Tainter’s studied societies are also Malthusian agricultural ones, it’s hard to know if the same logic will generalize past the industrial revolution.
Well, a case could be made that industrial societies are what Wittfogel called hydraulic empires only with energy rather than water as the vital centrally controlled resource. Then again none of Tainter’s examples appear to be hydraulic empires.
Well, a case could be made that industrial societies are what Wittfogel called hydraulic empires only with energy rather than water as the vital centrally controlled resource. Then again none of Tainter’s examples appear to be hydraulic empires.