Advances in complex networks theory and modeling along with access to new data will enable humans to achieve true predictive power in areas never before imagined, Indiana University’s Alessandro Vespignani believes.

We will one day predict with unprecedented foresight, specificity and scale such things as the economic and social effects of billions of new Internet users in China and India, or the exact location and number of airline flights to cancel around the world in order to halt the spread of a pandemic.