 | Go on, have a guess. |
| 1:06.0 | I'm David Edmonds and it's a topic I've been investigating. |
| 1:25.2 | Well, I'm not going to sugar coat it. The next half hour won't be jolly. Not many laughs. But you may consider the topic relevant because it's about your possible annihilation and that of the species to which you belong. |
| 1:29.6 | There is certainly no law of nature, no law of anything that says that we will make it through the next century. |
| 1:38.0 | It could end up killing all of us and humans go extinct. |
| 1:43.6 | Do you find it easy to sleep at night? |
| 1:45.6 | No. |
| 1:47.6 | No. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.