Fangyuan Cao

   I.           Introduction To begin our inquiry into the nature of civilizational collapse, a definition of relevant terms is obligatory. For the purposes of this essay, “civilizational collapse” shall be defined as a substantial decrease of human populations, and/or of political, scientific, or cultural complexity in some local area. [1] Here, decreasing complexity is defined as the abandoning of advanced technology, economic regression, simplification of social bonds, loss of territory, increased decentralization, reduced trade, and/or curtailed information exchange. [2] In this essay, I contend that civilizations collapse due to anthropological factors, environmental factors, and anthropogenic climate change ( ACC ), otherwise known as “global warming”. Moreover, I argue that our civilization will collapse since anthropogenic factors are immutable, environmental factors are unreliable and unpreventable, and ACC exhibits both properties.   II.           Binary Theory of C