Human civilisation is headed for collapse. Collectively, we are pushing planet Earth beyond the limits of endurance. There has to be a better way. Now a new book makes the case for systemic change.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Civilisation
Displaying 1 - 20 of 21 articles
Urban spaces are a repository of people’s beliefs, memories and collective conscience.
Many of the artefacts Ethiopia is famous for are found in Tigray. Their continued destruction could lead to irreversible culture shock and social collapse.
Today, Homo sapiens regularly use psychoactive chemicals to modify the mind – but how did it all begin?
Overhunting of megafauna such as mammoths may have force us to take up farming, ultimately leading to modern society
Many of the world’s greatest photographers focus on our shared human experience in a milestone exhibition.
It’s time for a more reasonable, hybrid definition of civilisation that incorporates our Indigenous heritage.
Stone working is one of the most successful technologies used by humans, from 3.3 million years ago to the present day. So don’t think its “primitive”.
Five decades on from the original series our idea of what makes civilisation has broadened.
Nothing displays the ethical superiority of one’s values better than to treat a foe with the respect due another human being.
The new Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation aims to ‘revive’ liberal arts and the humanities. Yet the ‘civilisation’ model of history is now viewed as deeply flawed.
Humans aren’t alone in wanting to take revenge – some animals like to get their own back too.
The Greco-Roman society believed that people weren’t born human, they became human. But how can humanity be defined?That’s what the project of decolonising the humanities could be dedicated to.
Look back into prehistory and it’s all about trusting strangers.
A handy guide to rebooting human civilisation.
Insects developed technology long before we did, so perhaps they can show us how to use it without damaging the planet.
2015 will likely be a degree warmer than before people started pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The last time the world was this hot wasn’t great for civilisation.
According to British historian Arnold Toynbee, “History is just one damned thing after another.” Or is it? That is the question Peter Turchin of the University of Connecticut in Storrs tries to answer…
Climate change sparked the political and economic turmoil that hastened the collapse of formerly prosperous civilisations in regions such as Greece and Syria towards the end of the 13th century BC, a new…
The evidence for a rapid shift in state of the terrestrial atmosphere-ocean system over the last two centuries (see figure 1) requires a deep time perspective, beyond events of the day. Tracing the original…
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Earth and paleo-climate scientist, Australian National University
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Senior Lecturer in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences at the University of Bath, University of Bath
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Honorary Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney
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Associate Professor in Archaeology and Space Studies, Flinders University
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Faculty Member of The School of Life, London, University of Oxford
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Lecturer, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide
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Lecturer in Cultural Evolution, University of Exeter
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Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of California, Davis
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Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University
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Professor of Ethnography, UNSW Sydney
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Professor Emeritus in Organization Studies, University of Bath
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Professor of Science Communication, University of Westminster
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Senior Lecturer in Biology, Brunel University London
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Professor of History, School Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences, University of Newcastle
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Research Associate, University of York
