Joe Tainter: “Surplus, Complexity, and Simplification”
What are the key differences between complicated and complex? How can we better understand energy and society through these key distinctions?
Complex Societies
Society As Platform — A New Frontier in Complexity Science
Our evolved history as a species has not prepared us for what is happening now. It is time to start seeing culture as a complex system that evolves according to Darwinian principles.
Human Predators, Human Prey – Part 1
Could we use predator-prey relationships among widely divergent species in nature as a metaphor to help in understanding the behavior of people in complex human societies, in which some people gain at the expense of others?
The post-fact world and the need for a new consensus
Debate is no longer a means to find the truth by testing ideas against the questions and criticisms of other, it is mostly propaganda designed to win no matter what the truth is.
The End of Employment
Nothing is easier, as the Long Descent begins to pick up speed around us, than giving in to despair—and nothing is more pointless.
Self-organising societies
If we are to have any future society, it will be a more cooperative and self-organizing one.
Muddling Through and Unsung Heroes
Our future will involve a lot of just "muddling through" as our complex society starts to fall apart, and we must stay away from the "strong men" who will offer appealingly simple answers to complex problems.
The Schizophrenic Society
Lost in a make believe world while we destroy the real one.
Unsustainable Farming: From Bird Droppings to Corporate Agriculture
The discovery of new lands to exploit, and new energy sources, helped reinforce the notion that human societies can always find a way around limitations upon its growth.