Civilization as we know it is ending, prominent forecaster says

According to ecologist Crawford Holling, complex systems go through cycles of four phases: growth, maturity, release (or breakdown), and exploration (or reconfiguration). In a paper that just appeared, a prominent forecaster claims that human civilization is currently in the release phase, meaning we will soon have to dramatically reconfigure our social and economic order. What are we to make of this? Let’s take a look.