Researchers Hope to Better Predict World Events

Wake Forest University researchers are participating in a project aimed at better projecting upcoming world events.

Instead of using traditional experts, researchers are now enlisting about 1500 everyday citizens as part of a new crowdsourcing model. Wake Forest Associate Psychology Professor Eric Stone says researchers hope to one day better predict political uprisings, terrorist attacks, and even World Cup Winners.

Eric Stone: "To my knowledge nothing has ever taken such a comprehensive approach to forecasting. I’ve never seen this anywhere. We have experts from seven different universities, many of which who are the leading people in their field."
Stone says about 50 forecasts have been made in this initial wave of projections, adding it’s too early to determine how accurate they have been. He says the group wants to eventually project events more than a year out.