Maybe there's something to psychohistory
Sep. 29th, 2006 06:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nancylebovPirates of the Mediterranean tells the story of how the Roman republic panicked after a sudden attack by an informal group and turned itself into a tyranny.
Now, maybe this is an intrinsic problem with civilization. The whole *point* of civilization is having peace and prosperity over large regions, which means that people generally aren't used to dealing with bandits. Or maybe we and the Romans can serve as bad examples and there's some institutional way of not panicking. I'd really rather not be living in Robert E. Howard's universe of alternating civilization and barbarity.
Now, maybe this is an intrinsic problem with civilization. The whole *point* of civilization is having peace and prosperity over large regions, which means that people generally aren't used to dealing with bandits. Or maybe we and the Romans can serve as bad examples and there's some institutional way of not panicking. I'd really rather not be living in Robert E. Howard's universe of alternating civilization and barbarity.
