6 disastrous 'black swan' events that could happen by 2030

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.