8 ways the world could suddenly end: Stephen Petranek at TEDxMidwest

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Published 2014-03-11

Unintentional "Dark Futurist", Stephen Petranek, re-visits the subject matter of his original eleven year old TED Talk and offers the audience an extraordinarily sobering look at the eight critical issues that threaten human life on Earth.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

All Comments (21)

@garrettbarton5240 4 years ago

Who's watching this during the corona virus?
@ImAlanSinclair 3 years ago

Well this aged really well
@JFTIII 2 years ago

Dang. I'm only at #8 and Stephan has just described our last 2 years.
@jwh0122 2 years ago

2:46 pandemic 6:52 the sun brightens (unavoidable) 9:09 we develop a new life form 11:50 robots take over 12:25 a lot of volcanoes go off (unavoidable) 14:54 runaway greenhouse 17:07 nuclear war 18:28 asteroid
@singh_mk 4 years ago

The YouTube algorithm is much more intelligent than we think
@gabrielvandijk69 3 years ago

when this goes from a possible disaster list to a checklist.
@dianemitchell1717 1 year ago

Now I know where the screenplay for UP came from. I am glad I am 82 but fear for the world to come for my sons and grand kids. Great, informative talk.
@shav972 2 years ago

the whole time i was hoping he’d play that piano
@unstablefusion3 4 years ago

“3 different waves, pretty much about 6 months apart” Get ready
@getthisbovineoffmylawn 4 years ago

This hits different in 2020.
@AkiMatti 1 year ago

Here in 2022, this feels like he was too optimistic.
@Kylepersonal 2 years ago

Ah, finally something on YouTube relaxing and easy to watch.
@imsavage2449 3 years ago

2020: Nice ideas lets put them to the test
@mimiccave 5 years ago

Me: I need to reduce my anxiety Youtube: '8 ways the world could suddenly end' Me: Oh hey cool, I'll click on that
@HaileyAndTheArt 2 years ago

It's wild that this was uploaded 8 years ago. It's scary how accurate a lot of his predictions are regarding a world wide pandemic.
@ZacD 1 year ago

I love his approach to how something went negative for him, don't hide from it, talk about it and challenge it, it's great
@wickedpissa25 4 years ago

Every disaster starts with a politician ignoring a scientist.
@TheFace3701 4 years ago

2014: "Pandemic? This isn't a movie. It'll never happen." 2020: "Pandemic! This is like a movie! I can believe this is happening!"
@bvashisht9283 3 years ago

He predicted the corona, and it's place of origin!
@janettomlin950 2 months ago

Keep preaching 😊 thanks very much 🎉