Friday, August 22, 2014

TED Talk Highlight: Jared Diamond on Why Societies Collapse

While working on the next post, I decided to post this video from a TED Talk by Jared Diamond. It was delivered several years ago, but the lessons he's trying to teach the audience resonate in any age, especially today.


Diamond outlines why some societies fail where others have succeeded, giving the audience some food for thought on how we can avoid our own collapses today. Especially noteworthy is his observation that societies tend to fail not long after their peaks, meaning all societies, even ones that seem powerful, have a risk of failing if they encounter the pitfalls that Diamond outlines.

Another point that Diamond articulates is the phenomenon that what has been a society's main strength, or a trait that helps it succeed at first, can ultimately be its undoing. For an interesting take on how societies, even ours, could fail, take a watch after the jump.