Civilization: Institutions, Knowledge and the Future [Video]

Samo Burja
Sep 7, 2018 · 1 min read

On August 23rd I gave a talk organized by the Foresight Institute on some of the topics I regularly write about.

Our civilization is made up of countless individuals and pieces of material technology, which come together to form institutions and interdependent systems of logistics, development and production. These institutions and systems then store the knowledge required for their own renewal and growth.

We pin the hopes of our common human project on this renewal and growth of the whole civilization.

Whether this project is going well is a challenging but vital question to answer.

History shows us we are not safe from institutional collapse. Advances in technology mitigate some aspects, but produce their own risks. Agile institutions that make use of both social and technical knowledge not only mitigate such risks, but promise unprecedented human flourishing.

Watch this video where we investigate this landscape, evaluate our odds, and try to plot a better course.

Samo Burja

Written by

There has never been an immortal society. Figuring out why. I write on history, epistemology and strategy.

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