Publisher's Synopsis
Are we running the risk that society will collapse? If so, how did we come to be here and what are we doing to manage the risk?
There are several factors contributing to our risk profile, namely population growth, natural resource depletion, climate change, diminishing returns and our socio-political system that are not aligned with sustainability. Despite our cognisance of these factors, we trust in continued advance (especially in the field of technology) to keep us ahead in the race between advance and collapse, a race we created by constructing our governing system, culture and thought patterns on growth.
Life on cloud nine has never been this good. We are the most advanced, peaceful, wealthy and healthy society to ever have existed. It is difficult to envisage an alternative while you are on the peak of societal achievement. Like previous complex and successful societies, we barely alter course or reconsider our successful recipes to adequately address our risks. And like every other complex society that went before us, we are running into a dramatic decline of societal complexity.
