Didier Sornette
Didier Sornette (researcher) | |
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Born | Didier Sornette 25 June 1957 Paris, France |
Nationality | French |
Alma mater | Ecole Normale Supérieure, University of Nice |
Interests | risk management |
French expert on risk management |
Didier Sornette is a French researcher studying subjects including complex systems and risk management.[1]
Quotes by Didier Sornette
Page | Quote | Date | Source |
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"Overpopulation" | “Overpopulation and the overreliance on irrigation was a major factor in making the Maya vulnerable to failure:
the trigger event of their collapse appears to have been a long drought beginning about 840 A.D. (communication of V. Scarborough, an archaelogist (sic!) from the University of Cincinnati [90]). Among many factors, such as war and plagues, that contributed to many of the collapses of ancient societies, there seem to be two main causes: too many people and too little fresh water. As a consequence, the civilization became vulnerable to environmental stress, for instance, a prolonged drought or a change in climate [90]. The societies themselves appear to have contributed to their own demise by encouraging growth of their population to levels that carried the seeds of their own decline through overexploitation of the land (communication of C. Scarre, an archaelogist (sic!) from the Cambridge University in England [90]). Similarly, the Akkadian empire in Mesopotamia, the Old Kingdom of Egypt, the Indus Valley civilization in India, and early societies in Palestine, Greece, and Crete all collapsed in a catastrophic drought and cooling of the atmosphere between 2300 and 2200 B.C.” | 2003 | Cited as Sornette's personal communication at a conference on “The Collapse of Complex Societies,” San Francisco, Feb. 2001. |
Climate change/Preparation | “Similarly, the Akkadian empire in Mesopotamia, the Old Kingdom of Egypt, the Indus Valley civilization in India, and early societies in Palestine, Greece, and Crete all collapsed in a catastrophic drought and cooling of the atmosphere between 2300 and 2200 B.C.” | 2003 | Cited as Sornette's personal communication at a conference on “The Collapse of Complex Societies,” San Francisco, Feb. 2001. |