Cycles of Change

The atmosphere wrapping this planet has no customs office. A molecule of carbon dioxide released from a coal plant in one country drifts across an ocean, traps heat above a different continent, and melts ice that raises sea levels around a third. A virus evolving in the lungs of one person boards [...]

Imagine a farming village situated at the bottom of a large mountain. For hundreds of years, every family in the village carries stones up the mountain path to build a massive reservoir. Grandparents carry stones. Their children carry stones. The reservoir collects rain that falls across the entire [...]

The Vulnerable World Hypothesis was introduced by philosopher Nick Bostrom in 2019. It argues that technological development could inevitably destroy civilization unless we drastically alter our political and social organization. The hypothesis challenges the common belief that scientific progress [...]

Historical patterns of technology identify a principle known as the Jevons Paradox. Originally observed by William Stanley Jevons in 1865 regarding coal consumption, this paradox suggests that as a resource becomes more efficient to use, the total consumption of that resource increases. This occurs [...]

The global financial architecture is entering a period of significant transformation as central banks evaluate the limitations of traditional reserve assets. Historically, the stability of a nation depended upon a combination of physical gold and fiat currency backed by the power of the state. [...]

The palaces of Mycenaean Greece burned for days in 1200 BC. For four centuries afterward, the Greek world descended into a dark age so profound that the art of writing itself was lost. The sophisticated bureaucracy of the warrior-kings crumbled into memory. Villages forgot how to build with stone. [...]

A historical error is currently being repeated on a civilizational scale. In 1960, Pope John XXIII chose to bury a terrifying prophecy to protect the faithful from fear. He believed that silence would preserve hope. Instead, it bred forty years of suspicion. Today, secular governments in London, [...]