Collapse of Complex Societies by Dr. Joseph Tainter
vlada888 · 5 HN recommendations
Video Q&A
Ask AI to explain this scene or summarize the whole video. When an answer includes timestamps, select one to jump to that moment.
Try asking: What is the speaker explaining here?
Google sign-in is required. Review the maximum credit cost before confirming.
Joseph Tainter lectures at a 2010 sustainability conference on why complex societies such as Rome collapse. His thesis is that rising complexity brings diminishing returns until societies cannot afford to maintain it.
Why HN recommends it: Recommended as the best exposition of Tainter's theory, and used to explain slowing innovation, centralization and collapse risk.
“Spend some time watching Tainter's speech on complexity and collapse” Read on HN ↗