Personal story.
A tour guide in Israel (Caesarea) once shared with me these fascinating details.
During the peak of the Roman Empire, Emperors organized grand entertainment events, such as Gladiator games (remember the movie “Gladiator”?) and horse races in places like Caesarea and Rome. To keep the Roman masses entertained during a period of high unemployment, they distributed fresh bread as well.
Unemployment, military spending, lackluster interest in advancing technology, and inflation is often cited as reasons for Roman empires fall.
Human civilizations can be compared to the story of Sisyphus.
Sisyphus was a character in Greek mythology who was punished by the gods for his deceitfulness by being forced to endlessly push a boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down every time he neared the top. This punishment was meant to be futile and eternal, symbolizing the ultimate futility of human efforts. Sisyphus is often used as a metaphor for the repetitive and seemingly never-ending tasks that we undertake in life.
This is often the story of most civilizations. It’s like a fool rolling up a boulder up a steep mountain and when he reaches the top, he thinks he has created the best, strongest, and most freest society ever without realizing that this boulder could roll back is complacency creeps into his civilization. Just a thought!
Source