Electrical Grid Collapse, Incoming Shipping Chaos, and AI Manipulation

Tipping Point Quick Hits (05.01.25)

Electrical Grid Collapse in Spain

Power has mostly been restored throughout Spain and Portugal, and parts of France, after a widespread power outage disrupted almost every aspect of life in those countries on Monday. This publication describes it:

Traffic lights went dark. Trains stopped. Businesses closed. And long lines formed at A.T.M.s and grocery stores, where credit card readers stopped working.

Travel was disrupted, hospitals and banks were effected, and daily life was halted for millions of people. The outage only lasted a few hours, but the fact that the cause is still being investigated has caught my attention:

Two days after one of Europe’s worst blackouts in decades plunged tens of millions of people across Spain and Portugal into darkness for up to 18 hours, officials from both countries emerged from hourslong meetings and gave little indication publicly that they were any closer to determining the cause.