Re: Collapse of complex societies
The path through all this is decentralization. I like the new focus on small, local nuclear power systems (their design is safer, too). When solar cells mature, still more electrical energy will be available nearby and not so reliant on a national power distribution system. My home town, when I moved there, had its own power plant. Eventually, it closed in favor of getting our power from somewhere else.
Not just in energy, either. Decentralize politics, finance, and as many other complex systems as possible. The idea is to eliminate the threat that one screwup will bring everything down at once. "Too big to fail" just might be "too big."