Complexity, Problem Solving, and Sustainable Societies, Joseph A. Tainter (1996)
The article discusses the evolution of problem-solving systems and their implications for sustainability. It highlights how practical solutions, while necessary, can lead to increased complexity and diminishing returns, as seen in historical examples like the Roman Empire. The author emphasizes the need for a deeper understanding of these patterns to effectively address contemporary environmental and economic challenges.
- ▪Historical examples show that practical solutions can lead to increased complexity and diminishing returns.
- ▪The Roman Empire's responses to crises weakened it over time despite being practical.
- ▪Environmental problem-solving faces constraints that can lead to higher costs and complexity.
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Figure 4.4. Productivity of the U.S. health care system, 1930-1982 (data from Worthington 1975; U.S. Bureau of Census 1983). Productivity index = (Life expentancy)/(National health expenditures as percent of GNP). Implications of the Examples The Roman Empire, industrialism, and science are important, not only for their own merits, but also because they exemplify: (1) how problem solving evolves along a path of increasing complexity, higher costs, and declining marginal returns (Tainter 1988), and (2) some different outcomes of that process. In the next section, I discuss what these patterns imply for our efforts to address contemporary problems. PROBLEM SOLVING, ENERGY, AND SUSTAINABILITY This historical discussion gives a perspective on what it means to be practical and sustainable.
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