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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Really bad news, Really good news

What an exciting time to be alive. What an exciting time to start a business. Especially in a rural area.

Every 500 years or so, civilization seems to implode and reinvent itself. We are in the midst of that now.

About 500 years ago, Reformation and Renaissance (rise of trade within Asia).  Roughly 500 years before that, the Roman Empire completed dividing into Christian and Islamic domains, leading to the cultural divide of today (Chinese civil wars and succession of dynasties and peak of Chinese technological advances). And 500 years before that saw a shift in power from the Mediterranean to Northern Europe (Japan began the pattern of adopting best practices from abroad). The beginning of Christianity in the 500 years before that, with its power to unite Western civilization (Silk Road uniting ancient world and inventing modern world). Of course this is somewhat of an exaggeration, but some sociologists find merit in the concept.

So what will happen this time?  Will secularism become the undisputed state religion?  Plagues or famines? Will we feel protracted wars are needed to wrench away from clutches of progress?  Will population shifts reverse, causing rural populations to start growing again?

Just think of the marvelous possibilities.

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