Civilizations Are Not Guaranteed to Last

From Flopping Aces: Collapse of Civilization: Lessons Voters Might Take From Roman Britain.

Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it. – George Santayana

Civilization is built on security. Trade makes higher civilizations possible. Both have collapsed many times in human history.

One of the extraordinary things about the Roman Empire was the unprecedented, widespread prosperity it created from the Pillars of Hercules to the Levant and virtually everywhere in between. While there had always been a market for fine goods such as silk and porcelain and exotic foods, the Romans brought those goods to the masses. By building roads, ports, transportation hubs and funding the trade necessary to support the Legions, the Romans drove economies of scale and created a mass market for goods that had formerly been available only to the rich but had become inexpensive across the Roman world. In doing so they created a cosmopolitan empire so thoroughly Roman that people from what are today Morocco and Britain and Germany and Israel likely spoke some version of the same language and would have found familiar products available regardless of where they were in the Empire.

Things fell apart when the Roman Empire came apart. It wasn't the first time. The bronze age collapse would have been ancient history to the Romans. The collapse of trade and civilization would send us back to a version of the dark ages.

It would take very little for civilization we know to fall apart completely. How long could you survive without electricity? Do you know where you would get clean water, or how you would treat water that you did find? Could you stay warm over the winter?

Of course electricity is only one element of what keeps our society civilized. There’s gasoline, there’s trade, there’s what used to be a widespread respect for the rule of law. Imagine no diesel fuel. Trucks wouldn’t be able to deliver food and store shelves will go bare. You probably have enough food in your kitchen for your family to last a few days or maybe a week at most. Then what? Are you going to grow wheat on your windowsill or in your backyard? Is the neighborhood stray cat going to be your family’s next meal? Do you have a cow for milk? Not to mention medicines, building materials, gasoline for your car… the list of goods delivered via diesel is endless.

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