This long post was originally published in the "Oil Drum" in 2009 on the occasion of the bimillenary of the battle of Teutoburg of 9 A.D. that forever stopped the attempt of the Roman Empire to expand in central Europe. It was my first post on this subject and, revisited 14 years later, I see that I was basically correct in identifying the main elements that lead to the collapse of empires. I repropose it in the new version of the “Seneca Effect” blog after some editing and a few minor modifications for better clarity.
Well first of all let me begin by saying I enjoyed reading about a wise druid explaining all the structural problems of the empire to Marcus Aurelius.
My thoughts then drifted to your post about renewables being a new butterfly. Our current efforts to generate renewable energy are making grid management even more complicated. But what if the future involves having electricty in the daytime in summer instead of all the time. We'd certainly be living more in tune with the natural cycles of nature and it would make a huge difference how far away you are from the equator.
It's also important to remember the changes we have set in motion are going to play out for a very long time especially the changes in climate. The collapse of our own system could simply be one of many collapses until we reach some sort of steady state which could be rather primative.
Well first of all let me begin by saying I enjoyed reading about a wise druid explaining all the structural problems of the empire to Marcus Aurelius.
My thoughts then drifted to your post about renewables being a new butterfly. Our current efforts to generate renewable energy are making grid management even more complicated. But what if the future involves having electricty in the daytime in summer instead of all the time. We'd certainly be living more in tune with the natural cycles of nature and it would make a huge difference how far away you are from the equator.
It's also important to remember the changes we have set in motion are going to play out for a very long time especially the changes in climate. The collapse of our own system could simply be one of many collapses until we reach some sort of steady state which could be rather primative.