When there is pressure for leaders to respond to problems or crises, they often simply intensify their efforts in their particular defined sphere of activity - even if that's not relevant to the real problem. To do otherwise requires taking… — Arthur Demarest Copy Share Image
Leaders may recognize that they are not addressing the real problems, but they rationalize their actions with the argument that they must first politically survive in order to later address the hard problems and sacrifices. Of course, they usually don't… — Arthur Demarest Copy Share Image
“When you examine societies just as self-confident as ours that unraveled and were eventually swallowed by the jungle...you see that the balance between ecology… — Arthur Demarest Copy Share Image
When there is pressure for leaders to respond to problems or crises, they often simply intensify their efforts in their particular defined sphere of… — Arthur Demarest Copy Share Image
These strengths, and our civilization in general, have reached an apogee with the end of the apocalyptic threats of the Cold War and the… — Arthur Demarest Copy Share Image
One of our great strength, world capitalism, is the most successful economic system possible, but has also become one of shorter and shorter cycles… — Arthur Demarest Copy Share Image
The key strengths of civilizations are also their central weaknesses. You can see that from the fact that the golden ages of civilizations are… — Arthur Demarest Copy Share Image
"Hypercoherence" is one of the most dangerous threats to the long-term survival of our civilization. Hypercoherence is the close efficient linkage of all parts… — Arthur Demarest Copy Share Image
The possible signs of a coming collapse are the same as the greatest strengths of Western civilization: democracy, capitalism, the generally peaceful linking of… — Arthur Demarest Copy Share Image
On the future of the U.S., or of Western civilization in general, I tend to be quite pessimistic. I would say that today I… — Arthur Demarest Copy Share Image
No society can sustain unlimited growth - none ever has. History demonstrates that expectations of infinite growth lead to collapse. Unfortunately, millennia of evidence… — Arthur Demarest Copy Share Image
Leaders may recognize that they are not addressing the real problems, but they rationalize their actions with the argument that they must first politically… — Arthur Demarest Copy Share Image
With apologies to the green movement, "sustainability" is a myth. History and archaeology show that societies are always moving to the edge of crisis,… — Arthur Demarest Copy Share Image
