Hypothesis: The Roman Empire did not fail because its leaders were too stupid and irrational, but because they were too smart and rational, and short game incentives outperformed long games. Catholicism solved that by limiting rationality and turning society into a cult.
-
-
-
Replying to @meoyawn
It was bad. Rome had more than a million inhabitants. After it fell, no town had more than 50K, for a long time. Architecture, medicine, agriculture, social science, philosophy were lost. Our civilization almost didn't make it and prevailed even against the Mongols only by chance
2 replies 0 retweets 4 likes -
To be fair, Mongols were badass.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
But arguably not very civilized.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Maybe (though they were fast learners in this regard, too). Unfortunately, wars are not won based on how much civilized (as in culture) you are. And mongols were pretty good in that regard (they steamrolled even through china).
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
In fact, some say that the downfall of Mongols were precisely because they were getting too much civilized (and meek).
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.