Complexity, Collapse, and Sustainable Problem Solving
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title
Our Fragile World: Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Development
Publisher
EOLSS Publishers, Oxford
Publication Date
1-1-2001
First Page
1803
Last Page
1826
Abstract
Sustainability is a value-laden concept that provokes veneration, confusion, and political conflict. Human sustainability arises from the long-term success of problem-solving institutions. One constraint to sustainability is the tendency of problem-solving to grow complex, costly, and cumbersome. This chapter describes several unsustainable societies; sketches an understanding of sustainability that addresses its value-laden and transient nature; shows how sustainability is grounded in problem-solving; demonstrates through historical cases how long-term trends in problem-solving lead either to sustainability or collapse; and employs these historical lessons to clarify our own problem-solving efforts.
Recommended Citation
Tainter, J. A. Complexity, Collapse, and Sustainable Problem Solving. In Our Fragile World: Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Development, edited by M. K. Tolba, pp. 1803-1826. EOLSS Publishers, Oxford.
