| Autor: |
Jaffe, Yitzchak, Caramanica, Ari, Price, Max D. |
| Předmět: |
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| Zdroj: |
Humanities & Social Sciences Communications; 12/7/2023, Vol. 10 Issue 1, p1-12, 12p |
| Abstrakt: |
Scholarship on human–environment interactions tends to fall under two headings: collapse or resilience. While both offer valid explanatory frameworks for human–environment dynamics, both view stress as a net negative that, if unchecked, disrupts systems in equilibrium. Societies either succumb to stress (and collapse) or overcome stress and persist (demonstrate resilience). We re-evaluate the role of stress and advocate for a non-equilibrium approach to the study of past human–environment interactions. We draw inspiration from Nasim Taleb's concept of 'antifragility', which posits a positive role of stress for increasingly complex systems. We apply antifragility as an explanatory framework to pre-Hispanic coastal Peru, where indigenous farmers adapted to the stresses of highly variable El Niño events through a variety of water management systems. Finally, we note that an antifragility approach highlights the beneficial role of stressors, and that avoiding stress altogether makes a system more fragile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Databáze: |
Complementary Index |
| Externí odkaz: |
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