Join us to learn more about collapse of complex societies!
Modeling the Collapse of Complex Societies
We invite you to the webinar that will be held via Zoom on Wednesday, November 5th, at noon ET .
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88671816901?pwd=SxUi6Du2HXckAv7HhtoErlSRJiQ7kj.1
The webinar is free and open to anyone interested in. Audience members ask questions during the event, comment in the lively chat, and share resources and ideas.
Abstract: Why do societies collapse? Some famous examples include Easter Island, the Maya, the Roman Empire, and the Chinese dynasties. I have developed mathematical models for these cases and will present what the models teach us. I will also provide a general perspective of the methodology I employed in modelling past cases of collapse. The modelling does not focus on the collapse, but rather on the long-term development of a society from its beginning to end. To build an accurate model we need to identify the relevant feedback mechanisms that operate over those time scales. In the case of societies, the long-term feedback loops involve its complexity and resource usage. What is complexity? That’s a key topic that will be addressed in the talk.
About our Presenter:
Sabin Roman is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Fellow at the Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and a Research Affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge. He focuses on developing interdisciplinary tools for modelling complex systems using machine learning. His research includes mathematical modeling of long-term societal evolution and potential collapse, employing methods like dynamical systems theory, network science, and agent-based computing.
A few papers to share:
A review of Sabin Roman’s work by Joseph Tainter, a leading expert on collapse: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-018-0025-0.pdf