Collapse Is Not a Bug, It Is a Feature

Seminar by Ugo Bardi, October 12, 2017

“It would be some consolation for the feebleness of our selves and our works if all thing should perish as slowly as they come into being; but as it is increases are of sluggish growth, but the way to ruin is rapid.” Lucius Anneaus Seneca (4 BCE-65 CE), Letters to Lucilius, n.91, 6 (translated by Richard Gummere)

This is a book [The Seneca Effect] dedicated to the phenomenon we call collapse and that we normally associate with catastrophes, disasters, failures, and all sorts of adverse effects. But this is not a catastrophic book as there are many, nowadays, and it doesn’t tell you of the unavoidable doom and gloom to come. Rather, it deals with the “science of collapse,” explaining why and how collapses occur. If you know what collapses are, then they don’t have to come as surprises, they are preventable. You can cope with them, reduce the damage they cause and even exploit them for your advantage. In the universe collapse is not a bug, it is a feature. Lire la suite →

Collapse Is Not a Bug, It Is a Feature

Seminar by Ugo Bardi, October 12, 2017

“It would be some consolation for the feebleness of our selves and our works if all thing should perish as slowly as they come into being; but as it is increases are of sluggish growth, but the way to ruin is rapid.” Lucius Anneaus Seneca (4 BCE-65 CE), Letters to Lucilius, n.91, 6 (translated by Richard Gummere)

This is a book [The Seneca Effect] dedicated to the phenomenon we call collapse and that we normally associate with catastrophes, disasters, failures, and all sorts of adverse effects. But this is not a catastrophic book as there are many, nowadays, and it doesn’t tell you of the unavoidable doom and gloom to come. Rather, it deals with the “science of collapse,” explaining why and how collapses occur. If you know what collapses are, then they don’t have to come as surprises, they are preventable. You can cope with them, reduce the damage they cause and even exploit them for your advantage. In the universe collapse is not a bug, it is a feature. Read more →

Last publications

Collapse Is Not a Bug, It Is a Feature

► Seminar by Ugo Bardi, October 12, 2017
“It would be some consolation for the feebleness of our selves and our works if all thing should perish as slowly as they come into being; but as it is increases are of sluggish growth, but the way to ruin is rapid.” Lucius Anneaus Seneca (4 BCE-65 CE), Letters to Lucilius, n.91, 6 (translated by […]

The Next Thirty-three Years on Earth

►
The Green Party (Les Verts in French), the first unified political ecology organization, was created thirty-three years ago. As of today, this party’s representatives have been elected to nearly all of France’s elective offices, and all for close to nothing. From an ecological stance, the geo-bio-physical state of France – of Europe and the World […]

Animal Rights : from Ethics to Politics

► Seminar by Corine Pelluchon, June 16, 2017
Animalism is a philosophical, cultural as well as social movement made up of groups and individuals who share the belief that animals should be taken seriously. This presentation’s objective is to show that this movement has depth. Animalism is not only about adopting a certain lifestyle but is also a global project that aims for […]

Understanding the Bioregion as the Political Form of the ‘Milieu’

► Seminar by Isabella Tomassi, May 19, 2017
The Italian territorialist school’s aim is to rehabilitate the ‘territory’. According to this school of thought the latter should be conceived of and dealt with as a ‘work of art’, that is to say, not as an inanimate, man-made object but as the product of exchanges – over the long run – between living things, […]

The Economy : a Process of Self-organized Criticality

► Seminar by François Roddier, April 21st, 2017
Similarly to all living beings, human societies are dissipative structures. By deriving circles around a critical point the dissipative structure creates mechanical work. It alternates between abrupt phase transition and continuous phase transition. The state of the economy, like the metabolism of all living beings, may be described using Gibbs’s thermodynamic potential. Demand is associated […]

The Île-de France : a Resilient Bioregion by 2050?

► Seminar by Agnès Sinaï, Benoît Thévard, Mireille Ferri and Pierre Serne, March 24th, 2017
Fossile fuels – which is the energy source characteristic of the Industrial Revolution – have significantly altered landscapes. The sociologist Zygmunt Bauman speaks of the “liquefaction” of territories, in which cities and countryside intermingle in undifferentiated areas. Material flows have taken over spaces that are administered by a “free-floating” sovereignty, faced with an unsure global […]

Heirs and Heiresses to Ecofeminism

► Seminar by Emilie Hache, February 24th, 2017
The late 70s and early 80s are characterized by the development of anti-nuclear and peace movements in the United States. As a reaction to the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in March of 1979 and to the re-launching of military programs under Reagan’s administration some women’s movements organized actions such as the spectacular Women’s Pentagon Action […]

The Bioregions : the New Territories of Degrowth

► Seminar by Julie Celnik, December 9th, 2016
Although the “degrowth movement” is still marginal in the United States, it shares values and principles with a diversity of environmental movements more prominent in the US, such as bioregionalism. The bioregionalist movement emerged in the 60s-70s in San Francisco, before expanding to the West Coast. Bioregionalism is a school of thought based on the […]

‘Milieu’, Robustness, Conviviality, Counter Environment, Optimization, Complexity

► Seminar by Olivier Rey, November 18, 2016
The Limits to Growth report was published in 1972. It resulted from a study conducted by the Club of Rome – a think tank made up of scientists, economists, senior officials and industrialists. It warned that, if unimpeded, the development model embraced since the European Industrial Revolution would exceed the finite natural resources on which […]

Of the Acceleration of Algorithms

► Seminar by Thierry Caminel, June 3rd, 2016
Autonomous cars without human drivers, “Go” (a strategy board game), robots taking over jobs previously held by workers: these innovations are all evidence of the acceleration of technological change, which progresses at a much faster rate than genetic evolution. The speed at which algorithms can make comparisons has increased for the benefit of Uber, Google […]

Medicine and Degrowth: Adversaries or Allies?

► Seminar by Pietro Majno, May 20, 2016
Pietro Majno heads the hepatobiliary centers of Geneva’s teaching hospitals. He is specialized in liver transplants and a member of the Rassemblement des objecteurs de croissance (a group made up of growth objectors). He agreed to give this seminar on the apparent contradictions existing between his job as a doctor, which is very much dependent […]

Living Income

► For Free and Egalitarian Societies
Despite the unsurpassed material opulence of contemporary Western societies, many can’t fulfill their basic needs: healthy food, decent lodging, energy, drinkable water and an emancipatory and autonomous education. Whilst it eludes the question of a just distribution of the planetary dowry, Growth society increases inequalities. Two tools: Unconditional Autonomy Allowance (UAA) and unconditional basic income (BI) […]