The Collapse of Western Civilization

Akari Ishikawa is the sole fictional character outside of the narrator, and she appears indirectly in Chapter 2. She was a genetic engineer from Japan who developed a “lichenized fungus”—Pannaria Ishikawa—that efficiently absorbed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. She released her lichen into the environment; it spread rapidly and lowered the levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The Japanese government denied involvement and criminalized Akari, but Chinese researchers suggest that the government orchestrated the plan and denied involvement in case it had unforeseen consequences.

Akari and her lichen represent multiple concepts. The lichen’s ability to adapt to various environments and to absorb carbon dioxide represents the power of nature to restore balance. However, the quick spreading and the government’s potential involvement reflect the dangerous nature of invasive species. Invasive species are those that out-compete native species, causing environmental degradation and cascading ecological failure. In this way, it also represents the idea that science and technology can cause problems.

The government’s involvement symbolizes different concepts, too. In the case that the government did not sanction the experiments, Akari’s actions help portray government inaction: “[M]any Japanese citizens have seen her as a hero, who did what their government could not, or would not, do” (32). In the case that the experiments were sanctioned but denied, the government’s denial represents governmental corruption. The ambiguity in the discussion of Akari allows the reader to form their own assumptions of what occurred, making the material more open-ended and immersive.

Naomi Oreskes has a multi-faceted career. She is a historian of science, an earth scientist, a professor and lecturer, and an author. Oreskes specializes in multiple research disciplines, including agnotology; the history of science and climate change disinformation; the intersection between science, politics, and religion; and gender studies. She is a professor at Harvard University, teaching the History of Science, and she is an assistant professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

A list of Oreskes’s notable publications include Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming (2010), Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand (2011), Why Trust Science (2019), Discerning Experts: The Practices of Scientific Assessment for Environmental Policy (2019), Science on a Mission: American Oceanography from the Cold War to Climate Change (2021), and The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market (2023).

Oreskes has been awarded numerous times for her professional and academic contributions to society. Her list of awards includes the American Geophysical Union Presidential Citation for Science and Society in 2014, the Public Service Award from the Geological Society of America and the Herbert Feis Prize from the American Historical Association in 2015, the Stephen Schneider Award for Climate Science Communication in 2016, and the British Academy Medal and the American Mary C. Rabbitt Award in 2019 (Department of the History of Science. “Naomi Oreskes.” Harvard University).

Oreskes’s interdisciplinary career makes her well-suited for addressing the themes in The Collapse of Western Civilization, namely The Promotion of Interdisciplinary and Holistic Science. She is also considered an authority figure in many academic fields, including climate change communication and historical analysis. Before and since the publication of The Collapse of Western Civilization, Oreskes has collaborated with Erik M. Conway. This collaboration serves the text by broadening its perspectives and increasing its authority and reliability.

Erik M. Conway, like Oreskes, has had a diverse career. He is a historian of science, technology, and economics, and, as of 2024, he works for California Institute of Technology, or Caltech, as a historian in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Before entering his career as a historian, Conway served in the US Navy, during which time he worked as an electronics technician, damage control assistant, and chief engineer. He is a lecturer and author who has co-authored multiple books with Oreskes, including The Collapse of Western Civilization, The Merchants of Doubt, and The Big Myth. His other works include Atmospheric Science at NASA: A History (2008), Exploration and Engineering: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Quest for Mars (2015), and A History of Near-Earth Objects Research (2021). He and Oreskes were awarded the Helen Miles Davis award from the History of Science Society in 2011 (“Erik M. Conway.” John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation).

Conway brings historical, technological, and economic knowledge to The Collapse of Western Civilization. His academic and experiential background differs from Oreskes’s; however, their fields are relatively similar. This combination allows for diverse discussions on matters related to science and technology, reinforcing the academic tone of the fictional writing.

Oreskes and Conway invoke numerous influential scientists and philosophers. In many cases, the discussion of external scholars helps develop the underlying concepts that are foundational to the overarching textual messages, including the need for changes in science.

René Descartes, a French philosopher born in 1596, is credited as the founder of reductionism. While the historian notes that reductionism is practical in some fields of science, they argue it is not practical in the study of complex systems, like climate systems. References to historical thinkers also feature in the discussion of Positivism and Baconianism. Positivism was introduced by Auguste Comte (1798-1857), and Baconianism originated with Francis Bacon (1561-1626). These principles are widely used in modern science and, in some applications, have undergone relatively little change since their implementation. By drawing attention to the age of these philosophies, the authors emphasize the need for scientific change, advancing The Promotion of Interdisciplinary and Holistic Science.

References to philosophers also help develop the socio-political elements of the text. Karl Marx (1818-1883), a German philosopher, is cited as a historic critic of capitalism and proponent of communism. This reference, along with a brief account of The Great Depression, represent the idea that capitalism has long been criticized as an ineffective socio-economic form that leads to wealth and power inequality. This, in turn, helps form the authors’ satirical depictions of capitalism and their pro-communist attitudes.

The text also features Friedrich von Hayek and Milton Friedman, who are both cited as prominent supporters of neoliberalism. Although these philosophers were publicly recognized for their contributions to the neoliberalist mindset, they also recognized some of the limits of neoliberalism. The fact that these early and prominent supporters of neoliberalism understood the importance of government involvement for the common good helps satirize real-world neoliberalism and anti-government sentiment.