‘Election disruption in the US and a signal from space’: Politico named possible unexpected events that could change the world in 2024

Experts have compiled a list of unexpected events that could happen in 2024 and have a global impact.

This information reported by Politico.

They consulted a range of futurists, technologists, historians, political scientists, foreign policy analysts and other experienced forecasters to predict what they term a “black swan” event. This term, coined by writer Nassim Taleb, refers to highly unpredictable and rare events that have significant consequences.

Jan Bremmer, President, and Founder of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media, believes that a possible “black swan” event could be the disruption of the U.S. elections. This disruption could result from cyberattacks, mass unrest, violent interference, or terrorism aimed at undermining the elections. He emphasizes that this would have a colossal impact on the world.

Alec Ross, a former senior official at the U.S. State Department during the Obama administration, suggests that a significant natural disaster, such as a powerful hurricane, could cause election disruptions. This view is echoed by Jacob Soll, a philosophy, history and accounting professor at the University of Southern California, who believes that if such an event occurred, some polling stations might be unable to function during elections, leading to total chaos. He notes that former U.S. President Donald Trump might claim that closing polling stations is an attempt at a coup and could even call on armed supporters to intervene.

Matthew Burrows, Head of the Strategic Foresight Program at the Stimson Center, suggests that a U.S.-China war could be another “black swan” event, particularly if Taiwan declares independence. He also posits the possibility of a financial crash in China, which could trigger a global recession.

Avi Loeb, the director-founder of the Black Hole Initiative at Harvard University and the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, raised the possibility of receiving a signal from extraterrestrial beings in 2024. According to him, the detection of something indicating “we are not alone in the universe” is just a matter of time.

Charlie Sykes, Editor-in-Chief of the Bulwark newspaper and host of the Bulwark podcast, proposes a “digital apocalypse” as a potential “black swan” event for 2024. He suggests that a global digital virus could strike, rendering computers and satellites inoperable for several days, attacking the global banking system and evaporating trillions of dollars of wealth.

Bill Scher, a POLITICO Magazine contributor, Washington Monthly political editor, and co-host of the DMZ podcast, contemplates the possibility of a revolution in Russia against President Vladimir Putin. He acknowledges that the opaque nature of the Kremlin makes it hard to gauge Putin’s weakening position, but a sudden end to his regime would alter many global political equations.

Other potential “black swan” events mentioned include a global conflict, Africa becoming a major player in a post-American world order, new climate catastrophes and significant disruptions due to global warming.