Slate Daily Feed artwork

Gist: Don’t Mind Us, We’re Just Collapsing

Slate Daily Feed

English - January 25, 2017 23:15 - 25 minutes - ★★★★ - 1K ratings
Business News News Society & Culture politics news interview comedy entrepreneurship culture books health government startups Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Previous Episode: Trumpcast: A Strategy for Dealing with the BS Parade
Next Episode: DoubleX Gabfest: The "I Know What a Uterus Looks Like Now" Edition

The Dow hitting 20,000 might sounds like great news to you, but to anthropologist Arthur Demarest, it’s an ominous echo of what he’s seen befall the Maya, the Aztecs, and the Inca: a spectacular apogee followed by collapse. Demarest studies the decline of civilizations. He says his research has shown that societies that avoid total disintegration undergo some other kind of major political or economic crisis.
For the Spiel, good news. We’ve fixed the Oscars. 
Today’s sponsor: Policy Genius. Shop and compare all the top-rated life insurance companies in one place. Go to PolicyGenius.com today to save over 70 percent off other prices for life insurance.
Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Dow hitting 20,000 might sounds like great news to you, but to anthropologist Arthur Demarest, it’s an ominous echo of what he’s seen befall the Maya, the Aztecs, and the Inca: a spectacular apogee followed by collapse. Demarest studies the decline of civilizations. He says his research has shown that societies that avoid total disintegration undergo some other kind of major political or economic crisis.

For the Spiel, good news. We’ve fixed the Oscars. 

Today’s sponsor: Policy Genius. Shop and compare all the top-rated life insurance companies in one place. Go to PolicyGenius.com today to save over 70 percent off other prices for life insurance.

Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices