Special Series » The Unfolding Collapse
It’s later than most of us realize; though from some perspectives, collapse can be a long process, it’s equally true that much of that process can only be appreciated in hindsight. When we look at the history of the twentieth century, we can see a pattern emerging, indicating that we may be up to a century into collapse already.
[…] Also, the authors at Anthropik are back in the game. Be sure to check out their latest blog series: The Unfolding Collapse. […]
Pingback by Eat, drink and try to survive. « WildeRix — 17 April 2007 @ 5:41 PM
[…] This week’s Archdruid Report, “A Depopulation Explosion,” focuses on the same general theme Greer’s been on for the past three weeks: how wrong “apocalyptic narratives” are (by which he generally means primitivists, and not people who actually believe in a coming apocalypse, like Evangelical Christians). If anybody was expecting the collapse of civilization to wipe out every city on earth overnight, then Greer’s article provides a great counter-balance, but since that’s a straw man that no one’s actually espousing, his point is somewhat less compelling. As we’ve seen in the recently-concluded “Unfolding Collapse” series, we’re not at the beginning of collapse, but well into it now. Greer’s viewpoint of the “long decline” isn’t wrong, nearly so much as it’s academic. Historians have the hindsight to trace the trajectory of a long decline; those who live through those events invariably experience them as a sudden crash. […]
Pingback by Archdruid Watch: A Depopulation Explosion? (The Anthropik Network) — 14 June 2007 @ 9:33 AM
[…] What we’ve examined in this series presents a very different view of the 20th century’s place in history. The European empires, particularly in the “long nineteenth century,” reached an historically-uparalleled apex in global social complexity, consolidating the earth and its human population under a minimum of imperial governments, while also passing the point of diminishing returns for further investments in complexity. The energy source for this era of imperialism, coal, directed European empires towards territorial acquisitions. However, the shift from coal to petroleum brought with it a violent re-alignment of political power, shifting from the traditional European coal centers in Britain, France and Germany, to the significant oil producers, the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union suffered from an overly complex government, but it collapsed ultimately as a result of peaking oil production. Meanwhile, the shift from coal to petroleum led to global independence movements and the end of European imperialism. Instead, neocolonialism contiues to exploit former colonies in a system of globalization that maintains an imperial core consisting to some degree of the former European imperial centers, but increasingly the new imperial center in the United States. This more subtle form of empire is itself a clear sign of collapse, however, with proliferating de jure independence movements that eliminate the established level of European imperial complexity, as well as the rise of various “rhizome” networks, from multinational corporations to terrorist networks, that defy the conventional, Cartesian definition of the nation-state, and represent the next step down towards collapse. […]
Pingback by Living in Collapse (The Anthropik Network) — 15 June 2007 @ 2:14 PM
The “long emergenrcy” is about as likely as having another “great depression”. We cannot afford either.
Comment by yooper — 15 June 2007 @ 6:11 AM
People that live in Bagdad or near the Katerina diaster are not concerned of “why”, they’re much more concerned, “what’s next?”
Comment by yooper — 15 June 2007 @ 6:27 AM