168 sats \ 15 replies \ @didiplaywell 11 Aug \ on: Echoes of Empire: Gibbon’s Classic on Rome’s Fall and Its Lessons for Bitcoiners BooksAndArticles
The first video ever I saw, many years ago, that opened my mind on the reality of politics and economy, was this explanation by Huerta del Soto on the fall of the Roman Empire. Essentially he states that it was solely due to socialist policies. I sadly found no english subtitles, I hope you can somehow get part of the message:
yes, i know him very well. i wrote a major academic paper a long time ago on the fall of the western roman empire. my starting point was monetary policy and the systematic centralization of fiscal powers. basically very topical
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Impressive! Would you mind to share it on SN?
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As long as I prefer to stay anon I really can't. But we can discuss this here on SN for sure.
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Ok! Would you mind making a post underscoring the basics?
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Cool! :)
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Victor Davis Hanson has written about the fall of Rome, directly and indirectlyl
I also use ai/LLM lol
from Brave search ai:
Gibbon's work estimated far smaller numbers of Christian martyrs than had been traditionally accepted, questioning the Church's version of its early history.
By presenting a more nuanced and critical account of early Christianity, Gibbon challenged the Church's dominance over historical narrative.
Responding to Enlightenment Perspectives
Gibbon's emphasis on the "triumph of barbarism and religion" over the Roman Empire highlighted the role of religion in shaping historical events, aligning with Enlightenment thinkers' focus on the power of ideas.
His critique of organized religion, particularly Christianity, reflected the Enlightenment's skepticism towards dogma and superstition.
Gibbon's use of primary sources and rational approach to history embodied the Enlightenment's values of reason and empiricism.
New Insights
Gibbon's recognition of Islam's rapid rise and its role in the decline of the Roman Empire challenged the prevailing European view of Islam as a static and unchanging entity.
- His portrayal of the Byzantine Empire's fate as equally influenced by both Christianity and Islam expanded the scope of Enlightenment historiography, acknowledging the complexity of religious and cultural interactions.
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I'm unable to blame any bad economical macro performance to anything but bad economic policies unless in the context of major and lasting cataclysms. No bad moral lasts in a context that rewards good morals economically, and vice-versa. Morals are never a driver, but a consequence of the context. Even today islam hasn't caused, and is ages from being able to cause, as much damage to Europe as Europe has inflicted to itself, by itself entirely. It's never a matter of conservatives vs liberals nor christians vs islamists, but solely about libertarianism vs socialism, i.e, freedom vs fascism.
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Very good point
Perhaps the other lines of demarcation are noise, a distraction. Maybe not lines of demarcation but lines of distraction
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Indeed Sr, that's a precise way to put it.
It would be nice for SN to allow wiki-style posts so that this kind of topics can grow collaboratively on everyone's contributions, as yours. Hopefully it's on the roadmap
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I added to my initial comment but forgot to "edit"
Brave search ai content is the "new" content
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