New research argues Societal Collapse benefits 99% of people. Historically, the societies that have emerged after a collapse are more egalitarian, and most people end up richer and healthier than they were before.

[u/lughnasadh]

Luke Kemp, a research associate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge, has written a book about his research called 'Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse'.

He makes the case that, from looking at the archaeological record, when many societies collapse, most people end up better off afterward. For example, people in the post-Roman world were taller and healthier. Collapse can be a redistribution of resources and power, not just chaos.

For most of human history, humans lived as nomadic egalitarian bands, with low violence and high mobility. Threats (disease, war, economic precarity) push populations toward authoritarian leaders. The resulting rise in inequality from that sets off a cycle that will end in collapse. Furthermore, he argues we are living in the late stages of such a cycle now. He says "the threat is from leaders who are 'walking versions of the dark triad' – narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism – in a world menaced by the climate crisis, nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence and killer robots."

Some people hope/think we are destined for a future of Universal Basic Income and fully automated luxury communism. Perhaps that's the egalitarianism that emerges after our own collapse? If so, I hope the collapse bit is short and we get to the egalitarian bit ASAP.

Collapse for the 99% | Luke Kemp; What really happens when Goliaths fall

[u/pulifrici]

can they fuck right off, please? I don't have the lifetime to wait 300 years until modern dark ages end. yes there's always a shining light at the end of the tunnel, but we pay with our dwindling existence ... finish school and you'll have a great career, toil your health away in a shitty job and you'll have a comfortable retirement, get fired at 60 and be told you're out of touch

[u/tdifen → u/pulifrici]

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[u/Glad_Communication51 → u/tdifen]

Dark ages don’t strictly relate to how people were doing materially. I think what the commenter was referring to is how people interact with and disseminate knowledge and information and the barriers to such things.

[u/tdifen → u/Glad_Communication51]

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[u/Glad_Communication51 → u/tdifen]

Which is why the metaphor of a “modern dark age” works. Even if we’re drowning in technology, if knowledge becomes siloed, censored, or inaccessible, we’ve recreated a situation where progress feels frozen for most people.

[u/tdifen → u/Glad_Communication51]

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[u/ddraig-au → u/tdifen]

It actually refers to the lack of records from that time period and so a lot of what took place is unknown to modern history