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Fall of Rome, a long running process that for the outskirts of the empire meant people lived and were fed better based on the increased bone density of their re
by antman 6y ago
Fall of Rome, a long running process that for the outskirts of the empire meant people lived and were fed better based on the increased bone density of their remains.
So we have a metric of resources you need to keep people under control vs resources you would need to release to people if you did not control them.
This number is currently very low through automation, fake news optimisation etc.
So elites get all the resources secondly they give out to affiliates (Roman's debts forgiven, discount wheat for Romans, land to 75k Romans) then it becomes unsustainable because it has giveaways have no solid economic foundation, then affiliates become strong, then make everyone Roman so as to dilute power and then the former affiliated secondary elites stop helping and/or revolt and through their organizational capability also everybody else joins them, sometimes through unrelated incidents.
But Rome has already fallen years ago, and after the actual rubber stamp, most people except those at the center of empire are better off. What is missed, is products of economies of scale, but people have already learnt to hate them along the insurmountable accompanying taxes.
- boomboomsubban 6y ago>So elites get all the resources secondly they give out to affiliates (Roman's debts forgiven, discount wheat for Romans, land to 75k Romans) then it becomes unsustainable because it has giveaways have no solid economic foundation, then affiliates become strong, then make everyone Roman so as to dilute power and then the former affiliated secondary elites All of these events happened around the end of the Roman Republic. Blaming them for the "Fall of Rome" that happened around five hundred years later is just ridiculous. A rough equivalent would be blaming Columbus for America's current problems.
- CamTin 6y agoA lot, if not most, of America's current problems are the result of the settler-colonial pattern that Columbus established.
- boomboomsubban 6y agoWhile this is broadly true, it's like saying Alexander Graham Bell is responsible for me dropping my cell phone. Yes, if Columbus had acted differently we might not have these problems, but there are countless other situations since then where a different choice may have alleviated though problems.
- antman 6y agoThe point being that it was a long process that took centuries during the last few of them was irreversible. That long process and its subsequent conclusion was perceived as positive event for most of its subjects, and in some important aspect it really was.