Money and Finance
Link to podcast: Episode 19: Joseph Tainter
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Related previous post: Collapse of Complex Societies by Dr. Joseph Tainter
Related book: The Collapse of Complex Societies
- The Jevons Paradox
I haven't read this yet, but if Vaclav Smil and Joseph Tainter both approve, it's a model worth having in one's head. Link to book: The Myth of Resource Efficiency: The Jevons Paradox'This book is the most comprehensive attempt at...
- Collapse Of Complex Societies By Dr. Joseph Tainter
Link ................. Related book: The Collapse of Complex Societies Related post: The Rise and Decline of Nations and Civilizations ...
- Problem Solving: Complexity, History, Sustainability - By Joseph Tainter
Sustainability or collapse follow from the success or failure of problem-solving institutions. The factors that lead to long-term success or failure in problem solving have received little attention, so that this fundamental activity is poorly understood....
- Bureaucracy And Overcomplexity: Apollo Asia Fund: The Manager's Report For 2q2011
In May, seeking a brief escape from markets and bureaucracy alike, I enjoyed a fascinating tour of Qinghai, the Chinese province which is part of Greater Tibet. I was interested to see how the gathering and trading of cordyceps has exploded in recent...
- Lunch With The Ft: Jared Diamond
Jared Diamond is the guru of collapse. Collapse is the title of one of the books that have made him a world-famous academic. It is a theme that captures the Zeitgeist: markets have collapsed, banks have collapsed and confidence, even in the capitalist...
Money and Finance
The Conversation talks with Joseph Tainter (2012)
Link to podcast: Episode 19: Joseph Tainter
Dr. Joseph Tainter is an anthropologist and historian who has studied collapse in numerous ancient civilizations and penned The Collapse of Complex Societies. This is our first deeply historical episode and Dr. Tainter begins by offering his definition of complexity and taking us through the story of Western Rome’s collapse. Extrapolating from the past, Dr. Tainter paints a dark scene of our possible future. In our conversation, he critiques the primitivism of John Zerzan, the transhumanism of Max More, and rains on the technological optimism heard in Ariel Waldman, Colin Camerer, and Gabriel Stempinski’s conversations. What are we left with? Not optimism, that is certain, but not pessimism, either. Perhaps Ragnarok? Interestingly, Dr. Tainter finds a ray of hope in education (which would probably peeve Andrew Keen and please Lisa Petrides) and speculates that teaching children to think on larger spatial and temporal scales might be our best way to evade collapse. Alexander Rose would almost certainly agree.
Related previous post: Collapse of Complex Societies by Dr. Joseph Tainter
Related book: The Collapse of Complex Societies
- The Jevons Paradox
I haven't read this yet, but if Vaclav Smil and Joseph Tainter both approve, it's a model worth having in one's head. Link to book: The Myth of Resource Efficiency: The Jevons Paradox'This book is the most comprehensive attempt at...
- Collapse Of Complex Societies By Dr. Joseph Tainter
Link ................. Related book: The Collapse of Complex Societies Related post: The Rise and Decline of Nations and Civilizations ...
- Problem Solving: Complexity, History, Sustainability - By Joseph Tainter
Sustainability or collapse follow from the success or failure of problem-solving institutions. The factors that lead to long-term success or failure in problem solving have received little attention, so that this fundamental activity is poorly understood....
- Bureaucracy And Overcomplexity: Apollo Asia Fund: The Manager's Report For 2q2011
In May, seeking a brief escape from markets and bureaucracy alike, I enjoyed a fascinating tour of Qinghai, the Chinese province which is part of Greater Tibet. I was interested to see how the gathering and trading of cordyceps has exploded in recent...
- Lunch With The Ft: Jared Diamond
Jared Diamond is the guru of collapse. Collapse is the title of one of the books that have made him a world-famous academic. It is a theme that captures the Zeitgeist: markets have collapsed, banks have collapsed and confidence, even in the capitalist...