[scott kelly iss hurricane patricia]Twitter.com/Scott Kelly Early on in a 2012 report from the National Intelligence Council, essentially the US government's futurism department, is a bleak series of predictions for the year 2030. The report outlines six "black swans," a term coined by former Wall Street trader Nassim Taleb to describe events that deviate wildly from people's expectations and then get rationalized later on. The Internet and the attacks on September 11th are two well-known black swans. According to the NIC report, the black swans of 2030 could mean the end of civilized, modern society. They range from major economic collapse to natural disasters on a world-ending scale. They are worst-case scenarios. 1. SEVERE PANDEMIC Aurelie Marrier d'Unienville/AP A disease that kills or incapacitates just 1% of its victims "is among the most disruptive events possible," the NIC states. "Such an outbreak could result in millions of people suffering and dying in every corner of the world in less than six months." This isn't Ebola or Zika. This is multiple plagues happening all at once, all around the world. 2. RAPID CLIMATE CHANGE Reuters The big number in climate change is 2 degrees Celsius. Experts say that if the Earth warms by that amount, humanity will feel the full wrath of climate change: droughts, flooding, rising sea levels. Right now, estimates suggest we're hovering near 1.1 to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures. "Dramatic and unforeseen changes already are occurring at a faster rate than expected," the NIC states. "Rapid changes in precipitation patterns — such as monsoons in India and the rest of Asia — could sharply disrupt that region's ability to feed its population." 3. EURO/EU COLLAPSE REUTERS/Francois Lenoir The fate of the Eurozone, a 19-country experiment launched in 1999 featuring a brand-new currency, could rest with Greece. For several years now, the nation has expressed interest in exiting the Eurozone. It's a decision NIC says would have serious ripple effects through Europe and the rest of the world. "An unruly Greek exit from the Eurozone could cause eight times the collateral damage as the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, provoking a broader crisis regarding the EU's future," the report states. The prediction bears an uncanny similarity to Brexit, Britain's recent vote to leave the United Kingdom, which was also deemed a black swan and which economists say would inevitably rock global markets. SEE THE REST OF THE STORY AT BUSINESS INSIDER
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