There are currently many different societies on our planet – Western capitalist societies, Eastern societies, Middle-Eastern societies – if I may paint the image of a few groups of societies with broad brush stokes. Inside these groups there is also considerable variation of course. Most modern societies are growth-based systems where economic growth is the way to cope with the gap between the cost of doing work (mostly manufacturing and services) and the cost of paying for work; this gap is called added value or profit. Naturally there is debate whether this is sustainable and for how long? Are we heading towards the collapse of capitalist society? One sign that we might be in trouble are non-linearities, or sudden and unexpected changes in the flow of society. Our society has become so complex that it can undergo relatively sudden and significant shocks, or non-linearities. When these become more common that could be a warning signal that our society is reaching its limits and that we are moving towards a time when the complexity is no longer manageable : collapse, whether sudden or protracted like the end of the Roman Empire, is now inevitable. These warning signs or non-linearities are becoming more frequent, from the Arab Spring, driven by discontented young men made unemployed and hungry by climate change, to more recent events like the rise of Islamic State, its subsequent routing and now the diffuse ground-swell of terrorism across Europe and the Middle-East, increasing fear, intolerance, hatred and selfishness. Other non-linearities include the recent election of Trump and Brexit, both unexpected and dramatic events with a significant effect on societies – these surprises and their effects are unpredictable as societies have become too complex to be understood and managed. Societal collapse is now inevitable – it is only a question of when and how.
Liam Mor's Blog