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Everyone experiences collapse in their lives: you may lose your job, get sick, or a close friend or family member may die. Collapse also happens to structures such as buildings, and on a larger scale affects whole systems like companies, communities or even civilisations. In his latest book, Before the Collapse: A Guide to the Other Side of Growth, Ugo Bardi sets out an approach for facing failure and collapse on all scales. He calls his method the “Seneca Strategy” based on the teachings of the ancient Roman philosopher, Lucius Annaeus Seneca.
Bardi draws on Seneca’s philosophy to explain why collapse is a necessary part of our lives and the world, and why trying to avoid it may lead to bigger problems later on. Seneca recognised that growth is slow but ruin is rapid, yet sudden collapse does not have to take us by surprise. In six concise chapters, Bardi outlines the science behind the collapse of complex systems, how the future can be modelled, and gives numerous examples of past and possible future collapses. Some of the cases Bardi lists include natural disasters, like Florence’s Great Flood, the collapse of a business such as the bankruptcy of the video rental service Blockbuster, as well as famines, epidemics and depopulation. As Seneca famously said: “Nothing that exists today is not the result of past collapse.”
Despite the subject matter, Before the Collapse is not a pessimistic book. Although Bardi emphasizes that technological progress might not prevent collapse, he stresses that the best strategy of coping with collapse is not to resist at all costs. It is possible to rebound after collapse, argues Bardi, and the new condition that arises may even be better than the old. The book finishes with a self-help style reference list summarising the six key things we should know before a collapse is imminent.
The practical tips in this book will appeal to any readers seeking a philosophical self-help guide for coping with collapse in their lives. Before the Collapse also provides general readers with a scientific analysis of local and global disasters and offers a pragmatic approach for preparing and weathering difficult times.
About the author
Ugo Bardi teaches physical chemistry at the University of Florence in Italy. He is interested in resource depletion, system dynamics modeling, climate science and renewable energy. He has an English language blog called “Cassandra’s legacy” and is also the author of two other books: Extracted: How the Quest for Global Mining Wealth is Plundering the Planet (Chelsea Green 2014) and The Limits to Growth Revisited (Springer 2011). |
makati1 on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 7:10 pm
Juan, yes, I saw it this morning on:
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-229.62,9.40,1821/loc=121.918,-0.120
Not even a good tropical storm yet. It’s about 1,000 kilometers east of Mindanao and almost 2,000 kilometers southeast of our farm. We may get a few showers from it if it tracks farther north. It is the rainy season.
It will take days to get to the Philippines, if it tracks like other storms, and will likely hit Mindanao because of the eastern monsoon winds. We shall see.
Davy on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 7:39 pm
The best thing we can do for our country is to fan the flames of division.
CW2
yeee fuckin haaaw!
REAL Green on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 7:41 pm
Were a moron Davy.
JuanP is stupid on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 7:43 pm
I agree. Were a moron Davy.
JuanP on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 8:18 pm
Glad to here your getting sum rain makato. rains real good for growing crops n stuff. specially when its warm enough like it always is in the Ps. Did i mention i got 5 more months before i can grow shit agin? misoury sucks ass
i think i might of.
Davy on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 8:28 pm
whats kilometors meen makato?
JuanP is stupid on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 8:45 pm
Kelometers was that prehistoric system the cave men used before they discovered feet n inches JuanP.
dumbass
insane incel JuanP on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 10:32 pm
makati1 on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 7:10 pm
Juan, yes, I saw it this morning on:
bazarre incel JuanP on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 10:33 pm
Davy on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 7:39 pm
The best thing we can do for our country is to fan the flames of division.
CW2
yeee fuckin haaaw!
Davy on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 11:03 pm
That JuanP feller is a schizophreniac.
Davy on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 11:57 pm
juanp, I hate you so much, that I have reported your dumbass to the,
US dept. of flinging illegal wetbacks over the border wall (WIP) with giant catapults.
Yes, that is an actual dept of the US Government. God Bless America.
I gave them your location, partying and shouting anti-American talking points on Miami Beach Florida. I advised them to follow the trail of empty tequila bottles and that should lead them right to you. I also requested they tell you, “Davy says HI! and Goodbye!”, right before they pepper spray you.
