NASA Study: Civilization Doomed by Overconsumption, Wealth Inequality (Infographic)

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13. No.

Last edited Tue Mar 25, 2014, 02:14 PM - Edit history (1)

In my framework, all that matters is the exergy flow through society, not whether it's centralized.

Centralization allows political structures to accrete more easily around the concentrating nodes. However, if you step back and look at history, even in the days before fossil fuels and electricity societies exhibited increasing consumption, ecological impact and organizational hierarchy. Human activities have always clustered around local energy sources, but in the past, at lower energy levels, our actions did not have the global reach they do today. Centralization is by no means necessary for human damage to be inflicted on the biosphere. It just makes it a bit easier.