> The real problem is this. Human civilisation has a habit of exhausting
> its natural resources (in the past, typically food and ecosystem)
> and then collapsing. It has happened again and again.
> Go to the Easter Islands.
This area particularly interests me and there seems such a lack of information, particularly on the dull admin side of day to day events on how such civilisations went down hill.
My impression is that because the majority is out for themselves, and don't cooperative for the greater good of all, that slowly piece by piece their world is destroyed until one day it collaspes.
> civilisations recover
But not to well, I cannot offhand think of any failed civilisation which recovered its lost knowledge and went back to being able to build pyramids..
I can quite easily imagine with so many people nowdays specialising in their jobs, that if our civilisation ended tomorrow, in 500 years time, we'd be lucky if we still knew how to write and do our sums, let alone build anything beyond a mud hut and use stone tools..
> The physics doesn't preclude heading into an ice age either if
> solar output is declining. So why aren't plans being made for that too?
A good point.
> The most apocalyptic claim would have us all emigrating to Mars now.
But what if there is global warming on Mars, won't we need to tell the aliens there that they need to all stop driving their cars and cut down on how much TV they watch...
> Famous but perhaps silly case was the calculation that London would
> be 3' deep in horse manure sue to exponentially increasing traffic
> at end of 19th Century. Solved by the motorcar.
Instead of our streets being paved in gold, they are covered in dog poo and chewing gum.. (I thought I had escaped at least the former by moving into my neighbourhood, but my neighours are now being westernised and getting doggies, and with our ability to sell off parks to build new homes on, less and less space to take them for walks..)