Consider this, optimists. All the societies in the world can collapse simultaneously. It has happened before.
In the 12th century BCE the great Bronze Age civilizations of the Mediterranean—all of them—suddenly fell apart. Their empires evaporated, their cities emptied out, their technologies disappeared, and famine ruled. Mycenae, Minos, Assyria, Hittites, Canaan, Cyprus—all gone. Even Egypt fell into a steep decline. The Bronze Age was over. The event should live in history as one of the great cautionary tales, but it hasn’t because its causes were considered a mystery. How can we know what to be cautious of? Eric Cline has taken on on the mystery. An archaeologist-historian at George Washington University, he is the author of 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed. The failure, he suggests, was systemic. The highly complex, richly interconnected system of the world tipped all at once into chaos. "1177 B.C: When Civilization Collapsed," Eric Cline, SFJAZZ Center, Hayes Valley, San Francisco, 7pm, Monday, January 11. The show starts promptly at 7:30pm. To be sure of a seat: • Long Now Members <https://longnow.org/membership/> can use the discount code on the Cline Seminar page to reserve 2 free seats <http://longnow.org/seminars/02016/jan/11/1177-bc-when-civilization-collapsed/>. • You can purchase tickets for $15 each <http://longnow.org/seminars/02016/jan/11/1177-bc-when-civilization-collapsed/>. • Seminar at SFJAZZ Center <http://www.sfjazz.org/visit/directions> 201 Franklin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 • Tune into the live audio stream <http://longnow.org/live/> for Long Now Members at 7:30 PT - become a member <https://longnow.org/membership/> for just $8 a month. Share this talk: Eric Cline, "1177 B.C: When Civilization Collapsed" Long Now talk on 1/11 http://goo.gl/MyG5sN <http://goo.gl/MyG5sN> Talks coming up: February 9 (Tue.) - Stephen Pyne, Fire Slow, Fire Fast, Fire Deep <http://longnow.org/seminars/02016/feb/09/fire-slow-fire-fast-fire-deep/> March 14 (Mon.) - Jane Langdale, Radical Ag: C4 Rice and Beyond <http://longnow.org/seminars/02016/mar/14/radical-ag-c4-rice-and-beyond/> April 11 (Mon.) - Priyamvada Natarajan, Solving Dark Matter and Dark Energy <http://longnow.org/seminars/02016/apr/11/solving-dark-matter-and-dark-energy/> May 2 (Mon.) - Walter Mischel, The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control <http://longnow.org/seminars/02016/may/02/marshmallow-test-mastering-self-control/> High-quality videos of the talks and other benefits (such as priority tickets) are available to Long Now members. Membership, which starts at $8/month ($96/year), helps support the series and other Long Now projects. Joinable here <https://longnow.org/membership/>. This is one of a monthly series of Seminars About Long-term Thinking (SALT) organized by The Long Now Foundation. Free audio and my summaries of all previous talks are available for download here <http://longnow.org/seminars/> (or stay up to date with the podcast here <http://longnow.org/seminars/podcast/>). You'll find a range of long-term thinking items on our Blog <http://blog.longnow.org/> (RSS <http://feeds.feedburner.com/longnow>). If you would like to be notified by email (like this one) of forthcoming talks, go here <http://list.longnow.org/mailman/listinfo/salt> to sign up online. Any questions, contact Danielle Engelman at Long Now -- 415-561-6582 x1 <tel:415-561-6582%20x1> or danie...@longnow.org <mailto:danie...@longnow.org>. You are welcome to forward this note to anyone you think might be interested. --Stewart Brand s...@longnow.org <mailto:s...@longnow.org> -- The Long Now Foundation -- http://longnow.org/ <http://longnow.org/> Seminars & downloads -- http://longnow.org/seminars/ <http://longnow.org/seminars/> Interval Events -- http://theinterval.org/events/ <http://theinterval.org/events/> •Twitter <https://twitter.com/longnow> - up to the minute info on tickets and events •Long Now Blog <http://blog.longnow.org/> - daily updates on events and ideas •Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/longnow> - stay in touch through our fan page
_______________________________________________ SALT mailing list unsubscribe / change email: http://list.longnow.org/mailman/listinfo/salt
