GENERAL
societal collapse
Why so much is going wrong at the same time
Lots of things are going wrong. Does that make it a polycrisis?
Global polycrisis: The causal mechanisms of crisis entanglement
with Michael Lawrence, Scott Janzwood, Johan Rockström, Ortwin Renn, and Jonathan F. Donges | Multiple global crises have recently linked together in ways that are significant in scope, devastating in effect, but poorly understood.
Earth’s Polycrisis Is No Mere Illusion
with Michael Lawrence and Scott Janzwood | The backlash against the "polycrisis" neologism is well under way. But the polycrisis idea can motivate urgent scientific investigation into the architecture of global crisis interaction.
What Happens When a Cascade of Crises Collide?
with Johan Rockström | Humanity faces a complex knot of seemingly distinct but entangled crises that are causing damage greater than the sum of their individual harms.
Putin isn’t bluffing about using nuclear weapons in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin is forcing the West to play a dangerous game of chicken, and he’s about to throw his steering wheel out the window.
Two things the West must do to lower the probability that Putin will pull the nuclear trigger
This time, 'Mutual Assured Destruction' might not work. The Russian leader has already shown extreme irrationality in his calamitous choice to start this war.
States of Emergency
By 2025, American democracy could collapse, causing extreme domestic political instability, including widespread civil violence. By 2030, if not sooner, the country could be governed by a right-wing dictatorship. How should Canada prepare?
Coronavirus will change the world. It might also lead to a better future
What’s happening in response to the worldwide spread of the SARS CoV-2 virus (and COVID-19, the disease it causes) is a vivid example of a global 'tipping event,' in which multiple social systems flip simultaneously to a distinctly new state.
How Western Civilization Could Collapse
by Rachel Nuwer | The political economist Benjamin Friedman once compared modern Western society to a stable bicycle whose wheels are kept spinning by economic growth. Should that forward-propelling motion slow or cease, the pillars that define our society would begin to teeter.
Ebola Epidemic Could Tear Societies Apart
World leaders finally seem to be waking up to the gravity of the Ebola threat. Like the rest of us, they’ve been distracted by the Islamic State’s rampage in Syria and Iraq, the Ukrainian crisis, and even the mini-drama of the Scottish independence referendum.
When Wise Words Are Not Enough
In two books that offer erudite assessments of the dangers facing humankind this century, Vaclav Smil and Chris Patten address these matters in sharply different ways.
Prepare Today for Tomorrow’s Breakdown
What causes societies to collapse, and are our modern societies at risk of collapse themselves?