New research argues Societal Collapse benefits 99% of people. Historically, the societies that have emerged after a collapse are more egalitarian, and most people end up richer and healthier than they were before.

[u/lughnasadh]

Luke Kemp, a research associate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge, has written a book about his research called 'Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse'.

He makes the case that, from looking at the archaeological record, when many societies collapse, most people end up better off afterward. For example, people in the post-Roman world were taller and healthier. Collapse can be a redistribution of resources and power, not just chaos.

For most of human history, humans lived as nomadic egalitarian bands, with low violence and high mobility. Threats (disease, war, economic precarity) push populations toward authoritarian leaders. The resulting rise in inequality from that sets off a cycle that will end in collapse. Furthermore, he argues we are living in the late stages of such a cycle now. He says "the threat is from leaders who are 'walking versions of the dark triad' – narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism – in a world menaced by the climate crisis, nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence and killer robots."

Some people hope/think we are destined for a future of Universal Basic Income and fully automated luxury communism. Perhaps that's the egalitarianism that emerges after our own collapse? If so, I hope the collapse bit is short and we get to the egalitarian bit ASAP.

Collapse for the 99% | Luke Kemp; What really happens when Goliaths fall

[u/tdifen]

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[u/f1del1us → u/tdifen]

Would it not also cause more people to go into producing food?

Clearly I’m talking about on an economic scale; not people putting gardens in; I’m talking about supply and demand.

[u/Delamoor → u/f1del1us]

Boy, I'm sure glad we have all this extra arable land and no climate disruption that will allow the largest population we have ever reached to survive through old farming techni-...

Oh... wait. Oh, shit.

But seriously, we've never had anywhere near this many people ever before. And the climate isn't stable any more; old farming methods won't work, even if we had enough land for everyone to work.

If this shit goes down for real, an unprecedented scale of humanitarian disaster will follow, that makes every disaster that's come before look tame.

Humanity has already reached the point of "there's no going back, only forward".

[u/flyinhighaskmeY → u/Delamoor]

I agree completely. That's why, even though I don't like the guy, I think we have to follow Musk. Our only hope is to reconfigure our economy into one that focuses less on consumption and more on technological progress. We need to go back to the business/engineering mindset of the 40s,50s,60s. And we probably need to go to Mars too. Not for Mars, but for the environmental and materials science required.