3 ms·
> totally drops the central themes of lifecycles of empires. That theme is very much out of fashion, you even have people trying to argue that the Roman Empire
by lupusreal 3y ago
> totally drops the central themes of lifecycles of empires.
That theme is very much out of fashion, you even have people trying to argue that the Roman Empire never went into decline. Everything always gets better, because technology, the inevitability of progress, etc. Anybody who worries about decline is a reactionary, etc.
Personally I think it fell out of fashion because it makes Americans nervous. It's more comforting to think that we're at "the end of history" and American global hegemony will be forever. The Foundation is just too challenging for modern audiences.
- willis936 3y agoThat's the thing I liked the most about the books. It was so painfully obvious that empires fall and rise that a mere human could predict the details of how it would happen. It's hand wavy sci-fi, but it's a fun setting and it does really push the point. The change in rhetoric, stagnation of culture, centralization of wealth, talks of secession, they're all markers of a declining empire. It's already happened.