civilization collapse

I have not read the book - just this essay. Seems similar to "Agriculture: the demon engine of civilization" by John Zerzan. Full text here. Review of Zerzan's work here. However an interesting tangential question is why only 10,000 years ago? Why not earlier? Art appears. Climate supports agriculture. Also we have the discoveries in 2005 of mirror neurons. How stuff works - stuff you should know podcast here - listen. The article with the mind experiment that was the basis for the Matrix can be read here.

The best book to date outlining the REAL threats to civilization collapse. Thoroughly researched and documented with an exhaustive and enlightening bibliography. There is at least one threat Smil has overlooked - the sunspot cycle identified by NASA that may cause $1 to $2 trillion in damages. Story here. Link to Google Books Link to Amazon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_fuel#Jet_biofuels Oil prices increased about fivefold from 2003 to 2008, raising fears that world petroleum production is becoming unable to keep up with demand. The fact that there are few alternatives to petroleum for aviation fuel adds urgency to the search for alternatives. Twenty-five airlines were bankrupted or stopped operations in the first six months of 2008, largely due to fuel costs.[21]