Generational Dynamics Forum - New Site

The modern world in so far as our interconnectedness, our complexity is in
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many ways a buffer against small shocks. When a state begins to fail today, we
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can very easily send resources, aid, peacekeepers, etc. to prop it back up.
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And when you look at the best studies on state failure, they suggest that most states don't fail for anything longer
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than roughly 6 months. Within that period, you usually have some kind of new rough and ready government which can
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at least kind of try to impose rules, develop legislation, take taxes and extract resources and have something
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like a monopoly on violence. And that's a good thing obviously in
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many regards. But the problem of having this big interconnected complex system is that once the shock is big enough or
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it hits the right location, suddenly it it's amplified throughout the entire system. And a good example of this of
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course is the global financial crisis in 2008 where a housing bubble in the US
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suddenly becomes a financial crisis on a global scale. Similarly, Covid 19 what
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previous would have been potentially more of a local or regional pandemic that would have spread at the speed of a
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horse became a global pandemic in the space of months if not weeks. We see the
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same thing with things like ransomware attacks. They can travel at the speed of an internet connection. In short, our
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interconnected complex globalized systems are fantastic in some ways, but when they become too interdependent,
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they become transmitters and amplifiers of different shocks and risks. And that means that collapse
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going to the future is probably more likely to be global rather than local or regional. And it's probably likely be
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much worse than it was in the past.

Higgenbotham wrote: Thu Aug 28, 2025 12:00 pm Not much new here. Thought I'd just summarize one of the basics that's been mentioned before.

Societal Collapse: What's Past Is Prologue | Luke Kemp

When a state begins to fail today, we
29:43
can very easily send resources, aid, peacekeepers, etc. to prop it back up.
29:49
And when you look at the best studies on state failure, they suggest that most states don't fail for anything longer
29:55
than roughly 6 months. Within that period, you usually have some kind of new rough and ready government which can
30:01
at least kind of try to impose rules, develop legislation, take taxes and extract resources and have something
30:08
like a monopoly on violence.

https://youtu.be/7aFS0smroeg?t=1796

tim wrote: Tue Aug 26, 2025 11:16 am

Austria by the end of 1922
was in the hands of the receivers, having regained a stable currency only
under the absolute direction of a foreigner. Hungary, too, had passed any
chance of self-redemption, and later on was to undergo an equal degree of
hardship and suffering, especially for her public servants. Stability returned
to Germany under a military dictatorship when much of the constitution had
been suspended - although the State of Emergency was only indirectly
necessitated by the destruction of the nation’s finances. To all three countries
stability and then recovery came. All had to be bailed out by others.

Higgenbotham wrote: Thu Mar 21, 2013 12:47 am

vincecate wrote:

Higgenbotham wrote:A dark age is an extended period of significantly reduced integration, organisation and cohesion. (From an individual’s perspective, social bonds may become more intense in a dark age. However, overall cohesion is reduced because the social network extends much less far.

Does the fall of the USSR fit this definition?

By my definition no because the US and Western Europe. as the dominant hegemonic powers were able to lift the former USSR up and get it back on its feet. The dark age will occur when the West declines and collapses similarly to the USSR and there is no greater power to lift it back up.

Is a dark age defined as an extended period of significantly reduced integration, organisation and cohesion?

AI Overview

Yes, your description is accurate for how a "Dark Age" is generally characterized, though historians today use the term more cautiously or prefer more specific names like the "Early Middle Ages". It describes a period of societal decline characterized by a significant reduction in central power and the resulting fragmentation.

Is a dark age defined as the social and political breakdown of a regional or world hegemonic power which creates a power vacuum for which there is no clear and immediate successor?

AI Overview

A dark age is not formally defined by the collapse of a hegemonic power, and modern historians often reject the term entirely. The conventional understanding is that a "dark age" is a period with a scarcity of written historical records, making it seem "dark" or unknown to scholars.

However, the specific scenario you described—a power vacuum caused by the collapse of a hegemonic power—is a key characteristic of the historical periods most commonly labeled as "dark ages," such as the Early Middle Ages in Europe.

Higgenbotham wrote: Sat Aug 23, 2025 7:21 pm But the way I see it is the Indians are the Jews of the new dark age. They will play an appropriate role as we collapse versus the Jews played an appropriate role pre-collapse.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Acknowledges Israel Is Losing Control Of Congress

TRUMP: But when, if you go back 20 years. I mean, I will tell you, Israel had the strongest lobby in Congress of anything or body, or of any company or corporation or state that I’ve ever seen. Israel was the strongest. Today, it doesn’t have that strong a lobby. It’s amazing.

There was a time where you couldn’t speak bad, if you wanted to be a politician, you couldn’t speak badly. But today, you have, you know, AOC plus three, and you have all these lunatics, and they’ve really, they’ve changed it. You’re too young to know this, but if you go back 15 years, probably that’s when it started, right. Israel, you would understand this very much, Israel was the strongest lobby I’ve ever seen. They had total control over Congress, and now they don’t, you know, I’m a little surprised to see that.