The Simpsons emblem, usually linked to eerie predictions, was falsely credited with foreseeing Europe’s latest blackout.
Credit score : darksoul72, Shutterstock
Europe’s huge blackout sparked loads of panic — and much more conspiracy theories. However earlier than you blame The Simpsons for predicting one more catastrophe, right here’s what truly occurred.
Large blackout plunges Spain, Portugal and France into darkness
On Sunday 28 April, big elements of Spain, Portugal, and southern France have been hit by sudden energy cuts, leaving airports, hospitals and places of work scrambling.
Specialists say all of it got here all the way down to a grid overload. With the rising dependence on unstable inexperienced vitality and a transparent lack of backup programs, the electrical energy community merely couldn’t sustain. The end result? Main disruption throughout very important providers and hundreds of individuals left fairly actually at nighttime.
Did The Simpsons predict Europe’s blackout? The viral hearsay defined
Shortly after the lights went out, the web lit up with claims that The Simpsons had predicted all of it years in the past.
One video pointed to a supposed 1998 episode referred to as ‘The Final Day of Springfield’, whereas one other talked about an episode titled ‘Final Day of Civilisation’ — each claiming the present warned of a worldwide blackout taking place on 30 April.
There’s only one downside: none of those episodes exist.
The viral clips doing the rounds have been AI-generated — sensible sufficient to idiot hundreds however utterly faux.
Certain, The Simpsons has featured a number of blackouts over time, like in Season 35’s Thanksgiving episode or the basic “Blackout in Springfield” from Season 13. However predicting Europe’s real-life energy failure? Completely not.
How AI fuels panic: why faux tales unfold throughout crises
It’s not the primary time — and it received’t be the final — that AI-created movies have stirred up confusion after a significant occasion.
With feelings working excessive and other people determined for solutions, it’s all too simple to imagine one thing that appears convincing at first look.
However in actuality, this blackout had very human causes: fragile infrastructure, overloaded grids, and a troublesome balancing act between previous programs and new vitality sources. No crystal ball wanted — only a reminder that when the lights exit, it’s usually our personal errors that come to mild.