This is the way the world ends

Pompei, when Vesuvius erupted.

People had time to flee, not everyone did for various reasons.

It was the boiling frog effect.

Rapa Nui, one of the most isolated islands.

Populated by Indonesian sailors. 15 000 people.

Population declined to 3000 and later 600 to 700 when james cook visited the island.

Civil wars and The diseases brought by the europeans caused the deaths

Invading species of rats also brought down the population of trees and birds.

The ancestral pueblo

They used pit-houses to live in.

They had a practice of sending out groups of people to teach others to farm. A form of defence to avoid them from stealing or invading.

Ruins showed the city was attacked several times. There was evidence of death by blunt trauma to the skull and of cannibalism.

Tribes of the Iroquois confederacy: The haudenosaunce

They faced dangers similar to the ones of the ancestral pueblo.

They managed to bring together the tribes and set up a good governance model.

They inspired benjamin franklin and other founding fathers.

they did some things right

• unification
• peace

The plague

There were three pandemics of plague around the world.

we are looking at the 2nd one.

Half the population of europe died in 4 years.

Jews were blamed of the plague, in fact they were hygienic and that kept them safe.

Some plague doctors were swindlers.

Extreme behaviour was linked to the plague.

• Extreme parity
• Dance macabre

Lisbon earthquake

it happened in 1755 in all saint’s day

Looters were hanged as an example to others.

Marquês de pombal directed the reconstruction and renovation. Estilo Pombalino.

it was the end of the world as they knew it. and knew it. and knew it. love @blaurel tales of apocalypse, reconstruction and grifters. #uxlx pic.twitter.com/zl3PbCVZDC

— alberta soranzo (@albertatrebla) May 25, 2017

Ozone layer

We discovered the cause and implemented cooperation policies to reduce the use of CFC’s. Montreal Protocol.

Yet we haven’t stopped the climate change.

What this means for ux

ux embodies values

general heuristics:

• don’t ignore the boiling frog
• avoid religion and prophecy
• suspect grifters and don’t enable them
• outreach beats isolation

• ---

• model and visualize future outcomes
• communicate those models and visualizations
• inclusively enlist others in strategy and planning

ideas for science

• encourage the flow of data and findings - enable sharing ideas
• celebrate mystery but encourage further exploration
• we need to honor interesting failures as well as success

social health

• expand knowledge sources and domains
• value common interest and common good over common opinion
• resist divisiveness and those who promote it
• practice and enable civility
• accept responsibility for how we shape our world