The financial collapse of 2008, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster are all symptoms of a civilization-level disorder, one that has no name. Let’s call it the Sucker’s Folly: the tendency of concentrated short-term benefit not only to obscure risk and long-term cost, but also to drive acceptance even when the net analysis is negative.12 These events are evidence that we are resting on our cultural laurels and speeding toward disaster, lulled into a false sense of security—and
