michael retweeted
3/3 Civilisation must continually mobilise energy and matter to sustain its complexity, while depletion, pollution and climate disruption undermine its foundations.
The processes sustaining civilisation are creating the conditions for its collapse.
Thermodynamic inertia matters.
michael retweeted
collapse of complex societies is a recurring phenomenon.societies solve problems by adding complexity which require more energy.diminishing returns on complexity In a world of finite resources is the precondition for collapse.
nitter.cf/nephologue/status/1870…
youtube.com/watch?v=Ip5l1Lz9…
michael retweeted
To those who have remained silent in the face of a genocide in #Gaza , yet publicly weep over #climatechange: your selective empathy is an abomination...For those of Jewish background,this silence is not a passive failure—it is an active betrayal.
michael retweeted
Trump’s takeover of Greenland is all but certain—a done deal, fulfilling a pledge to the billionaires who bankrolled his campaign. Companies like KoBold Metals and Praxis were established for one purpose: to exploit exactly this opportunity.
insidehook.com/internet/pete…
michael retweeted
From a deterministic outlook,its always been "very,very late"...The eventual state has never been a matter of probability but of necessity,baked into the original thermodynamic state.
nitter.cf/nephologue/status/1536…
michael retweeted
Complex systems theory distinguishes between linear problems, where feedback loops help stabilise outcomes, and non-linear predicaments, where physical laws lock in trajectories. With that in mind:
youtube.com/@EconomicGrowtha…
michael retweeted
Is climate change a problem or a predicament? A problem is something you can solve with better information,smarter choices,or more adaptive agents.A predicament,by contrast you can only respond to because physical laws set the ultimate trajectory.
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youtube.com/@EconomicGrowtha…
michael retweeted
2- , and declining EROI lock in a trajectory toward steady state (or tipping point and collapse in Tim's case—which I am in favour of), regardless of how clever the agents become.
Farmer offers hope through computation. You and Tim offer humility through thermodynamics....
michael retweeted
1- I see much more similarity between your argument and Tim Garrett's than with Farmer's.
Farmer's agents learn and adapt, implying the future is contingent on smart decisions.Your model and Tim's assume physics constrains outcomes. Resource depletion, conservation laws....
michael retweeted
My HARMONEY model incorporates the 1st & 2nd law of thermo in complexity economics, & conservation of mass (generally). This uses an aggregate sectoral-based approach rather than Doyne Farmer's more granular agent-based approach. Both are needed. careyking.com/new-harmoney-i…
michael retweeted
Steve, while you're in a debunking mood,tackle this gem as well: a complexity model to "accelerate the world down a cheaper path to ending emissions." A noble goal, assuming one has found a way to negotiate an exemption from the laws of thermodynamics😕
theguardian.com/environment/…
michael retweeted
So comforting. "It's in our hands."
Except we are the accumulation. Centuries of growth, built infrastructure,innovations—all physically embedded in today's energy demand.
The inertia is not in our hands. It's in our history.
And inertia is not a choice.
shorturl.at/Sss62
michael retweeted
Collapse is not a single threshold but an ongoing balance between what we build and what erodes us.
When surplus vanishes,adaptation ends. Only maintenance lingers—and eventually that fails too.
The decline creeps,then cascades. Gradual,then sudden.That is the real dynamic.
