Approaching “societal collapse”: New equation shows how quickly humans are wrecking the planet

An article in Salon about climate change and humanity’s environmental impact asks how people might react to the notion of becoming extinct and reports that a UB study suggests we might react peacefully.

The article notes that the study created its observational conditions by using the open world of a multiplayer online role-playing game in which participants were told that in around 11 weeks, all their progress made in the game would be deleted. The article notes that as the deadline approached, rather than grow more violent or greedy, players actually tended to become less aggressive and more cooperative.

Read the Salon story here.

An article also appeared on EcoWatch.