Why do societies collapse? Some famous examples include Easter Island, the Maya, the Roman Empire, and the Chinese dynasties. The speaker has developed mathematical models for these historical cases and the talk will focus on the general lessons that can be learned from them. The main topics covered include a historical background on collapse, the role of complexity and feedback mechanisms, the modelling methodology and criteria, how time scales matter, why networks of societies can be more sustainable and if time permits will discuss some implications for modern society.
26/09/2024 at 13.00
Modelling the collapse of complex societies
Sabin Roman
Modelling the collapse of complex societies
Department of Knowledge Technologies, Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana
Dr. Sabin Roman has a degree in theoretical physics from the University of Edinburgh, and a PhD in complex systems simulation from the University of Southampton. The focus of his research is on the mathematical modelling of societal dynamics and collapse which he carried out at Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge, UK (https://www.cser.ac.uk/team/sabin-roman) before joining the Jožef Stefan Institute as a SMASH fellow, where he's employing automated equation discovery to facilitate modelling.
Sabin Roman
Department of Knowledge Technologies, Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana
Dr. Sabin Roman has a degree in theoretical physics from the University of Edinburgh, and a PhD in complex systems simulation from the University of Southampton. The focus of his research is on the mathematical modelling of societal dynamics and collapse which he carried out at Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge, UK (https://www.cser.ac.uk/team/sabin-roman) before joining the Jožef Stefan Institute as a SMASH fellow, where he's employing automated equation discovery to facilitate modelling.
