Patterns of Collapse: A Recursive Examination of Civil Complexity and Its Limits
Collapse is not a singular event but a pattern within a pattern, emerging from the recursive nature of human attempts to manage complexity. Drawing from cybernetics and systems thinking, this article explores the deep patterns underlying civilizational breakdowns, where the feedback loops between economic strain, social organization, and environmental context become maladaptive. By considering the limits of learning and adaptation, it becomes evident that the diminishing returns on complexity are not merely technical problems but epistemological ones. The failure to recognize and manage the systemic relationships that constitute society invites not only decay but a dissolution of meaning itself.
