Collapsology (SOCIETAL COLLAPSE, LOL!) with Joseph Tainter

崩溃学(社会崩溃,哈哈!)与约瑟夫·泰因特

Ologies with Alie Ward

2026-07-01

1 小时 27 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

What is your Roman Empire? It’s about to be this episode. What causes the big dogs to stumble and fall? Do societies collapse suddenly, or would one notice as it happens? What *is* a complex society – and is it better than a simple one? Depends on who you ask, and we went straight to the source: the legendary anthropologist, scholar, historian and author of “The Collapse of Complex Societies,” Dr. Joseph Tainter. New obsession awaits you in the fall of the Roman Empire, cities lost to the desert dust, diminishing returns, fiddling amid the flames, the worst beard in history, fossil fuels, fertilizer, bread, circus, hanging chads, and if you should go live on a small goat farm. Happy 250th birthday to the currently United States of America! Follow Dr. Tainter on Google Scholar Buy his book, The Collapse of Complex Societies A donation went to Utah State University's Ecology Center More episode sources and links Other episodes you may enjoy: Classical Archeology (ANCIENT ROME), Revolutionology (REBELLIONS & SOCIAL CHANGE), Futurology (THE FUTURE), Nomology (THE CONSTITUTION), Genealogy (FAMILY TREES), Agnotology (IGNORANCE), Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY), Syndesiology (CONNECTIONS), Space Archaeology (SPACE JUNK), Astrobromatology (SPACE FOOD), Paternology (FATHERHOOD) 400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes Sponsors of Ologies Transcripts and bleeped episodes Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes! Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee Managing Director: Susan Hale Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth Transcripts by Aveline Malek  Website by Kelly R. Dwyer Theme song by Nick Thorburn Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
更多

单集文稿 ...

  • Oh, hey, it's the smoldering core in your bag of charred popcorn.

  • Alley word.

  • And yes, collapsology.

  • It's a real word.

  • And it's all about the fall of empires and the disintegration of societal complexity.

  • So thisologist is an anthropologist, historian, a legend, a one-of-a-kind expert in the field,

  • literally wrote the book on the topic titled The Collapse of Complex Societies.

  • And he also authored The Way the Wind Blows, Climate, History,

  • and Human Action, as well as the book Drilling Down, The Gulf Oil Debacle and Our Energy Dilemma.

  • Consultant and continued to teach as a professor of environment

  • and society in the College of Natural Resources at Utah State University until just very recently.

  • I listened to the audio book of The Collapse of Complex Societies alongside your pod mother,

  • Jarrett Sleeper, on a road trip.

  • And Mercedes Maitland is also a fan of this ologist's work.

  • And she produced and did a huge amount, like nearly all the research for this episode.

  • This one is steered by her MVP.

  • And so we were certainly more familiar with him than he was of us.

  • So it might be geology.

  • It might be, in this case, collapsology.

  • I'm just interested that there is such a term.