I can hardly wait for confirmation you have been detained and are awaiting extradition back to your native Albania. I also requested you be put in 3×3 hot-box with no food, water, tequila or Mariachi music piped in while you await your turn in the catapult bucket.
JuanP is stupid on Sun, 22nd Dec 2019 5:06 am
another impressive stupid night from stupid
This is from stupid:
Davy said juanp, I hate you so much, that I have reported yo…
full woke supremacist muzzies jerk double rainbow all the way across the sky so intense whoa it begins to look like a triple rainbow triple rainbow all the way across the sky what does it mean WDIM WDIM oh god oh said On This Day… Dec 22, 2017: Harrisburg, PA, U…
full woke supremacist muzzies jerk double rainbow all the way across the sky so intense whoa it begins to look like a triple rainbow triple rainbow all the way across the sky what does it mean WDIM WDIM oh god oh said imagine a world without muzzies if you can imagine…
full woke supremacist muzzies jerk double rainbow all the way across the sky so intense whoa it begins to look like a triple rainbow triple rainbow all the way across the sky what does it mean WDIM WDIM oh god oh said police arrested 96 and destroyed ms-13 imagine 400…
full woke supremacist muzzies jerk double rainbow all the way across the sky so intense whoa it begins to look like a triple rainbow triple rainbow all the way across the sky what does it mean WDIM WDIM oh god oh said On This Day… Dec 21, 2016: Raqa, Syria Two T…
Davy said That JuanP feller is a schizophreniac.
bazarre incel JuanP said Davy on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 7:39 pm The best thing…
insane incel JuanP said makati1 on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 7:10 pm Juan, yes,…
JuanP is stupid said Kelometers was that prehistoric system the cave me…
Davy said whats kilometors meen makato?
JuanP said Glad to here your getting sum rain makato. rains r…
Davy said “Robert there are winners and losers, no dra…
bazarre incel JuanP speaks said makati1 on Sat, 21st Dec 2019 4:52 pm Robert ther…
JuanP is stupid said I agree. Were a moron Davy.
REAL Green said Were a moron Davy.
The Board on Sun, 22nd Dec 2019 5:14 am
Please, do not feed the Davy troll.
JuanP is stupid on Sun, 22nd Dec 2019 5:36 am
stupid, do you ever sleep??
This from stupid:
The Board said Please, do not feed the Davy troll.
Davy on Sun, 22nd Dec 2019 6:22 am
“The Real Lesson Of Afghanistan Is That Regime-Change Does Not Work”
https://tinyurl.com/tn8q4sw zero hedge
““Regime change” is a process of coercion designed to impose the political will of the U.S. government on countries around the world, violating their sovereignty and self-determination with an arsenal of military, economic and political weapons”
“The U.S. must conduct global diplomatic outreach to make peace with our enemies, end our illegal sanctions and threats, and reassure the people of the world that they need no longer fear and arm themselves against the threat of U.S. aggression.”
“The most potent signals that we have really turned over a new leaf would be serious cuts in the U.S. military budget — we currently outspend the next seven or eight militaries combined, despite our endless military failures;
a reduction in U.S. conventional forces and weapons to the level needed to meet our country’s legitimate defense needs; and the closure of most of the hundreds of U.S. military bases on the territories of other nations, which amount to a global military occupation.”
JuanP is stupid on Sun, 22nd Dec 2019 6:27 am
Good job stupid!
This is from stupid:
Davy said “The Real Lesson Of Afghanistan Is That Regime-Cha…
Nanteen M on Thu, 19th Nov 2020 2:38 pm
I recently learned that Ugo Bardi, when writing Before Collapse: A Guide to the Other Side of Growth, was inspired by Shakespeare. At first, I didn’t quite understand what the reason for the inspiration was, but when I wrote an essay on Shakespeare, I understood. Thanks to https://studydriver.com/william-shakespeare/ I realized that some of Shakespeare’s works are also about failure and collapse. I advise everyone to familiarize themselves in more detail with the creation
of Shakespeare, especially with my favorite book – The Tempest.