Will humans become extinct by the end of the century?

The Inquiry

• Episode: Will humans become extinct by the end of the century?
• Website: The Inquiry
• Feed URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p029399x/episodes/downloads.rss
• Duration: 00:23:50
• Published: 2020-01-02 04:30

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 what can be done to stop a global catastrophe? David Edmonds talks to four expert witnesses to try and find the answer.

(Apocalyptic landscape. Credit: Santoelia/ Getty images)