1200 BCE

The Bronze Age witnessed the growth of the first great civilisations, linked by complex trade, political and cultural ties; at its height, this network stretched from the Mediterranean to the Indus Valley. Yet, over the course of half a century, many of these states collapsed entirely owing to environmental and anthropogenic factors. The scale of ruin was so great that some historians have claimed it to have had far greater repercussions than the fall of the Western Roman Empire, ushering in the first great dark age.

"Aeneas fleeing from burning Troy" by the 16th century Flemish painter Kerstiaen de Keuninck is set in the backdrop of the Bronze Age collapse.

"Aeneas fleeing from burning Troy" by the 16th century Flemish painter Kerstiaen de Keuninck is set in the backdrop of the Bronze Age collapse.

33 CE

The reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius was marked by by frugal public investment, leading to large stagnant fiscal reserves. Despite this, gold and silver regularly flowed out from the Empire to import luxury goods, particularly from India. When Roman courts began to enforce a usury law instituted almost a century ago by Julius Caesar, a credit crunch occurred as many lenders recalled their loans early. The ensuing domino effect saw real estate prices fall sharply, banks fail and interest rates rise sharply, mirroring the financial crisis of 2007–2008.

1st century mural from Pompeii depicting a multi-generational family participating in a banquet.

1859

A massive solar flare triggered the Carrington Event, unleashing an unprecedented global geomagnetic storm that lasted an entire week, wiping out telegraphic communication across Europe and North America. If a solar storm on the same scale took place today, it would cause an internet apocalypse, sending countless people and businesses offline; a joint report by Lloyd's estimates that the ensuing economic damage would amount to USD 2.6 trillion in the US alone.

Frederic Edwin Church's 1865 painting "Aurora Borealis " is considered to be inspired by the Carrington Event of 1859.

Frederic Edwin Church's 1865 painting "Aurora Borealis " is considered to be inspired by the Carrington Event of 1859.

2020

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecendented disruptions in the supply chain of critical semiconductor chips required for the manufacture of a wide spectrum of electronics, both consumer and industrial. Combined with the pressures of a rising demand in PCs for work from home policies, increasing demand of GPUs to power bitcoin mining and AI platforms, US-China trade conflicts, the Russia-Ukraine war and climatic events, the 2020 global chip shortage continues to this day.

AI art of computer chip inlaid with mother-of-pearl design, generated by Stable Diffusion on OpenArt.

AI art of computer chip inalid with mother-of-pearl design, generated by Stable Diffusion on OpenArt.

Sustainability is not an option

It is the only option. Complex human systems—be it civilisations, institutions or technologies—are fragile and prone to failure. More often than not, these failures creep in from outliers. Time and again, history has shown that these systems need to scale their capacity to actively monitor and solve their problems in order to be sustainable.

Learning from the past and looking to the future, Fifth Estate is pledged to building tools that can help modern enterprises navigate the complex trade-offs required to be sustainable—both economically and ecologically. Because sustainable enterprises can take greater risks, explore new horizons and push society to a better world.