Abstract

The complexity of the urban, interconnected modern world, combined with the complexity of a changing planet, makes the future unpredictable and uncertain. How societies can prepare and manage for unpredictable times raises fundamental questions about how society can persist through uncertainty. Nature’s experience over billions of years with survival through swings in climate, crashing asteroids, and self-inflicted extinctions provides surprising and counter-intuitive clues for us, with lessons for the architecture of trade networks, collective decisions, and investments to maintain biological and cultural diversity.

Followed by a drinks reception. Please register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/natures-secrets-for-uncertain-times-with-professor-ruth-defries-tickets-90978373765