A (very) short history of the collapse of civilizations, and why it matters

Abstract

If we are worried about risks to society as a whole, one valuable question is whether there have been historical analogues and/or near misses. The current dislocation, prompted by the pandemic, but by no means limited to that, seems like a worrying piece of evidence. In the post, I review the basic fact that previous collapses have occurred, and then talk a bit more about whether the evidence matters.