Byzantium was in decline for seven centuries until the Ottomans pulled the plug. Rome was in decline for several centuries prior to its sacking.

Climate change and the accompanying plagues, droughts, famines, and calamities that accompany it might accelerate and exacerbate the state's capacity and willingness to respond to these crises, but all it might mean is that this is a new normal added to the reproleterization of American life.

I don't really have a point but it is just a thought that I (perhaps others) are going to have to accept that future, and that is a kind of new world I am unsure as to how to adapt to.

  • Bob [he/him,he/him]
    1·
    4 years ago

    ye i mean in the past a civilizational collapse / "dark age" in the area of the dominant empire usually happens whenever the empire truly collapses as a grand scale, end of the bronze age, western roman empire, etc, so I'd imagine that'll happen with all the ancillary shit going on (climate change etc) People compare it to the western roman empire or the UK or whatever but I think it's probably gonna be like the end of the bronze age oopsies (fun fact huge parts of the world lost written language lmfao)

    and specifically with the UK reference, I don't think that's similar because they can just be subsumed into the grander vision of the US in their decline. With the collapse of the US you've got all sorts of other shit to worry about and it's not like someone is just taking that slot unless China gets in on it, but i just dont see that happening yolo, probably more like bronze age where everything just collapses and then there's a period of "dark age" whatever that'll mean in the modern context, rather than a decline and rise of another power

    • sailorfish [she/her]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Have you ever read Eric Cline's 1177BC? It's about the collapse of the Bronze Age. He wrote it as a historical/archaeological book, not overtly political, but reading it I kept thinking aha, and now imagine it's 2022AD...

      • PresterJohnBrown [any]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Imagine being in England being too stupid to fix any of the Roman ruins that were slowly crumbling around you for 1000 years. Imagine 1000 years of not knowing how to fix an aqueduct that you rely on for water.

          • PresterJohnBrown [any]
            ·
            4 years ago

            I don't mean "not" I mean literally can't. As in, nobody even knows how to do it and nobody has for centuries. Imagine if our technology was still from the 17th century and also nobody knew how to fix it when it broke so it just... stayed broken forever and became a ruin.

      • Bob [he/him,he/him]
        1·
        4 years ago

        ye actually, though id disagree that it isn't political, it has a pretty clear message about what he thinks of syrian refugees iirc