Collapse of Complex Societies by Dr. Joseph Tainter (1 of 7)

http://localfuture.org The collapse of complex societies of the past can inform the present on the risks of collapse. Dr. Joseph Tainter, author of the book The Collapse of Complex societies, and featured in Leonardo Dicaprio's film The Eleventh Hour, details the factors that led to the collapse of past civilizations including the Roman Empire.

This is part 1 of 7 of a keynote talk delivered to the 2010 International Conference on Sustainability: Energy, Economy, and Environment organized by Local Future nonprofit and directed by Aaron Wissner.

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[tomludwig1]

the greatest battle for civilization is in developing ways to breakdown the u.s. goverment regime that supports the corporations that are polluting and destroying the earth.the war with terrorism is a farce compared to ttreat we face with the biosphere.we have been dependent on creating wars to fuel the economy.we need to start to manufacture new tech, end wars, clean up the worlds trash and filth by dismantleling goverment corruption that is bonded with corporate distructive giants.

[hammerware]

Very interesting! Upload other parts soon please!

[189643478]

There's a paradox in his lecture. On the one hand he says that the 2008 financial crisis was caused by too little regulation of the markets and on the other hand he correctly illustrates that government is still making the same mistakes as they did 2,000 years ago (inflation of the money supply). An institution that has a consistent report of failures for the last 2,000 years does not sound like the ones that I would give control over the economy...

[Admiralhall2000]

I think he's not picking on one particular civilization but looking at a general law of collapse. We could say the same thing about any nation invaded but he's not talking about that.

[Admiralhall2000]

The decline and fall of civilization has been underway since 1850.

[walter0bz]

money is just a symbol relating to real resources , energy transformed into various forms. a breakdown in the money supply is a symptom of another problem. His explanation is simple and compelling - rome grew through resouce surpluss from conquest, we grew through energy surpluss from fossil fuels; and both civilizations peak and decline once that surpluss dwindles.

[suedeslounge]

This guy is creating an overly complex explanation for a very simply problem. The thing that makes complexity possible in the first place is money. Money is what allows for the division of labor to take place. When you have a breakdown in the money supply, a breakdown in the division of labor takes place. A collapse is a situation where the division of labor within a society has imploded. Only a breakdown in the money supply can cause that to take place. The state is the destroyer of money

[chadberry75]

when were ready..2, kill each other..over a parking space..society, is pretty much..going down the drain..just saying ;) HAVA G'DAY. :0

[Knave Child]

I would argue that the financial crisis was engineered by a psychopathic elite at the top of the pyramid structure. Watch the "Esoteric Agenda".

[Knave Child]

Humanity's number one goal at the moment is to dismantle the criminal U.S. government to prevent them from initiating WW3 to cover up their crimes against the human race.

[TrajanaFortis]

Is it the US's fault that the world is corrupt? Did the US invent and monopolize evil? I suggest you do an objective study of history and you will see man has always been corrupt and self destructive. Despite the US's many many mistakes, hundreds of millions dream of coming to the US. Why? Because there is the rule of law and this is a meritocracy. Research what I wrote before you retort with something silly.

[Zockopa]

Neither the Minoans,the Hittites nor the Myceneans collapsed in itself under the

circumstances he describes. The Minoans declined after a natural desaster wiped out their

economic base and got invaded by the Myceneans later. Myceneans and Hitites got wiped

out by violent invaders who only could be stopped and eleminated by the only superpower of

the day: egypt. What followed was a true dark age of some hundred years.