ENGLISH

Immoderate Greatness Why Civilizations Fail

By William Ophuls

Book information

Publisher
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Year
2012
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
762 kB (779962 bytes)
Pages
\114
Time added
2016-09-28 22:24:10

Description

«Immoderate Greatness» explains how a civilization’s very magnitude conspires against it to cause downfall. Civilizations are hard-wired for self-destruction. They travel an arc from initial success to terminal decay and ultimate collapse due to intrinsic, inescapable biophysical limits combined with an inexorable trend toward moral decay and practical failure. Because our own civilization is global, its collapse will also be global, as well as uniquely devastating owing to the immensity of its population, complexity, and consumption. To avoid the common fate of all past civilizations will require a radical change in our ethos—to wit, the deliberate renunciation of greatness—lest we precipitate a dark age in which the arts and adornments of civilization are partially or completely lost.

Similar books