skepticalscience | One can write hundreds of articles and
books, but still it will be just passive transfer of knowledge. If one
could only sit behind the control panel of our civilization and steer it
through history… It would help understand why in the XX th century our
history happened this way, it would let us look into the future and
understand how our various decisions will influence it. Then, if
something would go wrong, we could draw conclusions and try again. And
once again, until everything is fine…
Do you know "Limits to growth"? Forty
years ago scientists of the Club of Rome prepared a computer model,
showing that our exponentially growing economy, based on nonrenewable
resources, is on a collision course with reality, heading for a crash.
They also showed, that our deliberate intervention in the system’s
dynamics can prevent the disaster.
Here comes "World at the
Crossroads" – a highly playable Windows computer game, prepared by the
Polish ASPO chapter together with European Regional
Environmental Center. The game simulates the rise of the industrial
civilization, from 1900 to 2200. It can be viewed as a model of The
Limits to Growth, commissioned by the Club of Rome in 1972, converted
into a strategy game that helps understand systems dynamics and complex
interactions between Earth and human civilization.
