Open course "The Rise and Fall of Complex Societies", Jay Silverstein. Lecture 9 | SAS UTMN
This lecture revisits themes of societal collapse, referencing Tainter’s analysis of the Western Roman, Maya, and Chacoan civilizations, emphasizing diminishing returns on complexity. It introduces the concept of distance decay — the loss of efficiency over distance — illustrated across disciplines, including physics, biology, and economics. The Aztec Empire serves as a case study to demonstrate how distance decay impacted trade and resource distribution, particularly in transporting staples like corn.
This lecture revisits themes of societal collapse, referencing Tainter’s analysis of the Western Roman, Maya, and Chacoan civilizations, emphasizing diminishing returns on complexity. It introduces the concept of distance decay — the loss of efficiency over distance — illustrated across disciplines, including physics, biology, and economics. The Aztec Empire serves as a case study to demonstrate how distance decay impacted trade and resource distribution, particularly in transporting staples like corn.