184 – Societal Complexity and Collapse

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Guest: Joseph Tainter Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Jochen Spalding

Joseph Tainter, our guest in this episode, is an anthropologist and historian. In 1988 he wrote a book called The Collapse of Complex Societies in which he argues that societies inevitably increase their inherent complexity, and, if and when the complexity becomes too “expensive” (diminishing returns), a society will collapse. In this episode, Joe explains his rationale and provides historic examples for collapse. We then discuss his theory relative today’s world, concluding with a not alltogether positive outlook.

00:00:00.000 Intro 00:05:12.000 As Always The Guest Introduces Himself 00:06:29.000 Definiton of Complexity in Scocieties 00:15:27.000 Phases of Complexity Development and Definition of Collapse 00:32:37.000 Is Collapse a good or a bad thing and do we make progress after it happened in the long run? 00:38:45.000 About Today's Societies 01:09:05.000 Ending on a Positive Note