According to Jared Diamond, an academic and author of the 2005 book “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed,” we are already witnessing a state of collapse in many countries: “As in the past, environmentally burdened, overpopulated, or both, countries become exposed to the risk of political tension and government collapse. When people are desperate, malnourished, and hopeless, they blame their governments for it and believe that they are should be responsible and confront these threats to find sustainable solutions. Estimating possible outcomes of our current problems and preparing for them is not the same as predicting catastrophe. When the Soviet Union collapsed, it didn’t mean that everyone died. When the Roman Empire fell, the world moved on, but not the world as the Romans knew it. The absence of problem assessment and forecasting future consequences is actually one of the factors that contributed to the collapse of past civilizations. As Diamond says, one of the reasons problems go unnoticed is “the conflict of short-term interests between decision-making elites and the long-term interests of society as a whole, especially if the elites can isolate themselves from the consequences of their actions.” Let’s say you’re a wealthy landowner, and you can create wealth by cutting down forests, industrializing the land, extracting rare minerals beneath the surface, despite the destruction and pollution they may cause, and selling the land to ruthless developers — could you refrain from making a big profit at the expense of the community and future generations? Generation? So, the majority of those who were previously able to make such decisions did not refrain, and that is the crux of the problem: our current problems have been created by humans, and they are in some way a result of thinking that places the greatest value on what is profitable. If such “economic” and materialistic thinking continues to dominate our collective decisions and if we as individuals continue to be susceptible to instant gratification, our industrialized civilization will crash into a wall. If corrupt values and erroneous thinking undermine civilizations, then true values and healthy thinking will build new civilizations. That is why we need to talk about collapsology; and in that context, we need to discuss human values and thinking that we need in order to overcome challenges along the way and create a better life, offering education that will help us be selfless, cooperate better, be generous, and be more open to reason than to prejudice. History teaches us that civilizations rise and fall, they are born and they die. Some die dramatically, while others simply fade away and are gradually replaced by others. It makes sense to study how ancient cultures and civilizations disappeared and consider what we can learn from it. Today in Paris, you can enroll in a postgraduate program on collapsology or “the risk of collapse and how to adapt to it.” The assumption is that collapse could also happen to our Western industrial society. According to Jared Diamond, an academic and author of the 2005 book “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed,” societies are responsible for their own downfall through their choices and actions. The collapse can be caused by factors such as environmental degradation, resource depletion, climate change, and social unrest. By studying past collapses, we can identify warning signs and develop strategies for resilience and adaptation.
This field of study is gaining importance as we face global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss. It encourages us to rethink our current trajectory and consider alternative models of development that prioritize sustainability and the well-being of both human societies and the natural environment.
By reflecting on the past, we can better understand the present and make informed decisions for the future. It is essential to learn from the mistakes and successes of those who came before us in order to build a resilient and sustainable society. Collaborative efforts, both on a local and global level, are necessary to address the complex challenges we face and ensure a prosperous future for generations to come. And choose to fail or survive, we are witnessing a state on the brink of collapse in many countries: “As it has happened in the past, environmentally burdened, overpopulated, or both, countries become exposed to the risk of political tension and government collapse. When people are desperate, malnourished, and hopeless, they blame their governments for failing to solve their problems. They try to emigrate at any cost. They wage wars over land. They kill each other. They start civil wars. They think they have nothing to lose, so they become terrorists or support or tolerate terrorism.”
If we were to assess the health and safety risks of our planet, we could highlight a multitude of serious threats: water scarcity, soil depletion, climate change, overpopulation, pollution and toxins, inequality, fragile economies, and so on. According to Diamond, all of these are time bombs with fuses lasting no more than a few years, definitely not more than fifty. The current direction is not persist; either we will decide to change or we will be forced into it. As with any health and safety check, it is reasonable to make a list of possible threats and prepare for them.