Early Warning Signs for Critical Transitions

Professor Marten Scheffer of Wageningen University discusses his research on how to discern generic early-warning signals in complex systems that indicate a critical threshold is approaching. Such research is important because tipping points can cause a sudden shift to a contrasting dynamical regime.

Collapse of Complex Societies by Dr. Joseph Tainter

Collapse of Complex Societies by Dr. Joseph Tainter (2 of 7)


Collapse of Complex Societies by Dr. Joseph Tainter (3 of 7)


Collapse of Complex Societies by Dr. Joseph Tainter (4 of 7)


Collapse of Complex Societies by Dr. Joseph Tainter (5 of 7)


Collapse of Complex Societies by Dr. Joseph Tainter (6 of 7)


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

newculture

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.

Keynote talk delivered to the 2010 International Conference on Sustainability: Energy, Economy, and Environment organized by Local Future nonprofit and directed by Aaron Wissner.

Joseph Tainter Interview with Jim Puplava

fsnewshour

Political disintegration is a persistent feature of world history. The Collapse of Complex Societies, though written by an archaeologist, will therefore strike a chord throughout the social sciences. Any explanation of societal collapse carries lessons not just for the study of ancient societies, but for the members of all such societies in both the present and future. Dr. Tainter describes nearly two dozen cases of collapse and reviews more than 2000 years of explanations. He then develops a new and far-reaching theory that accounts for collapse among diverse kinds of societies, evaluating his model and clarifying the processes of disintegration by detailed studies of the Roman, Mayan and Chacoan collapses.