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BlogAnatoly Karlin Archive
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Joseph Tainter
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Joseph Tainter

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Book Review: Joseph Tainter - the Collapse of Complex Societies
•�October 28, 2018
•�4,800 Words •�123 Comments
Joseph Tainter - The Collapse of Complex Societies (1998) Rating: 5/5 Notes: Can be downloaded here. Access my other reviews here: TLDR: Joseph Tainter argues that the root cause of civilizational collapse is because of over-investment into and declining marginal returns on complexity. Societies invest in complexity to solve their problems and typically need to... Read More
Ecotechnic Dictatorship Is Our Last Hope of Averting Collapse
•�January 31, 2010
•�6,500 Words •�40 Comments
As a follow-up to my article on the historical necessity of Green Communism, I would like to 1) refute some common myths and misconceptions about limits to growth-induced collapse, 2) clarify the concept of Green Communism, and 3) elucidate why the only realistic way to prevent collapse now is to force through a "sustainable retreat"... Read More
Cliodynamics: Mathematizing History
•�December 4, 2009
•�4,900 Words •�5 Comments
One of the most interesting emerging sciences today, in my opinion, is cliodynamics. Their practitioners attempt to come to with mathematical models of history to explain "big history" - things like the rise of empires, social discontent, civil wars, and state collapse. To the casual observer history may appear to be chaotic and fathomless, devoid... Read More
Review of “Kicking Away the Ladder” by Ha-Joon Chang
•�October 19, 2009
•�2,800 Words •�6 Comments
Chang, Ha-Joon – Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (2002) Category: economy; history; industrial policy; Rating: 5/5 Summary: Kicking Away the Ladder:How the Economic and Intellectual Histories of Capitalism Have Been Re-Written to Justify Neo-Liberal Capitalism (Ha-Joon Chang) Much has been said of the smug arrogance, cultural aloofness and end-of-history conceit characterizing... Read More
The Belief Matrix
•�July 20, 2009
•�3,700 Words •�9 Comments
Consequent to my post Categorizing the Russia Debate and the lively debate it spawned, it occurred to me that much of Russia's tortured and intriguing history could be rationalized as a self-reinforcing loop within a belief matrix. This can even be extended further to many other societies - I will also have similar posts up... Read More
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Anatoly Karlin
About Anatoly Karlin

I am a blogger, thinker, and businessman in the SF Bay Area. I’m originally from Russia, spent many years in Britain, and studied at U.C. Berkeley.

One of my tenets is that ideologies tend to suck. As such, I hesitate about attaching labels to myself. That said, if it’s really necessary, I suppose “liberal-conservative neoreactionary” would be close enough.

Though I consider myself part of the Orthodox Church, my philosophy and spiritual views are more influenced by digital physics, Gnosticism, and Russian cosmism than anything specifically Judeo-Christian.