Wondering just how human society might collapse into chaos and cannibalism this year? Want to know what the chances are of, say, a cyclone, and how it might relate to an asset price collapse and food price volatility? The World Economic Forum, the masters of the universe who put together those glamorous conferences in Davos, have provided a snappy infographic to tell you the odds, and economic impact, of various economic, social, environmental, geopolitical, and technological catastrophes (via datavisualization.ch).
It's actually a pretty well-constructed infographic. You may not understand the world much better after seeing it, but it's nicely interactive – you can play around with all the different potential causes of global upheaval, see how they relate to each other, and see the (essentially arbitrary) probabilities the WEF has assigned to each.
Just something to brighten your Tuesday.
-- Paul Waldman
