X-Events. Casti, John L.

Аннотация к книге "X-Events" Casti, John L.:
A An acclaimed theorist offers a provocative and chilling warning: today's advanced societies have grown overcomplex and highly vulnerable to extreme events that could topple civilization The modern industrialized world is a complex system on a scale never before witnessed in the history of humankind. Technologically dependent, globally interconnected, it offers seemingly limitless conveniences, choices, and opportunities. Yet this same modern civilization may be as unstable as a house of cards, fear complexity scientists like John Casti. All it would take to 'downsize' our way of life to send us crashing back to the nineteenth century is a nudge from what Casti calls an 'X-event,' an unpredictable occurrence with extreme, even dire, consequences. When an X-event strikes and scientists believe it will finance, communication, defense, and travel will stop dead in their tracks. The flow of food, electricity, medicine, and clean water will be disrupted for months, if not years. What will Читать дальше…