A technique developed by Leverage Research to change one's beliefs to be more coherent.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/v0yy562hg03lrb5/How%20to%20Belief%20Report%20-%200.1%20by%20Leverage%20Research.pdf?dl=0 is a PDF about it. I'm not sure if it gets you the idea fully but you could try learning it from it.
Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations by David Montgomery. Makes the case many civilization collapses are attributable to poor agricultural practices