What was Claimed
A 2001 NASA presentation outlined the agency’s plan for a mass extinction event.
Our Verdict
False. The presentation was about potential future defence technologies.
AAP FACTCHECK - A decades-old NASA presentation details the agency's plans to “play a leading role” in a mass extinction event in 2025, according to an article doing the rounds on social media.
This is false. The presentation was part of an event aimed at considering what defence technologies may be used in 2025 based on trends at the time.
The claim appears in an article published by The People’s Voice, which AAP FactCheck has debunked numerous times.
The article's headline reads: “Official NASA Documents Confirm Plans For Mass Extinction Event in 2025”.
The article continues: "Official NASA documents reveal the agency has been preparing for decades to play a leading role in a mass extinction event in 2025 that will lead to the collapse of civilization and the depopulation of the majority of people on planet earth."
It cites a 2001 NASA presentation titled “Future Strategic Issues/Future Warfare [Circa 2025]”.
One Facebook user shared the headline with the caption: “Well this is scary for the human race. It’s on the NASA website with the forked serpent tongue.”
Another said: “NASA Must Be Defunded”.
However, the 2001 presentation does not mention any preparations by NASA or plans of “mass extinction”.
Instead, it presents a strategic analysis discussing emerging technologies and the potential impacts they will have on warfare and society by 2025.
Presented by then-NASA Chief Scientist Dennis Bushnell, the 113 slides cover topics such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology and nanotechnology.
One of the opening slides clearly states that the goal of the presentation is to "incite thought/discussion”.
The People’s Voice article also features an image supposedly of a page from the presentation.
The page features the headline "depopulation plans for 2025".
However, the page does not appear in the 113 slides, and appears to be AI-generated.
This is evidenced by the garbled words at the top of the document, a common trait of AI-generated content.
A NASA spokesperson told AAP FactCheck the 2001 presentation had become part of a recurring conspiracy theory.
“The purpose of his (Dennis Bushnell's) session was to foster thought and discussion by asking the audience to imagine what defense technologies may be developed in the future, and in this case, in 2025, based on the trends at the time,” the spokesperson said.
“The presentation is not a planning document, and the content within the presentation does not represent any current or future plans by NASA.”
The Verdict
False – The claim is inaccurate.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
