How Does 'Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed' Explain Societal Collapses?

2025-06-15 14:11:22 233

3 answers

Grady
Grady
2025-06-16 14:59:38
I've read 'Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed' multiple times, and Jared Diamond’s approach hits hard. He doesn’t blame collapses on single events but shows how societies crumble under layered pressures—environmental mismanagement, climate shifts, hostile neighbors, and cultural rigidity. The Easter Island case stands out: they chopped down every last tree, triggering soil erosion and starvation. The Maya overpopulated, overfarmed, and ignored droughts until their cities became ruins. Diamond’s scary takeaway? Collapse isn’t sudden. It’s a slow-motion train wreck where societies ignore warning signs. Modern parallels leap out—deforestation, water shortages, political shortsightedness. The book’s brilliance lies in showing collapse as a choice, not fate. Societies that adapt (like Japan’s Tokugawa-era forest management) survive; those that don’t, vanish.
Xander
Xander
2025-06-16 21:21:16
Diamond’s 'Collapse' dissects societal failures like a forensic scientist. The Greenland Norse case fascinates me—they starved clinging to European farming in an Arctic climate, while Inuit thrived by adapting. Diamond argues collapses share five factors: environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, loss of trade partners, and societal responses. The Anasazi’s water-management failures mirror today’s California droughts. What’s chilling is how elites often accelerate collapse by hoarding resources (Roman elites privatized land, worsening food shortages).

Modern relevance slaps you in the face. Diamond compares Montana’s environmental issues to past collapses—toxic mining, soil depletion, water disputes. But he isn’t all doom. Japan’s Edo period proves societies can pivot; they banned logging, switched to sustainable forestry, and survived. The book’s framework helps analyze current risks: are we repeating Maya mistakes with aquifer depletion? Diamond’s answer is clear—collapse isn’t inevitable if societies prioritize long-term thinking over short-term greed.
Liam
Liam
2025-06-19 21:59:22
Reading 'Collapse' feels like watching a disaster documentary where you scream at the characters to stop making bad choices. Diamond’s cases reveal how cultural myopia dooms societies. The Vikings in Greenland kept pretending they were still in Scandinavia, refusing to eat fish like the Inuit. The Rwandan genocide tied directly to land scarcity from population growth—a problem they ignored until violence erupted. Diamond’s key insight? Collapse happens when societies double down on failing systems instead of innovating.

I love how he contrasts failures with successes. New Guinea’s highlanders sustained agriculture for millennia by terracing hillsides, while the Maya’s monocrop farming wrecked their soil. The book’s modern warnings are uncomfortably precise: climate denial mirrors Easter Island’s deforestation denial. Diamond doesn’t just diagnose—he prescribes. Adaptive governance, like Iceland’s communal land management, can steer societies away from cliffs. His work’s a wake-up call: collapse isn’t about bad luck, but bad decisions repeated until it’s too late.
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Related Questions

What Historical Examples Are Analyzed In 'Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed'?

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I recently finished 'Collapse' and was struck by how Jared Diamond examines societies through environmental lenses. The Norse in Greenland is a standout example—they clung to European farming methods despite the harsh Arctic climate, refusing to adapt like the Inuit. Their collapse shows how cultural rigidity can be fatal. Easter Island’s story is haunting; they deforested themselves into extinction, a clear warning about resource mismanagement. The Anasazi in the American Southwest faced similar issues with water scarcity and soil depletion. Diamond contrasts these with success stories like Tokugawa Japan, which regulated deforestation wisely. Each case underscores a theme: societies thrive or die by their response to ecological limits.

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3 answers2025-06-15 10:36:11
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