Of the 45 million centuries of the Earth’s history, this one is very special. It is the first century that one species – us – hold the future of the planet in our hands. Humanity has reached a critical moment. Our world is unsettled and rapidly changing, and we face existential risks over the next century. The future of humanity is bound to the future of science and hinges on how successfully we harness technological advances to address our challenges. As a thought-leader on the topic, Martin explores these existential risks — ranging from asteroid impacts and solar flares, to supervolcanoes and natural pandemics, to anthropogenic climate change and biodiversity loss, to ‘error and terror’ dimensions of nuclear, biotechnology and AI — and the potential utopian and dystopian futures for humanity.

TED: Martin Rees - Can we prevent the end of the world?