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The Collapse of Complex Societies

Matthew Butterick

As an alter­na­tive, Tainter mentions a current world society where “[c]hildren are mini­mally cared for by their mothers until age three, and then are put out to fend for them­selves,” appar­ently by picking up work “in agri­cul­tural fields … scar[ing] off birds and baboons.”) Tainter deftly leaves this point aside till nearly the end of the book, having given us readers ample time and clues to consider the issue ourselves. This reprieve must be used ratio­nally to seek for and develop the new energy source(s) that will be neces­sary … This research and devel­op­ment must be an item of the highest priority, even if, as predicted, this requires real­lo­ca­tion of resources from other economic sectors.

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