09 AUG 2014 by ideonexus
Insulation of Elites Compounds Societal Collapse
The scenarios most closely reflecting the reality of our world today are found in the third group of experiments (see the scenarios for an unequal society in section 5.3), where we introduced economic stratication. Under such conditions, we nd that collapse is dicult to avoid, which helps to explain why economic stratication is one of the elements consistently found in past collapsed societies. Importantly, in the rst of these unequal society scenarios, 5.3.1, the solution appears to be on a ...09 AUG 2014 by ideonexus
Two Kinds of Societal Collapse
Running the model in dierent scenarios produces two kinds of collapses, either due to scarcity
of labor (following an inequality-induced famine) or due to scarcity of Nature (depletion of natural
resources). We categorize the former case as a Type-L (Disappearance of Labor) Collapse and
the latter as a Type-N collapse (Exhaustion of Nature). In a Type-L collapse, growth of the
Elite Population strains availability of resources for the Commoners. This causes decline of the
Commoner Population ...09 AUG 2014 by ideonexus
Collapse is a Recurrent Phenomenon in Societies
The Roman Empire's dramatic collapse (followed by many centuries of population decline, economic deterioration, intellectual regression, and the disappearance of literacy) is well known, but it was not the rst rise-and-collapse cycle in Europe. Prior to the rise of Classical Greco- Roman civilization, both the Minoan and Mycenaean Civilizations had each risen, reached very advanced levels of civilization, and then collapsed virtually completely [Morris, 2006; Redman, 1999]. The history of Mes...30 MAR 2011 by ideonexus
Museums for Rebooting Civilization
"You don't see the point of a museum, Horst. It's for the next rise in the Cycles. Savages come to put together another civilization. The faster they can do it, the longer it'll be before another collapse because they'll be expanding their capabilities faster than the population. See? So the savages get their choice of a number of previous civilizations, and -the weapons to put a new one into action. You noticed the lock?"
"I did," said Potter. "You need some astronomy to solve it. I presume...An alien species that suffers regular collapses of civilization due to overpopulation keeps their museums out in the middle of nowhere and under bomb-proof domes to protect their contents so future savages may rediscover them and rebuild from their predecessors.