collapse of the old society

The death of a civilization is inevitable just as the death of an individual is inevitable. Just like individuals, civilizations have a life span - they're born, then they live, then they die.

And there's a significant fact about civilizations nearing collapse that the cited author apparently neglects to note, and that unfortunately completely negates the "we need dramatic social and technological changes" prescription: due to the concentration of wealth and power in a relatively few hands (which the author does note, though only in passing), the populations of terminally ill civilizations can be roughly divided into two groups - the poor and powerless many who would make changes but can't, and the rich and powerful few who could make changes but won't.