Fate

Disasters are inherently difficult to predict. When a disaster strikes, however, it is better to be prepared than the Romans were when Mount Vesuvius erupted, or the medieval British during the plague. After all, we are now armed with the results of science. Nevertheless, in 2020, many developed Western countries were unable to act effectively against the new virus coming from China. Why? Building on the results of many disciplines, Doom not only provides a historical overview of various disasters, but also creates a general theory and shows why increasingly bureaucratic and complex political systems handle sudden shocks worse and worse. Doom is a history lesson that the entire Western world urgently needs to learn if we expect ourselves to act more effectively in the face of the next major crisis, and if we do not want to be permanently and irreversibly defeated.