'Elites' will cause societal collapse - study

  • Breaking
  • 18/03/2014

A scientific study funded by NASA claims modern civilisation is on course for a catastrophic collapse within decades as economic instability grows and pressure on the planet's resources continues to mount.

Working with theoretical models the report investigates what will happen to the industrialised world over the course of the next century, and mathematicians found that even when using conservative estimates disaster is not far away.

Referencing previous fallen civilisations like the Roman, Han and Gupta Empires, the report notes that society's elite tend to push for a 'business as usual' approach to disaster until it is too late to do anything about it.

Applied mathematician Safa Motesharri, using his 'Human and Nature Dynamical' (Handy) model, remarks in the report, "The process of rise-and-collapse is actually a recurrent cycle found throughout history."

Motesharri and his team looked at the various factors that could instigate the collapse of civilisation like population growth and climate change and found that when they converge that can have devastating effects due to the "stretching of resources" and "the economic stratification of society into 'Elites' and 'Masses'".

Using his handy model Motesharri found that civilisation "appears to be on a sustainable path for quite a long time, but even using an optimal depletion rate and starting with a very small number of Elites, the Elites eventually consume too much, resulting in a famine among the Masses that eventually causes the collapse of society".

But the study highlighted that the disastrous collapse was not yet inevitable and called on the so-called real world 'Elites' to take action now and prevent the worst case scenario becoming a reality.

The scientists write, "Collapse can be avoided and population can reach equilibrium if the per capita rate or depletion of nature is reduced to a sustainable level, and if resources are distributed in a reasonably equitable fashion."

Last year Stephen Hawking and a team of British thinkers announced they were drawing up a 'doomsday list' of the catastrophic events that could devastate the world.

WENN.com

source: newshub archive