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Why Complex Systems Collapse Faster

August 19, 2022

Why Complex Systems Collapse Faster All civilizations collapse. The challenge is how to slow it down enough to prolong our happiness. Temple of the Great Jaguar, GuatemalaDENNIS JARVIS During the first century of our era, the Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca wrote to his friend Lucilius that life would be much happier if things would […]

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Destroyed by its own Propaganda: How Italy Lost World War II

Destroyed by its own Propaganda: How Italy Lost World War II Someday, someone will write a history of the covert psyops of the 20th and 21st centuries. It will surely be a difficult story to unravel, because they are, indeed “covert operations.” Yet, it is not impossible to detect certain patterns that repeat all over […]

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How to keep gasoline prices low by bombing your gas station

January 10, 2022

How to keep gasoline prices low by bombing your gas station An Italian fighter plane (note the “fasci” symbols on the wings) shot down in England in November 1940 during the bombing campaign mounted by the Italian Air Force during WW2 (source). Sending obsolete biplanes with open cockpits against the modern British Spitfires is one […]

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The Death of Ahmed Zaki Yamani, the “Oil Sheik” who Understood Everything

The Death of Ahmed Zaki Yamani, the “Oil Sheik” who Understood Everything Ahmed Zaki Yamani, oil minister of Saudi Arabia until 1986, died in London last week. In memory of the “oil sheik,” I reproduce here a comment that appeared on the ASPO-Italia blog in 2006. The interview of Yamani by Oriana Fallaci in 1976 is a good example of […]

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Seneca and the Virus: Why does the Pandemic Grow and Decline?

Seneca and the Virus: Why does the Pandemic Grow and Decline? Seneca, the Roman philosopher, knew the term “virus,” that for him had the meaning of our term “poison.” But of course, he had no idea that a virus, intended in the modern sense, was a microscopic creature reproducing inside host cell. He also […]

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The End of the Megamachine: A Seneca Cliff, by any Other Name, Would Still be so Steep.

February 18, 2021

The End of the Megamachine: A Seneca Cliff, by any Other Name, Would Still be so Steep. Our civilization seems to be acutely aware of an impending decline that nowadays is rapidly taking the shape of a collapse. It is still officially denied, but the idea is there and it appears in those corners of […]

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Why the Hummingbird is the Most Dangerous Animal in the World

February 12, 2021

Why the Hummingbird is the Most Dangerous Animal in the World This is a revised translation of a post that I published in Italian a couple of years ago. The concept that the Hummingbird is NOT a good example of how to deal with the problems we have is also explained in some detail in […]

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The Art of War According to the Science of Complex Systems: The Seneca Cliff as a strategic weapon

October 4, 2019

The Art of War According to the Science of Complex Systems: The Seneca Cliff as a strategic weapon Music has always been part of the war effort: a way to build up network connections in such a way to make the fighting system more resilient and more effective. Here, an especially effective version: “The Sacred […]

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The Stuff of Our Lives: The Seneca Collapse of Relocating

The Stuff of Our Lives: The Seneca Collapse of Relocating The experience of relocating is curiously similar to an archaeological excavation of the ruins of a disappeared empire. Above, you can see two jars filled with old coins recovered from the nook and crannies of my house after emptying it of everything. Mostly these are […]

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The Seneca Effect in Six Easy Steps

November 30, 2018

The Seneca Effect in Six Easy Steps Image by Roman Pfeffer

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The Fall of Empires Explained in 10 Minutes

October 21, 2018

The Fall of Empires Explained in 10 Minutes This is the presentation I gave to the meeting for the 50th anniversary of the Club of Rome on Oct 18th in Rome. The gist of the idea is that the fall of ancient civilizations, such as the Roman Empire, can be described with the same models […]

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Five Things You Should Know About Collapse

Five Things You Should Know About Collapse The Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca was perhaps the first in history to identify and discuss collapse and to note that “the way to ruin is rapid.” From Seneca’s idea, Ugo Bardi coined the term “Seneca Effect” to describe all cases where things go bad fast and used […]

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The Seneca Ruin of the Dinosaurs – a Report from Berlin

The Seneca Ruin of the Dinosaurs – a Report from Berlin The death of the dinosaurs as shown in the 1940 movie “Fantasia” by Walt Disney. An incredibly powerful and moving scene – a true Seneca ruin for the poor creatures walking in a hot and dry landscape. This scene is also reasonably realistic: at […]

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The View from Les Houches: The Seneca Collapse

The View from Les Houches: The Seneca Collapse I gave a presentation focused on the Seneca Effect at the School of Physics in Les Houches this March. Here I show various concepts associated with overshoot and collapse with the help of “Amelie the Amoeba” (This picture was not taken in Les Houches, but in an […]

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The Seneca Effect: a Book Review by Jantje Hannover

January 12, 2018

The Seneca Effect: a Book Review by Jantje Hannover This is a review of the German edition of “The Seneca Effect” written by Jantie Hannover for the site of the radio station “Deutschelandfunk.” Very well done by someone who really read the book. Here I report a translation made mainly using “Google Translate,” and also […]

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