Tainter

Wiener said that some of the well-known Dunn County haunts such as Tainter Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Stout and the Mabel Tainter Theater could be more folklore than paranormal.

unknown title 2009

Or is it going to lead to some sort of monumental collapse (see: Tainter, Orlov, Kunster, etc …)?

Coyote Blog » Blog Archive » A Great Example Why Peak Oil Theory Has Never Been That Compelling to Me 2010

Anthropologist and historian Joseph Tainter, in his book The Collapse of Complex Societies, noted how these very same principles could be seen as triggers for the collapse of the Maya and Roman civilizations.

Kingsley Dennis, Ph.D.: Our Social Crises -- From Breakdown to Breakthrough Ph.D. Kingsley Dennis 2011

In worrying comparison, Tainter sees that the energetic returns on our present investments are diminishing; making our modern global world open to the same type of stresses that were responsible for the collapse of prior civilizations.

Kingsley Dennis, Ph.D.: Our Social Crises -- From Breakdown to Breakthrough Ph.D. Kingsley Dennis 2011

Tainter claims that industrial society has managed to stave off this fate, so far, by exploiting alternative energy sources, fossil fuels in particular -- not, to be sure, an utterly unreasonable notion.

Who Do You Say I Am 2010

Another weakness of the Tainter thesis is that it's highly linear.

Who Do You Say I Am 2010

Perhaps the Soviet Union provided an example of Tainter collapse of an industrial society.

Who Do You Say I Am 2010

Tainter acknowledges that participatory societies may have evolved as one response to forestall collapse; by providing the "masses" with a bigger stake in the system, they're more likely to actively support it rather than cut their losses.

Who Do You Say I Am 2010

Tainter is not convinced that even new technology will save civilisation in the long run.

Why the demise of civilisation may be inevitable 2008

And increasing complexity, Tainter realised, produces diminishing returns.

Archive 2008-11-21 2008