DeExtinction
x = independently organized TED event

This event occurred on
March 15, 2013
8:00am - 6:00pm EDT
(UTC -4hrs)
Washington, District of Columbia
United States

Revive & Restore, with the support of TED and in partnership with National Geographic Society, convened a day-long conference to showcase the prospects of bringing extinct species back to life, along with a discussion of the ethical issues.

TEDxDeExtinction explored a bold topic: reviving extinct species and re-introducing them to the wild. Can it be done responsibly? Should it be done at all? The full-day conference brought together a diverse range of speakers to dive into the emerging idea of de-extinction.

Over the past two years, longtime TEDsters Stewart Brand and Ryan Phelan organized two private research workshops to dig into the practical side of the issue, and to explore whether molecular and conservation biologists were interested in working further on the idea. The success of these workshops proved to Brand and Phelan that the idea of de-extinction merited further exploration. Together they started Revive & Restore as a project within The Long Now Foundation.

TEDx provided an ideal platform to examine de-extinction through the ideas of its key players — conservationists, genetic technology practitioners, scientists involved with current species-revival projects, ethicists — and an exciting opportunity to explore the possibilities and boundaries of science.

TEDxDeExtinction was livestreamed free to the world with over 11,000 unigue viewers on that day.

Grosvenor Auditorium, National Geographic
1600 M Street, NW
Washington, District of Columbia, 20036
United States
See more ­T­E­Dx­De­Extinction events

Organizing team

Ryan
Phelan

Sausalito, CA, United States
Organizer

Stewart
Brand

Sausalito, CA, United States
Co-organizer
  • Kim Vassershteyn
    Project Coordinator