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Second Thought: Are We Living Through The End Of An Empire?
(www.youtube.com)
News from within the empire - From a leftist perspective
Yeah! The interplay of technology and history is specifically key here. Back in Roman times, they did not have means of instant communication and access to information. Because that is available today, word of events like the Palestine genocide spreads faster, groups of people shift their attitudes faster, and benefits of trade with countries like China are realized more quickly at a material level which also changes groups of people.
It could absolutely take literal ages - Rome split itself in two and persisted as the Byzantine empire until the 1400s. But with the technological factor here, I think it will indeed be a quicker descent at least to a point where America can no longer assert itself as an imperial force. And when I say technological factor, I don't mean just communication and information, but also including that socialist countries have historically advanced far more rapidly in terms of scientific/tech progress than capitalist ones (USSR, China), and socialist technology is certainly advancing at a far more rapid pace than technology did at the end of antiquity into medieval times.
I agree, the speed of communication and transportation definitely plays a role here. And economies of scale are now at unprecedented level as well. As we saw during the pandemic, the whole distribution system is incredibly fragile. Any disruptions in the supply chain have a potential to turn into economic disasters.