Did The Simpsons Predict Something Coming This Nov?

The Simpsons Blackout Theory

The video examines a viral theory that The Simpsons predicted a major November blackout. In the episode “It’s a Blunderful Life,” set 60 years in the future, Lisa tells her family they light a Thanksgiving candle in memory of a Springfield power failure.

The outage is initially blamed on Homer, but the episode reveals that Mr. Burns caused it by overloading an outlet while plugging in a phone. The scene’s bleak jokes include the government being unable to help itself and Lisa’s family being offered “hunger or squid” games to distract them.

People online also point to other details from the episode as supposed predictions, including 3D-printed food, delivery robots, and AI taking over jobs.

Other Blackout Parallels

The video compares the November blackout scenario with several other works:

• The German series Blackout, in which a cyberattack cripples Europe.
• Leave the World Behind, which features cascading social breakdown and self-driving cars.
• American Horror Story: 13, whose story includes a plane crash on Friday, November 13, 2026.

It also mentions a satirical paper from 1960 that arrived at the same date when calculating a theoretical population limit.

Real-World Context

The presenter cautions that viral “Simpsons predictions” are often exaggerated. One real precedent for a major outage was the 1965 Northeast blackout, which plunged millions into darkness after a faulty relay triggered a cascading grid failure. The video suggests that events like this may have inspired the episode.

Hyperstition and Fiction

The video’s broader idea is hyperstition: the possibility that a fictional idea can influence people enough to help bring something like it into reality. The presenter uses the spread of the word “cyberspace” and science-fiction gadgets resembling later technology as examples, while leaving open whether the Simpsons theory is meaningful or merely coincidence.

The video also revisits the show’s Trump storyline and Lisa’s later presidency, then connects the idea of hyperstition to recent themed advertisements.

People and Characters Discussed

Lisa Simpson, Homer Simpson, Mr. Burns, Mr. Nas, Ben Doto, Nick Land, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Kamala Harris.