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It is interesting to note that if you read Roman generals' letters from the fourth/fifth centuries AD, they seem like they have no idea that their civilization
by voldacar 6y ago
It is interesting to note that if you read Roman generals' letters from the fourth/fifth centuries AD, they seem like they have no idea that their civilization is in the late stages of decline, something totally easy for us to recognize millennia later. It's weird and uncanny, and kind of concerning given contemporary circumstances
- Ericson2314 6y agoActually, that's reassuring. Virtually everyone agrees we are in a state of decline right now.
- treeman79 6y agoCovid aside, which is self inflicted, I highly disagree.
- Voliokis 6y agoFunny, I agree with him because of things like Covid being self-inflicted. We're so unable, as a species, to avoid even known risks (yes, we've known about the risk of new Coronaviruses since SARS), prepare for them, or deal with them when they've actually occurred. Even now, a not insignificant part of the US population thinks Covid is a hoax. Or that climate change is a hoax. We're reaching a point where catastrophic failure is just a stone's throw away, and we're already seeing the system buckle (rise of the Republican's hold over Congress, the rise of Trump, the rise of far right activists across Europe, growing environmental issues causing things like surges of refugees and civil war, unrest across the globe, etc.). It's only going to get worse from here as problems go unsolved and people's suffering grows.
- SpicyLemonZest 6y agoRespectfully, politicians you don't like gaining power isn't evidence of the system buckling. The other issues aren't exactly unconcerning, but I think we have to acknowledge that this is a quite peaceful time. For most of history, what we call "unrest" was the status quo, and there were in addition wars of open territorial conquest which are nearly extinct today.
- Voliokis 6y agoConsidering the things the Republicans and Trump have done in the past years, it's not just about "not liking Republicans".
- Ericson2314 6y agoIf you believe: - Continued urbanization is essential to growth as we know it - Non-urban voters are less attuned to what cities need to grow Then regardless of political ideology, our disticts + FPTP method of growing makes non-negligible growth of the real economy very difficult.
- refurb 6y agoYou may want to refresh your knowledge of American history. All those things you flag have always existed. It’s no different now. History tends to get highly filtered and very little attention is paid to the incredibly bumpy road those times represent.
- Voliokis 6y agoYes, yes, ignore the catastrophic consequences of climate change and the political unrest that we're already seeing because of it. "We've had all this before, it's fine". Oh fuck off.
- dang 6y agoWe've banned this account for repeatedly breaking the site guidelines. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.
- refurb 6y agoStrongly disagree we’re (the US) in decline at all. If you think we are, you’d have to agree that the EU is post-decline. The UK, France (the list goes on) are all countries that are past their peak of power, influence and prestige. But I would argue those EU countries haven’t declined in a negative sense. They’ve just evolved into something other than a global superpower.
- NotSammyHagar 6y agoStrongly, why? The us is declining in lifespan, people's happiness, education, govt and this was all before covid. Cv19 failures have revealed the problems more than ever. Europe has some issues too but they don't have the same systemic failures we have. Also, Europe can be independently successful or failing from the us.
- HeadsUpHigh 6y agoFrance is not past their peak of power unless you count centuries old empires. UK and Germany sure, neither of them have any strong foreign policies and especially the UK isolated itself by their own decision. France in comparison is building alliances in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Africa. I believe they have a lot of growth in their future. They are far form done and very much realpolitik and with expansion in mind( plus one of the few countries that still holds colonies across the world).
- voldacar 6y agothe EU is the white dwarf of human societies
- seertaak 6y agoThat's really interesting. Do you know if this cluelessness extended beyond the military elites?
- OSS542 6y agoDo you have any references for these letters ? It would be very interesting to read through them.