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I see in you all the characteristic stigma of decay. I can prove to you that your atheism and your pessimism and your cynicism, your immorality, your broken-down marriages, were characteristic marks of the dying ages of ancient states.

Are we living in an age of civilizational collapse?

In this video series we are going to examine what led past civilizations to fall

in order to determine whether ours is in danger.

Wise men say that whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past, for human events

ever resemble those of preceding times.

In attempting to explain why civilizations collapse, historians and social scientists distinguish between external

and internal causes.

An external cause is a force or phenomenon that imposes itself on a civilization, overwhelming

its capacity to cope.

Examples include invasions from a foreign enemy and so-called acts of God, such as epidemics

or natural disasters.

Some historians claim Minoan civilization collapsed due to a volcanic eruption, while others

proposed that malaria played a major factor in the fall of Rome.

Historians of Mesoamerican civilization allege that the famed city of

Tiotiwakan fell due to invasion by northern barbarians, while the role of Germanic barbarians

in the collapse of the Roman Empire has been well documented and discussed.

As attractive as external cause theories are, they do not adequately explain why civilizations

collapse.

All great civilizations withstand natural disasters persist through epidemics and successfully

defend themselves from attack.

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