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Acknowledgments A Note On Language Prologue (excerpt) |
| Part 1: Cassandra’s Dilemma |
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Chapter 1: When Worlds Collide |
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The astonishing tale of a small book called The Limits to Growth, and the mystery of how a computer model called “World3” shook the foundations of the real World, and then was promptly forgotten. (excerpt) |
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Chapter 2: A Brief History of Cassandra’s Dilemma |
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Wherein we trace the development of humanity’s growing awareness of certain very dangerous global trends, and how it came to pass that the warnings about these were mostly ignored, leading up to the tragic story of a political prince named Al Gore who shied away from his own gift of prophecy. |
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Chapter 3: In the Gallery of Global Trends |
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Wherein the author plays the role of tour guide in an art gallery, in which the exhibits are various charts and graphs and measurements, all in dire need of creative explanation. (excerpt) |
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Chapter 4: It’s the System |
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Wherein the author introduces the arcane language of system dynamics, and proceeds to dispel confusion and guilt in the globally aware reader by explaining the true origin of Cassandra’s Dilemma. |
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Chapter 5: Cassandra’s Laughter, Cassandra’s Tears |
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In order to talk the reader through the range of feelings that often befall those with an intensified awareness of likely global calamity, the author tells something of his personal story, touching on serious emotional issues and recounting an amusing anecdote about cows. |
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Chapter 6: Armageddon, Utopia, or Both? |
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Reflections on the curious phenomenon of "longing for the end of the World," an inspiring consultation with two practitioners of the dismal science of Economics, and in between an introduction to a new computer model that suggests that the difference between Armageddon and Utopia might be a matter of perspective. |
| Part 2: Reinventing the World |
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Chapter 7: The Future in a Word |
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Wherein we introduce, finally, after much beating around the bush, the “S” word and explain it in ways that will (possibly) silence its critics once and for all while rallying people to its flag. |
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Chapter 8: The Proof of the Possible |
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Wherein the reader is offered examples from far and wide of beautiful initiatives to reinvent the World, or at least certain small pieces of it, and presented with the story of a volunteer group in a rainy city that helped, quite by accident, to accelerate an international movement in the use of charts and graphs. |
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Chapter 9: The Innovation diffusion Game |
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Monkeys, amoebas, citrus, and a primer on “innovation diffusion theory,” rather playfully reinterpreted by the author, together with the presentation of a simple equation that explains how to change the World. |
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Chapter 10: Accelerate to Survive |
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Wherein we summarize the preceding nine chapters, draw three enormously optimistic conclusions, and ponder the genuinely bright prospects for a speedy global transformation revealed in the bleakest assessment of our circumstances. |
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Coda Notes Sources Index |
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