Summary
Historically, societies fall. Civilizations collapse. But is that what’s happening now in the United States? With the help of historians, a former CIA-funded researcher on political instability, and one grumbling dad, Ben Bradford looks at the warning signs that can precede collapse — from polarization and political division to outside shocks and cascading crises. How much of that is visible in America right now? What would collapse actually look like in modern life? And if the alarms are blinking, is there still time to turn back?
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Transcript
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| 0:27.0 | Pretty much every day. This has happened for years. |
| 0:32.0 | My father reads the newspaper and comes across some article about the state of the world. |
| 0:35.2 | And this pronouncement emits from him. |
| 0:57.0 | I'd say without question, we're going away to the Roman Empire. This is the refrain. We're going the way of the Roman Empire. He could be reading about a new conflict. We're going away to the Roman Empire. Or a tax change. Way of the Roman Empire. Someone runs a stop sign. Roman Empire. The refrain has followed inevitably by my mother, sighing out her own reply. I am sick and tired of hearing about the Roman Empire. It sounds like typical mom and dad stuff. |
| 1:00.0 | But then I was talking to a pretty renowned historian who's written about Rome and a lot of other civilizations. |
| 1:07.0 | He said something that's been stuck in my head. |
| 1:09.0 | Every single complex societies has ever existed in the history of the world so far has collapsed. |
| 1:14.9 | Do we think we're different? |
| 1:18.4 | Do we think we're different? |
| 1:21.5 | For the past several years, I've been reporting on our divided politics and its roots. |
| 1:29.3 | I've looked at our friends. reporting on our divided politics and its roots. And who tends for the textbooks? We know! |
| 1:30.3 | I've looked at our fractured media space, profiting off outrage, addled by conspiracy theories. |
| 1:36.3 | That is where the fraud took place, where they were flipping votes. |
| 1:39.3 | Migrants are grilling pets in America. |
| 1:43.3 | I've been asking, where does this lead? |
... |
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