{"id":56797,"date":"2021-02-15T08:46:02","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T13:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=56797"},"modified":"2021-02-15T08:46:46","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T13:46:46","slug":"panicking-about-societal-collapse-plunder-the-bookshelves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=56797","title":{"rendered":"Panicking about societal collapse? Plunder the bookshelves"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Panicking about societal collapse? Plunder the bookshelves<\/a><\/h3>\n
As civilization seems to be lurching towards a cliff edge, historical case studies are giving way to big data in authors\u2019 search for understanding.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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Monuments to resilience or collapse? The 800-year-old statues of Easter Island.<\/span>Credit: Andia\/Universal Images Group via Getty<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In case you missed it, the end is nigh. Ever since Jared Diamond published his hugely popular 2005 work\u00a0Collapse<\/i>, books on the same theme have been arriving with the frequency of palace coups in the late Roman Empire. Clearly, their authors are responding to a universal preoccupation with climate change, as well as to growing financial and political instability and a sense that civilization is lurching towards a cliff edge. Mention is also made of how big-data tools are shedding new light on historical questions. But do these books have anything useful to share? Any actionable points besides that on my coffee mug: \u201cNow panic and freak out\u201d?<\/p>\n