Is this the End?..

[miller]

for many reasons civilizations rise and fall, the Romans lost most of their power because they got lazy and decided that it would be best to just hire a military... and while Americans are fat and lazy... if we feel threatened (i mean like pearl harbor, go to war or lose our homes, not fight little country's for no real reason) then we all will pick up our guns and fight for this country

as you stated some civilizations perished because of over use of resources, but we have been actively trying to find alternative means to keep us going

as for everything being made in one spot, well we live in a free trade country which encourages competition, so... there are a ton of different people making the same product, so if Chevy goes under... we just buy Chrysler, or if trident stops making toothpaste, we buy crest.

We wont go down by an abuse of power because with all the checks and balances in the government... you cant get a Hitler, congress would remove him so fast it would make your head spin


but i do agree that these are our glory days, and America might be knocked off top spot in the future (it happens to every civilization), but i don't think we are just gong to fall apart and be erased from history, at least not for a long time.

[Mike DC]

 
Civilizations rise mostly by "getting high" on some unsustainable resource.  When the situation eventually can't be sustained, they decline or crash violently.

Ancient Rome (and most other ancient empires for that matter) ran on military expansion.  For several hundred years there was always another country at the border to take over and bring home new slaves & riches.  The empire eventually reached a point where they were trying to control too much total area for the sake of pushing the borders, and they stopped expanding in 117 A.D.  It was only a matter of time before they declined after that.




Our modern society is getting high on non-renewable natural resources.  Once we've raided the best of the cheaply-gathered resources & energies from the earth, we'll start declining.

Sustainability?  Oh please.

[Khyron]

whoah now... I an't readng all that