Consider Earth's history and mankind's role in it. While there has always been a natural ebb and flow to nature.
Excluding devastating events that caused the five (5) mass extinctions, Earth's history seems to follow certain repeating or more accurately certain similar patterns. This is especially true for civilizations from their exploratory and explosive growths to their eventual and inevitable atrophy and demise.
A glimpse into the past reveals that all great civilizations or empires went through very similar stages with very similar arcs. If historians like Sir John Bagot Glubb, every empire suffers a similar fate and follows a set number of stages. From start to finish most last between 250 years and in his book "Fate of Empires", he documented the repetitive nature of empires.
Whether one believes the evidence as presented by Glubb, it does seem compelling when extrapolated historically at best and very prophetic at worst, especially in the case of American empire or hegemony. Even the title "Fate of Empires" indicates a destiny that is unavoidable.
My own cynicism has led me to conclude that Glubb was more correct than incorrect. I call myself an optimistic pessimist because I believe we can break the cycle of empire as laid out by Glubb, but I don't believe we will. The fact that so much is known about the stages of empire and so readily available at our fingertips (the Internet) but so few people seem aware of it, implies we are doomed to repeat a history of which so many seem utterly ignorant.
Even those deemed leaders, especially financial leaders seemed ill equipped to prevent the downfall of the richest nation the world has ever known. Given the fact that there is nothing that deals with Humanity that they cannot know, they still move through the world as if powerless to avoid Glubb' documented fates. While, there is no way for even the richest of men or women to have knowledge of everything, these billionaires do have access to experts who do. And, if their don't know how to avoid or mitigate the worst impacts, they have access to more specialized experts who do. With billions at your disposal, there is little knowledge pertaining to Humanity and it's endeavors that could escape you and your sphere of influence. Yet even the wealthiest amongst seem to not be able to stop those leads that have historically led to their own demise. Even the mighty eventually fall.
As for those of us who don't have more money than we could spend in several lifetimes, we srill have access the same information that would help the rich avoid Societal collapse. Instead of acknowledging the potential for of rapidly approaching decline, most Americans choose instead to ingest the most trivial and irrelevant information they can. Who cares that American leadership is pushing for World War III with nuclear capable countries. Who cares that American leaders send hundreds of billions of dollars around the Globe for misadventures that never solve the problems faced by the countries they're meant to help. Set aside the pain and suffering of your fellow Americans, as long as it doesytouch your community. Americans are the new proverbial ostriches and cellphones, their sand... Quicksand.
And, this is not limited to America and it's citizens, because this attitude of pushing society to collapse is a theme that is repeated the world round. Nowhere on the planet can you find a developed or developing nation where the rich aren't stealing resources for their own benefit, even to the point at which revolution is imminent.
We can look back at history and see the mistakes made in the past, but we don't seem to be able to hold them up as examples and reflections that indicate a like future.f
