Can Cultural Evolution Stave Off Global Collapse?

The pat­tern always repeats itself. Civ­i­liza­tions rise and fall. Then new ones take their place. But, some­thing else may be about to hap­pen. There might be an impend­ing col­lapse of our entire glob­al civ­i­liza­tion. Not one major civ­i­liza­tion, but the entire glob­al civ­i­liza­tion, gone. Or, so that’s how Stan­ford pro­fes­sor Paul Ehrlich sees it. Ehrlich, who has been called “one of the most influ­en­tial ecol­o­gists of our age,” sees one thing staving off dis­as­ter. A big shift in cul­ture first and fore­most. A cul­tur­al evo­lu­tion. Watch above.