Social Cycles
filed in Uncategorized on Apr.19, 2002
It occurs to me that societies go through a cycle.
First they are fairly nomadic and aggressive in nature, expanding by conquest and subjugation. Then when they have a bit of land, people start settling it, which leads to agriculture, then a division of labor that allows people to spend more time on intellectual pursuits. Now that the society is making more efficient use of it’s land, it has less need for conquest. Because the society is becoming more intellectual it has less desire for conquest. There is an inevitable shift of energy away from aggression towards more peaceful advancement of the society, leading to a golden age. The golden age declines when the society becomes spoiled by it’s advancement and loses touch with the reality of it’s lifestyle. Then it is conquered by an aggressive society.
That’s how I see it from where I’m sitting anyway.
Apr 19th, 2002 on 6:57 am
“And so Western Civilization Crumbles…”
Apr 19th, 2002 on 7:42 am
Yeah.. that’s about right.
But I don’t think that the Americans are quite ready to have their global power usurped just yet as they are still playing the role of aggressor.
Washington does not burn. Nor does New York, really.
Apr 19th, 2002 on 12:51 pm
We are so fucked.
Apr 21st, 2002 on 2:11 am
This is where D&D parallels reality.
“Let’s kill them and take their stuff!”
Apr 24th, 2002 on 8:55 pm
out of curiosity, what sparked that train of thought? contemplating the demise of the Romans?
Apr 24th, 2002 on 11:39 pm
I don’t really remember. I think about repeating patterns a lot though.
Apr 25th, 2002 on 2:38 pm
Me too. Seems to me that near-cyclical patterns appear in just about everything. Wish I could explain it all better, but I’ve often thought that life itself was a matter of upwardly-spiraling complexity.
Apr 26th, 2002 on 12:58 am
Everything is fractalline in nature. For some reason everything is made up of infinitely repeating patterns, and the patterns are even expressed in our sociological interactions.
That’s what I think anyway.
May 10th, 2002 on 9:25 pm
What spawned this train of thought?
I was just a wee-bit intoxicated that night, but I seem to recall elements of this coming up in a discussion we were having
May 11th, 2002 on 10:06 am
Re: What spawned this train of thought?
I was plagerising myself.
May 11th, 2002 on 10:22 pm
Re: What spawned this train of thought?
Is that possible? Heh.
May 11th, 2002 on 10:40 pm
Re: What spawned this train of thought?
YOU DOUBT ME??!!!
May 11th, 2002 on 11:48 pm
Re: What spawned this train of thought?
Not at all. You are capable of many impossible things ;D