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On The Collapse of Complex Societies

Posted by Hemos on from the this-the-way-the-world-ends dept.

One of the mailing lists that I'm on had a great short essay about the disastrous decision that societies can make - and their consequences. The author is Jared Diamond, who also wrote Guns, Germs and Steel (First Slashdot book review was that book), and is still one of the most interesting books I've read in a while.

11 of 446 comments (clear)

  1. well if poop doesn't fly! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I got fp!

    Claim it with straight good troll fiction!

  2. Jared Gould, computer programmer, dead at 22 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I just heard some sad news on local radio - computer programmer/Porsche mechanic Jared Gould was found dead in his Alabama dorm room this afternoon. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his code, there's no denying his contributions to Porsche cu1ture. Truly an American icon.

  3. The Maya by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Wasn't it because of drugs?

    Prits Fots!!!

  4. because... by HappyCycling · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Jesus was black; portraying him as white was a big mistake.

  5. And his Subway sandwiches are good, too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Yummy!

  6. Re:Hmmmmm..... by AndroidCat · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Starting your example by postulating a girlfriend reminds of me of those physics problems that postulate a frictionless surface.

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  7. Re:Chaos theory of human societies? by IWannaBeAnAC · · Score: 1, Offtopic
    Well, there is actually a reason why that could not happen. The weather system doesn't contain that much energy.

    Speaking of probabilities, once you get to quantum mechanics, the probability of practically *anything* happening is non-zero, so tiny to be irrelevant. Like, the probability of an object spontaneously jumping a few feet in the air due to a quantum fluctuation is non-zero, but small enough (10^-60 or so?) that the probability of seeing it happen, anywhere in the universe, anytime in the lifetime of the universe, is much much smaller than 1.

    Ie, the moral is, knowing whether or not a probability is non-zero doesn't help. You need to actually do the calculation and find out exactly how probable it is.

  8. Re:Chaos theory of human societies? by Efreet · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Well, there is actually a reason why that could not happen. The weather system doesn't contain that much energy.

    Two words: Quantum Tunneling.

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    This sig wasn't worth reading, was it.
  9. Re:Chaos theory of human societies? by IWannaBeAnAC · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Yes, in principle that could happen (as I said in my post), but the potential barrier is absolutely gigantic, I mean the probability of tunnelling a single atom from earth to the Sun is so vanishingly small to be utterly negligable. And you are talking about the whole atmosphere? Get real!

  10. Re:Chaos theory of human societies? by Dyolf+Knip · · Score: 1, Offtopic
    I'm as aware as you the odds against it. Though as I recall, the airspeed of your average gaseous molecule is on the order of 2000 kps. You never notice it because they just keep running into one another and the net motion for a large group is comparatively zero. So, all you need (note the sarcasm) are a few quintillion million-to-one chances occuring in a row and you could have 99.5% of the atmosphere impart all of its kinetic energy to the remaining 0.5%, which would then go flying off at near-c. I think a few million tons of anything at that speed would do tremendous amounts of damage to a star, no?

    But you are correct. We could wait quite literally forever and never see it happen.

    --
    Dyolf Knip
  11. Re:Chaos theory of human societies? by Dyolf+Knip · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Ack, I'm off by a few orders of magnitude. That should be 2000kph.

    --
    Dyolf Knip