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I don't agree with everything the author said. But there is no doubt that the western world is declining into a mess. it will take the rest of this century to fully decline, but unlike rome it won't take centuries. today, everything happens at the speed of fedex.
I don't agree with everything the author said. But there is no doubt that the western world is declining into a mess. it will take the rest of this century to fully decline, but unlike rome it won't take centuries. today, everything happens at the speed of fedex.
I agree and I believe I have some good insight into this topic. The Roman empire took hundreds of years to really fall, people believe Rome got sacked and that was it, it was actually a really long and slow decay that rapidly increased towards the end. But in this age everything happens faster so I agree if the USA is indeed falling, it might happen in less than 100 years. Some people believe USA has already fallen off the #1 spot.
I came to realize this after speaking with guys who are really into Roman history but perhaps not into American politics. If you listened to these guys are replaced "Rome" with "USA" it sounds like they are talking about today.
1) inflation
2) endless wars, multiple wars, all around the world
3) increased Government spending to keep people happy, food, entertainment
4) increased non Roman leaders
etc
It is really weird, sort of this strange feeling that even the elite of the world are really stupid, not just us common folks.
I agree and I believe I have some good insight into this topic. The Roman empire took hundreds of years to really fall, people believe Rome got sacked and that was it, it was actually a really long and slow decay that rapidly increased towards the end. But in this age everything happens faster so I agree if the USA is indeed falling, it might happen in less than 100 years. Some people believe USA has already fallen off the #1 spot.
I came to realize this after speaking with guys who are really into Roman history but perhaps not into American politics. If you listened to these guys are replaced "Rome" with "USA" it sounds like they are talking about today.
1) inflation
2) endless wars, multiple wars, all around the world
3) increased Government spending to keep people happy, food, entertainment
4) increased non Roman leaders
etc
It is really weird, sort of this strange feeling that even the elite of the world are really stupid, not just us common folks.
In describing the modern day rome, I would put Europe there ahead of the US. Modern Europe was ruined by WWII, if not for the US help. They started importing cheap labor from the middle east after the war. The course of the future is built by each of these decisions and periods. Europe is in the same geographical dynamics that Rome was in. and they can´t escape that.
the US has two weak neighbors and two oceans protecting itself. unlike europe, american immigration is much more diverse, not concentrated on one group, certainly not a hostile group with a historical baggage going back a thousand years. because of america´s location, we will have a very different future than europe. I believe it´s Europe which will slide into the trap that once ended Rome.
If Europe´s policies are set by the left, then their left is terribly idiotic. What´s happening in europe will effectively ruin their welfare state and standards of life, increase unemployment and social tensions, and stagnate their middle class income. It´s like they are trying to have both social democracy and open borders. the results will be disastrous. Combine that with deep and isolated immigrant communities, lack of jobs, complacency, low native birth rates, and enormous cultural differences, europe will simply not head more toward left.
right-wing groups are already rising. if things go worse, there could be civil wars. right wing groups can capture important governments. the eu may break up. europe may face tremendous security threats from within, you name it. none of this points to a future of peaceful social democracy. all of it points to social upheavals.
across the atlantic, in america, the main issue will not be terrorism, but the continuing socioeconomic struggles that will be associated with immigration. The US is several decades behind Europe. There is more demand for a social democracy here, and we may indeed head toward that, but only to find a dead end and utter failure. Europe´s social democracy is already in decline and has no money to fund itself.
Not just Roman Empire, but practically all civilizations have risen and fallen in the same manner. There are sociological studies that were done decades ago that have since been buried because they're not politically correct by today's standards.
Read "Sex and Culture" by J.D. Unwin or "A Study of History" by Arnold Toynbee.
Also, this article gets at what is going on in America from a sociosexual perspective: Talk - Human Evolution
"The Late Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire are well known examples. In these cultures, promiscuity was rampant. But since they still retained the power of an empire, survival was still considerably less of an issue than in a primitive tribe. What is the best mating choice for a woman in this environment? Since survival is not an issue, there is no need for a husband's support. And since there is no punishment for adultery, the sexy son hypothesis fully applies. But this case is far worse than the primitive tribe. The primitive tribe had a balance between the benefit of men as providers and benefit of immoral men in spreading genes through promiscuity. A declining empire has no such balance. The only benefit that is evolutionarily relevant is the ability to reproduce, namely the ability of men to seduce women and to be immoral enough to commit adultery without restraint. So in such a society, this is what women will find attractive and this is the type of men who will be selected for. Such a society will evolve to increase its immorality until it can no longer hold together and collapses."
Empires fail when the ruling classes pay more attention to protecting their privilege than protecting the entire society from the most humble peasant to the richest King from the legalized criminals that control the money supply.
Sexual morality has nothing to do with Imperial success or failure. Economic corruption has everything to do with it. Unfortunately we have been economically corrupted by the very people that call for Free markets while they destroy them with monopolies.
Will we set up another state? That is the bigger issue.
I dream we finally see the light and end the involuntary government paradigm which crushes the body and scorches the soul.
Cognitive psychologists, most notably Steven Pinker, have recognized the sharp decline in violent human behavior over time. Hopefully the stars align and the collapse coincides with a cognitive awakening.
Not just Roman Empire, but practically all civilizations have risen and fallen in the same manner. There are sociological studies that were done decades ago that have since been buried because they're not politically correct by today's standards.
Read "Sex and Culture" by J.D. Unwin or "A Study of History" by Arnold Toynbee.
Also, this article gets at what is going on in America from a sociosexual perspective: Talk - Human Evolution
"The Late Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire are well known examples. In these cultures, promiscuity was rampant. But since they still retained the power of an empire, survival was still considerably less of an issue than in a primitive tribe. What is the best mating choice for a woman in this environment? Since survival is not an issue, there is no need for a husband's support. And since there is no punishment for adultery, the sexy son hypothesis fully applies. But this case is far worse than the primitive tribe. The primitive tribe had a balance between the benefit of men as providers and benefit of immoral men in spreading genes through promiscuity. A declining empire has no such balance. The only benefit that is evolutionarily relevant is the ability to reproduce, namely the ability of men to seduce women and to be immoral enough to commit adultery without restraint. So in such a society, this is what women will find attractive and this is the type of men who will be selected for. Such a society will evolve to increase its immorality until it can no longer hold together and collapses."
No reason for a society to collapse due to sexual immorality as defined by religious nutcases.
Empires fail when the ruling classes pay more attention to protecting their privilege than protecting the entire society from the most humble peasant to the richest King from the legalized criminals that control the money supply.
Sexual morality has nothing to do with Imperial success or failure. Economic corruption has everything to do with it. Unfortunately we have been economically corrupted by the very people that call for Free markets while they destroy them with monopolies.
Give me five examples of non-government monopolies. The monopolies we have to fear are local, state and federal governments.
No reason for a society to collapse due to sexual immorality as defined by religious nutcases.
I don't know, Unwin was a Freudian liberal and yet had to acknowledge his findings. And "religious nutcases" is all relative. Toynbee's concept of the creative minority evolving towards the dominant minority draws a similar path.
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