Buckled in on the Trajectory to a Shattering, Systemic Disruption

In this evocative essay, Greg Twemlow warns that modern civilisation is repeating the fatal errors of ancient empires by mistaking technical mastery for immunity from nature. He argues that our obsession with digital infrastructure and hyper-accelerated networks has created a dangerous detachment from the biological systems that actually sustain life. By comparing ancient obsidian tools to modern silicon chips, the author illustrates a persistent human arrogance that prioritises economic momentum over ecological health. Twemlow suggests that we have engineered a crisis of accountability where global supply chains hide the environmental destruction caused by our consumption. To prevent a systemic collapse, he proposes integrating ethical conscience and "slowness" directly into our legal and technological frameworks. Ultimately, the text serves as a call to abandon the illusion of dominion and realign human activity with the non-negotiable boundaries of the Earth. Read the article.About the Author - Greg Twemlow writes and teaches at the intersection of technology, education, and human judgment. He works with educators and businesses to make AI explainable and assessable in classrooms and boardrooms — to ensure AI users show their process and own their decisions. His cognition protocol, the Context & Critique Rule™, is built on a three-step process: Evidence → Cognition → Discernment — a bridge from what’s scattered to what’s chosen. Context & Critique → Accountable AI™. © 2025 Greg Twemlow. “Context & Critique → Accountable AI” and “Context & Critique Rule” are unregistered trademarks (™).