The limits to growth

Short time before the first oil crisis, the Roman club, commissioned the MIT to prepare a report about the limits of growth. This report has been updated along the years. It analizes the incapacity of the Earth to support a continuous growing  we have experienced during the last fifty years. It talks about the insustainability of the growing system which rules our planet and our economy. 

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Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

The book written by Jared Diamon, 'Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed' deals with societal collapses involving an environmental component, and in some cases also contributions of climate change, hostile neighbors, and trade partners, plus questions of societal responses.

In writing the book Diamond intended that its readers should learn from history

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Societal collapse

Along the ages many cultures, people and societies have dissaparead. They collapsed. Joseph Tainter analize in his book "Collapse of Complex Societies" how societies becomes more complex trying to solve their problems. How they tend to develop layers of bureaucracy, infrastructure, or social class to address the challenge. Tainter, who first (ch. 1) identifies seventeen examples of rapid collapse of societies, applies his model to three case studies: The Western Roman Empire, the Maya civilization, and the Chaco culture.

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Toynbee Theory

A Study of History is the 12-volume magnum opus of British historian Arnold J. Toynbee, finished in 1961, in which the author traces the development and decay of all of the major world civilizations in the historical record. Toynbee applies his model to each of these civilizations, detailing the stages through which they all pass: genesis, growth, time of troubles, universal state, and disintegration.

He argues that the breakdown of civilizations is not caused by loss of control over the environment, over the human environment, or attacks from outside. Rather, it comes from the deterioration of the "Creative Minority," which eventually ceases to be creative and degenerates into merely a "Dominant Minority" (who forces the majority to obey without meriting obedience). He argues that creative minorities deteriorate due to a worship of their "former self," by which they become prideful, and fail to adequately address the next challenge they face.

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Olduvai Theory

The Olduvai theory states that industrial civilization (as defined by per capita energy production) will have a lifetime of less than or equal to 100 years (1930-2030). The theory provides a quantitative basis of the transient-pulse theory of modern civilization. From 2030 on, Humanity would return step by step to previous levels of civilization, ending in one thousand years (3.000 a.C.) with a hunting-culture based as the one that existed in the Earth three millions years ago.

This theory was stated by Richard C. Duncan based upon his experience in energy sources and his passion over archeology.

Industrial Civilization is defined in Duncan's paper as the time approximately from when energy production per capita rises from 37% of the peak value to when it falls to below 37% of its peak value (1930-2030) i.e. the peak in energy production per capita is in between these two endpoints and these two endpoints have values of 37% of the peak value.

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Media blackout

Another way to refer to the media censorship. Usually this term is used when the censorship relates to a certain topic that has been blocked by the media or relates to some Government censorship over specific information, as it happend during the droppings of atomic bombs in Hiroshima, or in the UK during the Second World War.

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'Blackout. The outage'

In the next months, the Blackout, will see light.

We will keep you informed about where to find it.