tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527840491496268397.post2851393699956901524..comments2024-03-08T11:20:30.095-07:00Comments on Credit Bubble Stocks: "Euclid, Archimedes and the Antikythera Mechanism"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527840491496268397.post-61013240095001432542014-12-10T19:24:26.769-07:002014-12-10T19:24:26.769-07:00"Civilizations and empires, in the end, are j...<i>"Civilizations and empires, in the end, are just ripples in the ocean of time. They come and go, leaving little except carved stones proclaiming their eternal greatness. But, from the human viewpoint, Empires are vast and long standing and, for some of us, worth fighting for or against. But those who fought in Teutoburg couldn't change the course of history, nor can we. All that we can say - today as at the time of the battle of Teutoburg - is that we are going towards a future world that we can only dimly perceive."</i>CPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12701174164478027499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527840491496268397.post-6529357955780996082014-12-10T19:11:12.894-07:002014-12-10T19:11:12.894-07:00James, from the essay you linked:
"collapse ...James, from the essay you linked:<br /><br /><i>"collapse of the Roman Empire was a complex phenomenon where different negative factors reinforced each other. It was a cascade of negative feedbacks, not a single one, that brought down the empire."</i><br /><br />This reminds me of a book I've been meaning to review: Engineers of Victory, about WWII.CPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12701174164478027499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527840491496268397.post-51813581115005239762014-12-10T18:31:16.805-07:002014-12-10T18:31:16.805-07:00Joseph Tainter in his classic masterpiece "Th...<i>Joseph Tainter in his classic masterpiece "The Collapse of Complex Societies" chronicles precisely what you describe above in considerable and persuasive detail.</i><br /><br />Thanks, I actually have a copy of his book but haven't had time to read it.<br /><br />You might have seen it already, but this article by Ugo Bardi uses Tainter's theories to look at the collapse of Rome:<br />http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/5528Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06597727760854955867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527840491496268397.post-31974418267924960322014-12-10T11:33:39.551-07:002014-12-10T11:33:39.551-07:00@James
"Rome . . . constantly needed to conq...@James<br /><br />"Rome . . . constantly needed to conquer new territories to finance its military and bureaucracy, and once it ran out of conquests-- or the only potential conquests were too poor to justify, as with Germany-- it imploded."<br /><br />Joseph Tainter in his classic masterpiece "The Collapse of Complex Societies" chronicles precisely what you describe above in considerable and persuasive detail.Johnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527840491496268397.post-49497343504311509652014-12-07T11:36:51.860-07:002014-12-07T11:36:51.860-07:00Your correspondent makes a good point about the Ro...Your correspondent makes a good point about the Roman Empire. We-- Americans at least-- tend to think of Rome as a pre-modern analogue of the US, but it was nothing of the sort. The US's growth coincided with the Industrial Revolution, and the US contributed a lot to it. By contrast, the Roman Empire was a period of technological stagnation. Concrete was their only major invention over hundreds of years. And it wasn't just that they didn't invent anything, they actually retarded growth in the ancient Mediterranean. When the Hellenistic world coexisted with Rome, it produced a lot of innovations-- the astrolabe, water wheels, etc. After it was conquered, very little.<br /><br />In its essence, Rome was what Robert Shiller would call a "naturally occurring ponzi process"-- it constantly needed to conquer new territories finance its military and bureaucracy, and once it ran out of conquests-- or the only potential conquests were too poor to justify, as with Germany-- it imploded. In addition to being inherently unstable, it was a system that drained resources from the productive sector.Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06597727760854955867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527840491496268397.post-53804163378585289272014-12-07T10:52:18.560-07:002014-12-07T10:52:18.560-07:00I love these off-topic postsI love these off-topic postsrusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08239712162289804392noreply@blogger.com