Springy-Stretchy Civilization

September 11, 2025

Springy-Stretchy Civilization

Twenty-four years ago today I thought civilization was on the brink of collapse—and I’m sure I wasn’t alone in thinking it. And yet here we still are, still on what feels like continuing calamity, more cusp of disaster, but still muddling through.

What things beyond terrorists and dysfunctional politics are there to worry about?

One of them might be rubber. We could botch it somehow and run out of the material. That would (perhaps) spell disaster. If you want a new thought to keep you up at night, contemplate what would happen if a disease or pathogen were to infect the world’s monocrop of rubber trees. Because rubber is essential for just about everything, and the synthetic versions we’ve engineered so far don’t come close to matching the natural substance’s unique (miraculous?) mix of characteristics. And rubber plantations have come close to disaster, not all that long ago.

The YouTube science channel Veratasium has a good overview of the material, its history, and its general significance.

Also known by the Tupí-derived term “caoutchouc,” or variants thereof in different European languages, the chemistry of “India rubber” or “latex” itself is surprising—and amazing. It’s another of those natural gifts from the New World that resulted from the Columbian exchange. Modern life as it has taken shape from the end of the 19th century is inconceivable without the substance.

The Wikipedia entry on rubber is also extensive and full of details.